The Mysteries of William Faulkner's Writing in "A Rose for Emily"

’ll never forget reading the last paragraph of this story for the first time. I literally closed the book and stared at the wall for a minute. Faulkner pulls that kind of trick on you. He buries the most disturbing secret in American short fiction at the heart of a story that reads like a quaint little town obituary. In this analysis, I want to give you a rundown of what makes this story go: a quick synopsis, a detailed look at Faulkner’s choices, and a chronological timeline that puts all of the story’s events in order so you can see the bigger picture of Emily Grierson’s life.

Short summary of A Rose for Emily

Faulkner begins the story at the funeral of Emily Grierson. The citizens of Jefferson attend, not out of affection, but from a sense of pity and civic responsibility. The narrator, speaking for the townspeople, notes, for example, “We say ‘for the town’ because it was we who gave her up.” Employing the collective “we,” Faulkner depicts Emily Grierson’s house as an eyesore for decades. The community refrained from addressing this issue because Emily’s father had been a prominent figure in Jefferson.

The narrative proceeds through a series of temporal shifts rather than adhering to a chronological sequence. It is revealed that, at one point, Emily refused to pay local taxes, asserting that she was exempt because Colonel Sartoris, a former mayor who had died a decade earlier, had granted her this privilege. This episode immediately illustrates Emily’s detachment from the conventional passage of time. The townspeople accepted her claim without verification, recalling what Colonel Sartoris had once reportedly told her.

The narrative then reverts further, describing an incident soon after the death of Emily’s father. A malodorous liquid emanated from Emily’s residence, prompting complaints to the town council. Unwilling to confront Emily directly, officials surreptitiously applied lime around her property at night. Neither informed Emily nor questioned her about the odor. This indirect, arguably evasive approach to conflict with Emily recurs throughout the short story.

It is disclosed that Emily’s father exercised strict control, discouraging any potential suitors, all of whom eventually left Jefferson. Following his death, Emily refused to acknowledge his passing for three days, admitting visitors while insisting her father was still alive. The townspeople permitted this out of sympathy. This episode hints at Emily’s psychological response to death: denial.

Subsequent to her father’s death, Emily begins associating with Homer Barron, a traveling laborer from the North employed in sidewalk construction. The citizens of Jefferson express disapproval, considering Homer socially inferior and unsuitable as a spouse, a view apparently shared by Homer himself. Emily later purchases monogrammed men’s toiletries and arranges for a suit and nightshirt to be delivered to her residence. The townspeople surmise that she is preparing to marry Homer.

During this period, Homer’s presence ceases; he is last seen entering Emily’s home one evening. Subsequently, Emily withdraws from public view, her hair turning gray at a young age, and she no longer teaches, apart from a brief period when she instructs a few girls in sewing. Over time, Emily becomes increasingly reclusive. She eventually dies as an elderly woman, attended solely by a servant named Tobe.

Immediately after her funeral, the narrative advances to describe the townspeople’s discovery of a locked upstairs bedroom, unopened for over forty years. Forcing entry, they find the decomposed remains of Homer Barron on the bed, his shirt stained along one side as if he had been prepared for burial. On the adjacent pillow rests the impression of a head and a strand of iron-gray hair.

The enduring impact of the story’s final image has ensured its continued scholarly examination nearly a century after Faulkner composed it in 1930.

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A Rose for Emily analysis

The effectiveness of this story stems not from the twist alone. Many readers anticipate that something is amiss with Emily well before the final paragraph. Its true effectiveness lies in how Faulkner crafts the reveal using structure, narration, and setting simultaneously, ensuring that the horror feels justified rather than gratuitous.

Consider the narrator: Faulkner provides no named individual but instead employs the collective "we," representing the entire town of Jefferson. This choice is more significant than it may initially appear. Through a collective narrator, Faulkner depicts gossip, rumor, and secondhand assumption as accepted truth. The residents of Jefferson observe Emily from a distance throughout her life; they discuss, judge, and pity her, yet seldom confront her directly or meaningfully. This persistent distance helps preserve her secret. The narrator does not deceive but simply lacks knowledge, as no one in Jefferson attained sufficient proximity to truly understand Emily.

The story’s nonlinear structure is also of note. If arranged chronologically, the narrative would begin with the death of Emily’s father, followed by the Homer Barron episodes, the episode concerning the odor, the tax conflict, and ultimately Emily’s own death and funeral. Faulkner, however, commences with the funeral, then shifts to the tax dispute, references the odor, returns to the events with her father, and progresses to Homer Barron. This technique is not employed merely for artifice; rather, the sporadic chronology illustrates Emily’s fractured relationship with reality. She is unable to accept her father's passing for several days, insists upon outdated proclamations as law, and spends years cohabiting with the deceased. Thus, the structure imparts only a fragment of the disorientation Emily experiences to the reader.

This thematic persistence is evident even in the depiction of Emily’s residence. Once an imposing structure, now dilapidated, the house stands on what was formerly Jefferson’s most distinguished street, now characterized as 'lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above cotton gins and gasoline pumps.' Neither Emily Grierson nor her home has adapted to the evolving town. Faulkner’s focus extends beyond an individual’s private tragedy; he critiques a Southern society resistant to change, lingering in the past glory of noble names and great estates, well after their relevance has faded.

Throughout the narrative, death and an inability to relinquish the past are ever-present themes. Emily’s father actively prevents her from establishing relationships during his life. Following his death, she retains his body for an extended period, denying his passing. Subsequently, she poisons her companion, retaining his remains in an upstairs room for the duration of her own life, even as decomposition progresses. Homer Barron becomes an object over whom she exercises absolute control. Upon his death, she attributes culpability to the town and sequesters him within her home.

Faulkner also embeds subtle clues for attentive readers who may later revisit the story. Emily informs the druggist that she is purchasing arsenic but refuses to reveal its intended use, despite such disclosure being customary at the time. Homer Barron is associated with shaving soap, does not return home in the evenings, and a peculiar odor emerges.

Faulkner, perhaps more than most writers, demonstrates trust in the reader’s ability to make connections independently. Consequently, the conclusion resonates profoundly, even for those who anticipated the outcome.

A Rose for Emily in Chronological Order: Putting Emily's Life Back Together

Since the story is not told chronologically, it might be helpful to list events in the order they actually happened. Below is a rough timeline based on Faulkner's clues.

Emily's childhood. Emily Grierson grew up as a member of one of Jefferson's oldest and most important families. Her father is domineering and forces away any young man that she desires, leaving Emily unmarried into her mid-thirties.

Mr. Grierson's death. He dies, and Emily refuses to acknowledge his death for three days despite the town elders, friends, and even doctors telling her. She claims that he is still alive. At last, they convince her to let him go, but it's clear that Emily will not handle any sort of loss in a traditional manner.

Homer Barron arrives. Homer Barron, a man from the north who works as a foreman for a construction company that came to Jefferson to pave the sidewalks, starts courting Emily publicly. Townspeople don't like him, especially due to his social standing and his roots (he's from the North), and they dislike even more that Emily has taken a liking to him because Homer says he doesn't want to marry her.

Emily buys arsenic. She goes to the local druggist and buys arsenic, and when the pharmacist asks her what she plans to use it for, Emily refuses to tell him. He still sells it to her despite the law requiring him to report her request to the sheriff.

Homer disappears. Homer is seen entering Emily's house one night and does not come out again. The smell starts soon after this sighting, and ever since, townspeople discreetly sprinkle lime around her property at night instead of confronting her about it. Homer Barron is never seen again.

Emily has avoided the public for decades. Emily's hair turns gray, and she occasionally lets children come to her house for china-painting lessons, but for the most part keeps to herself. Even the tax collector from Jefferson can't get her to pay her taxes years later, though eventually she accepts him and buys him candy. Only her servant, Tobe, leaves the house on a regular basis.

Death and Funeral. Emily dies in the upstairs bedroom of her house around age seventy- four. The entire town attends her funeral mostly out of curiosity.

Discovery of Homer's body. After Emily's funeral, the men of Jefferson force their way into the locked upstairs bedroom that had remained closed for the past forty years. They discover the rotted corpse of Homer Barron on the bed. Near his head, they notice that Emily had been sleeping next to the corpse for decades after killing him.

Putting the story in chronological order highlights how long Emily lived with Homer's corpse and how long Jefferson as a whole ignored it.

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The Bottom Line

"A Rose for Emily" deserves its acclaim because Faulkner never hurries to horrify. He constructs horror through gossip, reticence, and a house that refuses to modernize. The nonlinear timeline isn't a gimmick. That's the entire point. When you read the story in chronological order, Emily no longer seems like a monster. She becomes a woman the world failed... one polite silence at a time.

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