Picture Credit- A Feminist Blog
“We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.”
-William Faulkner
A spine-chilling account of a woman’s decline, ‘A Rose for Emily’ is Faulkner’s signature literary piece. It is a story that must have been completely unconventional at the time in which it was published.
Faulkner described the title as being an allegorical one. This woman undergoes a great tragedy and for this Faulkner pitied her. Therefore, he handed her a rose, as a salute.
Introduction
Name of the story - A Rose for Emily
Writer’s Name - William Faulkner
Genre - Fiction
Language - English
Synopsis - Spoiler Alert!
Faulkner’s most famous, most popular and most anthologized short story ‘A Rose for Emily’ is a non-chronological story of Emily Grierson, a faded southern belle who dies at the age of 74 after leading an isolated life.
We are given an account of her life and how she just excused herself from all society after the death of her father and later the moving away of an estranged lover. The whole town gathers in for Emily’s funeral but it is what’s inside the forbidden mansion that leaves the people flabbergasted.
About the Author
Picture Credit- The Guardian
Born on 25th September, 1857, William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer famous for his novels, short-stories, poetry, essays and a play. He is the most celebrated writer in American Literature and especially Southern Literature.
Some of his famous works include, ‘ The Sound and the Fury’, ‘As I Lay Dying’, ‘Sanctuary’, ‘Absalom, Absalom!’, ‘Sartoris’, ‘The Town’ and ‘The Mansion’. He got the Nobel Prize in Literature in the year 1949 and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. He died on the 6th of July, 1962.
About the Story
The story begins with an account of Emily Grierson’s death and how the whole town plans on attending her funeral. Then the story’s structure proceeds in a non-chronological fashion telling us about the life of Emily, who belonged to an aristocratic family of antebellum Southern America. The family falls into some hard times after the Civil War. Also her father would not let Emily marry.
After her father dies when Emily is 30, the only person seen to be moving about Emily’s home is Tobe, a black man serving as her butler. Emily’s deteriorating financial conditions after the death of her father drive her to give the children from the town art classes.
The narrator also says that the people in the town are not the greatest fans of Emily and say awful things about her behind her back. Emily is soon seen to be getting friendly with Homer Barron, a Northern laborer, but this match is not well received by the people of the town who have their doubts about Homer’s sexuality.
Soon Emily buys arsenic from a druggist in town, presumably to kill rats. Emily’s cousins are invited to live in the mansion by the minister's wife to supervise Homer and her.
When Emily goes out and buys monogrammed toiletries for Homer, the town comes to the conclusion that they must be married. Homer leaves the town and returns to the mansion after three days, after which he is never seen again.
Even though her societal image keeps on getting worse, Emily continues to maintain her mysterious demeanor and her reputation is such that the city council hesitates to confront her about a strong rotting smell that seems to come out of her house.
When they do approach her, she shoves them off frantically. She becomes a recluse and is never seen outside. The townspeople go on living their lives and begin to view Emily and the mansion as a “hereditary obligation”.
Emily’s funeral is a large affair. The entire town gathers outside the mansion until finally Tobe lets the people in as they wish. The townsfolk enter the mansion to see what was left of Emily and her life.
The townsfolk enter the upstairs bedroom by breaking into it and find Homer's belongings and his decomposed body lying on the bed. On the pillow beside the corpse they find a strand of gray hair resembling Emily’s, suggesting that she used to sleep with her beloved’s corpse.
Themes Involved
The first theme prominent in the story is that of gossip, social conventions and judgement. The whole town made stories about Emily, even though they knew nothing about her or her life. They judged her because she kept to herself and did not partake in the town gossip.
The second theme is that of the psychological issues that Emily must have had. After the death of her father, she lived alone and had little company. Finding out that Homer was going to leave her too must have driven her to kill him and thus have him forever which honestly is very screwed up but that’s just Faulkner for you.
Famous Quotes
“All the past is not a diminishing road but, instead, a huge meadow which no winter ever quite touches, divided from them now by the narrow bottle-neck of the most recent decade of years.”
“We did not say she was crazy then. We believed she had to do that. We remembered all the young men her father had driven away, and we knew that with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her, as people will.”
“The man himself lay in the bed.
“For a long while we just stood there, looking down at the profound and fleshless grin. The body had apparently once lain in the attitude of an embrace, but now the long sleep that outlasts love, that conquers even the grimace of love, had cuckolded him.”
The Bottom Line
It truly is a story that is terrifying but also kind of interesting. ‘A Rose for Emily’ resembles many gothic stories and almost reminds us of Mary Shelley. It is creepy, terrible but also you cannot stop reading once you begin.
I recommend this story to anyone getting into goth as it is the perfect test for you.
My ratings for the story - 4 on 5
Read the Story here - A Rose for Emily
Written By - Sakshi Singh
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