A Rose For Emily

William Faulker's " A Rose for Emily" tells the story of a young woman who is violated by her father's strict mentality. After being the only man in her life Emily's father dies and she finds it hard to let go. Emily was raised in the ante-bellum period before the Civil War. This story takes place in the Reconstruction Era after the war when the North takes control of the South. Like her father, Miss Emily possesses a stubborn outlook towards life and refuses to change. This short story explains Emily, her mystified ways and the townsfolk's sympathetic curiosity.

The plot of the story is mainly about Miss Emily's attitude about change. "On the first of the year they mailed her a tax notice. February came and there was no reply. They wrote her a formal letter asking her to call the sheriff's office at her convenience. A week later the mayor wrote her herself, offering to call or to send his car for her, and received in reply a note on paper of an archaic shape, in a thin, flowing calligraphy in faded ink, to the effect that's he no longer went out at all. The tax notice was enclosed, without comment." (189). Miss Emily was convinced that she had no taxes in Jefferson because before the Civil War the South didn't have to pay taxes and since her father had made a contribution to the town of a generous amount, Colonel Sartoris, mayor at that time had remitted her taxes, she felt that that promise or rather gift still stood good. "After her father's death she went out very little; after her sweetheart went away, people hardly saw her at all."(190). Miss Emily might have stayed out the public eye after those two deaths because she was finally alone, something she in her life was not used to. Emily's father never let her alone and when he died Homer Baron was a treat she was never allowed to have. Miss Emily's stubborn attitude definitely came from her father's strict teachings.

The characters of this story are very briefly mentioned, Miss Emily and Mr. Homer Barron are the two main characters described. Miss Emily was described as a short, fat, aged and mysterious women during her later years.

Miss Emily had been through much and had seen many generations grow before and around her. This brings to reason her strong Confederate beliefs. Homer

Barron; on the other hand was quite the opposite, "A Yankee...

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..., and leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a ling strand of iron gray hair."(195).

This excerpt leaves the reader shocked and disgusted.

Faulkner's style is quite difficult to read because it isn't written in chronological order. It begins by telling about Emily's past and her family history. This information explains her future behavior and opinions. The ending seems rather abrupt and sudden, but very chilling and non-expectant.

The diction and sentence structures are fairly advanced, but soon lead to a greater understanding of the passage because it sets the mood of that specific time. "And now Miss Emily had gone to join the representatives of those august names where they lay in the cedar-bemused cemetery among the ranked and anonymous graves of the Union and Confederate soldiers who fell at battle of Jefferson". (194). Terms like this were used throughout to aid in setting the Reconstruction Era mood.

In conclusion, "A Rose for Emily" is a shocking tale about Emily Grierson, her love, and her inability to accept change. Emily is a prime example of the

Old South and it's changing hardships.