A Rose For Emily: A Short Mystery And Suspense Story

In what way do conflict and exposition help the reader foreshadow the ending of a story? A Rose for Emily is a short mystery and suspense story. The story describes the events leading up to Ms. Emily’s death in reverse chronological order. Faulkner uses exposition to foreshadow the ending by describing three events. The three events are Miss. Emily buying arsenic, the strange smell coming from Ms. Emily’s house, and the disappearance of Homer Barron.
One of the first events of foreshadowing in the story is Miss Emily purchasing arsenic from the druggist. This is an important event to the story’s plot because it connects to a future event in the story. Miss Emily’s purchase of the arsenic causes the reader to wonder what she needed it for

because it is a very dangerous poison. For example when the druggist told Miss. Emily that it was required by law to explain what she was going to do with the arsenic she refused to answer. Some people in the town thought that she had bought it to kill herself, but weren’t sure. However, the townspeople started to notice a strange smell coming from Miss Emily’s house.
After Miss Emily’s father had passed and her beloved Homer went missing the neighbors started to notice a strange smell coming from her house. They started complaining to Judge Stevens. Judge Stevens said “ It’s probably just a snake or a rat that nigger of hers killed in the yard. I’ll speak to him about it.” More complains started to come about the smell so Judge Stevens sent mean to tell Miss Emily to clean up the place. The men went over to her house in the middle of the night and sprinkled lime around it. Within two weeks the smell was gone. This event is important to foreshadowing because makes the reader think what was causing the smell that all the people were complaining about. Furthermore, this leads to the disappearance of Homer Barron.
When the townspeople saw Homer go into Miss Emily’s house one day at dusk it was the last they saw of him. It was the last they saw Miss Emily for awhile too. This last event is the one that ties the two events together to allow to show how foreshadowing helps the reader to predict the ending. At the end, Miss Emily has died and the people go into her house. This is where they find Homer Barron’s body in a second-floor bedroom in her house.
In conclusion, I believe foreshadowing is a strong tool to be able to predict the ending or future events in a story. From the three events, Faulkner’s use of foreshadowing is key to the story. Especially since it is written in a reverse chronological order that may be a little confusing. In my opinion, I believe the story was named “A Rose for Emily” because while they are alive roses are beautiful, but they only last so long until you kill them or they die.