A Rose For Emily Analysis

The story “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is one of his most controversial stories. Set in the nineteenth century, the story opens up with the townspeople finding out of Miss Emily’s death, the main character. The narrator, who lives in the town of Jefferson, explains the life and actions of Miss Emily. Through the use of symbols, such as Emily’s hair, house, clothing, and Emily’s rose, William Faulkner illustrates the concept of the decay in the South.

The characteristics of the house of Miss Emily’s house symbolize her appearance as she becomes older with time. The “… house had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies, set on what had once been our most select street” (CITE). Then it became an “eyesore among eyesore” (CITE). Likewise to the house, Miss Emily also changed the same way as her house did and she too became an eyesore. She was described as once being “a slender figure in white” (CITE). However, as she aged with time, she became “bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water with eyes lost in the fatty ridges of her face” (CITE). At the time of Miss Emily’s death, the narrator describes her as a “fallen monument” (CITE). This implies that Miss Emily was once a beautiful and wealthy lady, but as time progressed, she grew old and poor. These changes that occurred to Emily in the story also happened to the South after the Civil War: from affluence to impoverished.

There are many symbols that show Miss Emily is still living in the days of her prime and is being stubborn and ignorant of the new ways and rules of the town. This is shown when she does not allow for a house number to be put on the house she is living in. Furt...

... middle of paper ...

... is the rose in the title. It starts when a smell develops from within the house of Miss Emily. To remove or lessen the smell, the townspeople put lime in her basement. The lime in the basement is symbolic as lime is usually but in the ground before the coffin of the deceased is placed. The rose for Emily was the room in which Homer Barron (her sweetheart) was neatly placed. This room was described as having “rose-shaded lights” and curtains that gave off a “faded rose color” (CITE). Because some women dry their roses to make them last forever, Emily wanted to keep Homer forever by drying him or killing him. She kept good care of Homer, which is exemplified by her dressing Homer in nightclothes and laying him on the bed. At the end of the story, an iron-gray hair was found on the indented pillow next to Homer Barron, signaling that Emily laid next to Homer (CITE).