Rose For Emily Setting

Written in 1930, “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is a compelling tale of a southern spinster. Faulkner described the title as “an allegorical title, the meaning was, here was a woman who has had a tragedy and nothing could be done about it, and I pitied her and this was a solute… to the woman you would hand a rose.” (“Colloquies at Nagano Seminar” Faulkner). The story seems as if it would be an average short tale about an old, finicky, haughty southern lady who just wants her way in life, yet as the story continues what the reader originally thought would be a normal story turns morbid and dark. Through the use of setting William Faulkner creates a haunting yet strange tale about what really happens behind the doors of Emily Grierson’s

In a work of literature, setting is important because it shows where the characters interact, what events are happening at the time, and sets the mood and tone of the story. Through setting, William Faulkner weaves an intricate story about the life of Emily Grierson. Faulkner uses creative imagery and a collective “We” perspective much like Ayn Rand’s “Anthem”, in which all of the townspeople speak as one. The story is set in a post-civil war small southern town called Jefferson. By using this particular time-period, Faulkner is giving the reader clues and hints as to the main background of the characters, their beliefs and morals. Once a beautiful and noble place, Jefferson had become downtrodden and desolate. Even the once famous Grierson family home had become

“an eyesore among eyesores” (Faulkner

As each scene unfolds in the story, curiosity about the main character, Emily Grierson, grows. By developing the story backwards (when she dies), and ending with even more detail around her death, Faulkner creates an entertaining yet morbid by the end plot line. As the reader continues the story, it begins to seem almost as if a bunch of old wives were sitting around at tea, telling gossip about Miss Emily. The way Faulkner wrote the tale of Miss Grierson seems as if he meant it to seem like a gossip circle, where each superstitious tale about Miss Emily is pieced together.

Faulkner’s use of setting also is another way to allow the reader to understand the motive behind the actions of the townspeople. They look at Miss Emily as if she is what is left of an older time and almost like a curiosity at a museum. She’s regarded as eccentric and strange throughout the story line. Her eccentric behavior began after her father’s death. When Miss Emily “told them that her father was not dead.”(Faulkner 2) and refused to let the townspeople take the body