Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Clementina (talk | contribs) at 06:20, 23 September 2010 (Reverted good faith edits by 202.78.103.226; Poor formatting. (TW)). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

"A Rose for Emily" is a short story by American author William Faulkner first published in the April 30, 1930 issue of Forum. This story takes place in Faulkner's fictional city, Jefferson, in his fictional county of Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi. It was Faulkner's first short story published in a national magazine.

Title

William Faulkner explained the reason for his choice of the title as:

was an allegorical title; the meaning was, here was a woman who had had a tragedy, an irrevocable tragedy and nothing could be done about it, and I pitied her and this was a salute ... to a woman you would hand a rose.

Plot

In 1955 William Faulkner provided an explanation of "A Rose for Emily":

I feel sorry for Emily's tragedy; her tragedy was, she was an only child, an only daughter....

"A Rose for Emily" is a five-part short story narrated by the townspeople of Jefferson, Mississippi, in the first-person plural perspective ("we"). The first section opens with a description of the Grierson house in Jefferson. The narrator mentions that over the years, Miss Emily Grierson's home has fallen into disrepair and become "an eyesore among eyesores." The first sentence of the story sets the tone of how the citizens of Jefferson felt about Emily: "When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to the funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old manservant – a combined gardener and cook – had seen in at least ten years."

The narrator notes that on that date an engineer, Homer Barron, is seen in Jefferson with a crew of men to build sidewalks. After Emily and Homer are seen driving through town several times, Emily visits a druggist. There, she asks to purchase arsenic. The druggist asks what the arsenic is for since it was required of him to ask by law. Emily does not respond and coldly stares him down until he looks away and leaves the room. An African American delivery boy returns and gives her the arsenic. When Emily opens the package, underneath the skull and bones sign is written, "For Rats." Citizens of Jefferson believe that Miss Emily is going to commit suicide since Homer has not yet proposed in the beginning of section four. Homer also states in the beginning of section four that he was not a marrying man. Homer was also known to go drinking with the younger men at the Elk's Club but then would go for Sunday drives with Emily with her none the wiser. The townspeople contact and invite Emily's two cousins to comfort her. Shortly after their arrival, Homer leaves and then returns after the cousins leave Jefferson. Upon his return, Homer is last seen entering Emily's home and then never seen again. After Homer’s disappearance, Emily begins to age, gain weight, and is rarely seen outside of her home. Eventually, Miss Emily passes away.

The fifth and final section begins with Jefferson women entering the Grierson home. After they arrive, Emily's black servant leaves through the back door without saying a word. After Emily's funeral, the townspeople immediately go through her house. They come across a room on the second floor which no one had seen in 40 years, and break the door down. They discover a dusty room strangely decorated as a bridal room. The room contains a man's tie, suit and shoes, and a silver toilet set which Miss Emily had purchased for Homer before his disappearance. Homer's remains lie on the bed, dressed in a nightshirt. Next to him is an impression of a head on a pillow where the townspeople find a single “long strand of iron-gray hair.” It is thus implied that Emily had killed Homer and had lain in the bed with his corpse up to her own death.

Narration

The story is narrated from a first-person plural perspective. The identity of the characters specific to the use of the words "our" and "we" is not given, though it is possible that these refer to the townspeople, who are narrating with a unified voice, representing Southern white society.

Adaptations

Many short films have been made by literature classes and aspiring directors.

The story was adapted for a longer length film as well in 1987 by Chubby Cinema Company, and has since been released as a 27-minute video. The cast includes Anjelica Huston, John Houseman, John Randolph, John Carradine and Jared Martin.

It has also been adapted many times in various regions in the form of a folk tale, becoming a notable 'camp-fire' story.

The Zombies' 'A Rose for Emily' is a short retelling of the story in song form.

Fans believe My Chemical Romance's song "To The End" to be about Emily and Homer.

Footnotes

1. "Introducción a la narrativa breve de ... - Google Books". books.google.com. Retrieved 17 September 2010.
2. Faulkner at Nagano, ed. Robert Jelliffe (Tokyo: Kenkyusha Ltd., 1956), pp. 70–71.
3. (When Miss Emily Grierson died, the whole town went to her funeral)

Bibliography

• Morton, Clay (2005). "'A Rose for Emily': Oral Plot, Typographic Story," Storytelling: A Critical Journal of Popular Narrative 5.1.

External links

• Full text
• A Rose for Emily study guide and teaching guide - themes, quotes, multimedia resources for students and teachers

This literature-related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

• 1930 short stories
• American short stories
• Short stories by William Faulkner
• Southern Gothic novels
• Necrophilia
• Literature stubs