Introduction
A heart seeking love and burdened by traditions can open a doorway into madness. The given analysis focuses on a short story, “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, written in 1930. The plot revolves around a town in the state of Mississippi with central characters Emily Grierson and Homer Barron, where a narrator non-linearly recalls events and stories regarding the recently deceased woman. Through the storyline, a number of intricate and important details are revealed about Emily and the other inhabitants of the town. The given assessment will put emphasis on symbolism in the story, which includes the house, gray hair, and man’s toilet set, and these represent mental and physical deterioration, time and defiance, and hope for love, respectively.
Main body
The first major symbolism is Emily’s house, which is a physical manifestation of the owner and her declining social status, mental health, as well as physical health. The text describes that the house was a “big, squarish frame house that 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” (par. 2). In other words, the house was beautiful and full of life, love, and hope, as Emily used to be in the past. Now, the house is “lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps-an eyesore among eyesores” (par. 2). Therefore, the house is a perfect representation of Emily, and she deteriorated throughout time, both mentally and physically. It should be noted that Emily was similar to most young women of the pre-Civil war South, who upheld the traditions and values of marriage as the most important event in a woman’s life. However, continuous rejection of suitors by her strict father chipped her vitality away as the house was gradually deteriorating alongside her.
The second major symbolism is Emily’s gray hair, which plays a major symbolic role on two separate occasions throughout the story. Firstly, the narrator states, “when we next saw Miss Emily, she had grown fat and her hair was turning gray. During the next few years it grew grayer and grayer until it attained an even pepper-and-salt iron-gray, when it ceased turning” (par. 35). In other words, Emily’s hair symbolizes the time passed since her young adult period. It also highlights the fact that Emily was an old lady after her long disappearance. Secondly, gray hair symbolizes the final clue for the mysteries involving Homer and Emily. The narrator states, “then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, and leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair” (par. 48). Therefore, her strand of hair makes it fully evident that she was a mad woman who poisoned Homer and slept near his corpse for several decades.
The third major symbolism is a man’s toilet set, which represents Emily’s hope for marriage and love. The narrator states, “we learned that Miss Emily had been to the jeweler’s and ordered a man’s toilet set in silver, with the letters H. B. on each piece. Two days later, we learned that she had bought a complete outfit of men’s clothing, including a nightshirt, and we said, “They are married” (par. 32). In other words, the initials stand for Homer Barron, whereas a man’s toiler set and other items indicate purchases for a couple planning to get married or already married. It is evident that Emily was buying these items because she was hopeful of finally marrying someone and living her life in love and happiness in accordance with her Southern traditions. Later in the story, the narrator states, “a thin, acrid pall as of the tomb seemed to lie everywhere upon this room decked and furnished as for a bridal: upon the valance curtains of faded rose color, upon the rose-shaded lights, upon the dressing table, upon the delicate array of crystal and the man’s toilet things backed with tarnished silver” (par. 45). Therefore, a man’s toilet set symbolizes how she hopes and dreams about marriage and love were never realized since the items she purchased were covered in dust and were part of the tomb of Homer Barron.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the story of Emily and Homer contains three key symbols such as the house, gray hair, and a man’s toilet set, which symbolize the hidden meaning of Emily’s descent into madness, deterioration, aging, and failed hope for love, marriage, and happiness. The entire story is a process of decoding Emily’s nature and her personal secrets after her death. In addition, the story reveals how a person raised in a strict traditional environment can be inflexible to adjust to progress and novel ways of living. Lastly, the writing also addresses how madness and desperate love can make one commit horrendous crimes, such as Homer’s murder by poisoning.