“A Rose for Emily” is a beautiful short story written by William Faulkner in which the writer uses new structural devices of story telling. The central character, Emily, is a symbol of changes. She also represents the victimized generation in South America after the civil war. The North was getting industrialized and moving forward. Emily’s father did not give her a chance in her life to choose a partner of her liking, or give her freedom to lead a happy life. A critical analysis of the story is the focus of this paper.
The obvious doubt lingering in the mind of the reader is what would have happened to Emily, if Homer Barron’s murder had been detected before Emily’s death. Such a doubt cannot be sustained, as the story itself rejects such possibilities. Therefore, there is no question of defending her, or even thinking of prosecuting her for her crimes, because Emily is not painted as an individual in the story, capable of taking independent decisions. She is, as the narrator points out, “Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town” (Faulkner). Her morals, motives, and even love are governed by the “the recognition of her dignity as the last Grierson”. Only in privacy she can fulfill her desires and impulses. It resulted in a form of disease, called necrophilia. Her subconscious self is in love with loneliness, murder, filth, stinking rooms, and the erotic desire to sleep with corpses. When she says,” I have no taxes in Jefferson” (Faulkner), she means that she is not part of the society or the state. Hence, she does not come under any kind of social scrutiny.
The chronology of the events given in the story is very complex. Emily’s father ruled her life by turning away every suitor. No one living nearby knows what really goes on in that house. The only curiosity is to know what happens next in her life in the present context. However, the writer holds back all events going on chronologically. Only after her funeral, the readers come to know that she is a Jefferson and that her mysterious loneliness has many events behind it. Then comes the exposure of events related to her house, her father, taxes, painting, etc. The author prefers to present them in a muddled way. To know that Emily was an Angel and she changed into a witch due to reasons beyond her power, the readers have to rearrange the events again in a chronological time. At one stage, when she buys the poison, the readers suspect suicide, and the stench spreading from the house causes great suspicion. The rat that is killed is the next curiosity. It is only at the end of the story that one can discover the actual rat that was given arsenic.
The story is charged with symbolism. The murder and Emily’s love for the corpse indicate her desperation for human love. “When the Yankee, Homer Barron, enters her life, the people in the town feel a sigh of relief, thinking that at last she has a man to live with her”. The ticking of the watch, the hair near the skeleton, etc, have something to add to the richness of the story, though they are inanimate objects. The role the time plays and the jumbling of the chronology make the story very sophisticated at a time when the readers were accustomed to conventional reading. Taking all these into consideration, one can say that “A Rose for Emily” occupies a great place in the history of literature.
Reference
Faulkner, William. “A Rose for Emily”. Web.