Republic of the Philippines

University of Eastern Philippines

University Town, Northern Samar
GRADUATE STUDIES

FAEONA FERNA JOYCE M. MOLINES DR. VILLA C. CARPIO

DALL-2 Professor

Historical Criticism of “A rose for Emily”

In “A Rose for Emily”, William Faulkner describes the Grierson house a prominent

structure “It was a big, squares 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.” This is a representation of what the house and the south were prior

to the end of the civil war, and gradual decay of the house and Emily Grierson represent the

changes that came after the civil war ended.

The end of the civil war brought about changes for the south that not all southern

population was content with. However, they all had to live with the regulations brought up on

them on order to stay within the law. The negligence of Emily to pay taxes may refer to the

south unwillingness to pay for the financial crisis that the Yankees had put the nation in. “I have

no taxes in Jefferson. Colonel Sartoris explained it to me. Perhaps one of you can gain access to

the city records and satisfy your selves.” this quote is with high probability to the southern

people feeling cheated into paying for a crisis such as the 1929 stock market crush.

At the time that Faulkner wrote “A Rose for Emily” he was deeply in debt, and he had to

turn his interests into making money during a time as harsh as the 1929 stock market crash.

“Faulkner’s need for income stemmed largely from his growing family. In April, Estelle Oldham
had divorced Cornell Franklin, and in June she and Faulkner were married at or near College Hill

Presbyterian Church, just north of Oxford. Estelle brought to the marriage two children”.

The year 1930 would be significant to Faulkner. In April of this year, he bought an old

decrepit home, which he named the Rowan Oak. The purchase of this home plunged him further

into debt, but he would keep the home for the rest of his life “he bought a decrepit antebellum

house in Oxford”, I could not ignore the term decrepit as an adjective for the house that William

Faulkner bought, as it might have influenced the description of the house of Emily Grierson.

In “A Rose for Emily”, we are presented with the many changes that a society is going

through in a parallel to reality through a literary work. Faulkner does a great job in putting all

the pieces together to make the connections with the present reality of 1929 and the way that all

the successes of hat time in history affects southern society. As the south was adapting to the

changes that the northern society was inflicting upon them, they had to deal with the 1929

market crash and the clash of customs that would bring inevitable consequences to their lives.