A Rose for Emily

By: William Faulkner

(1897-1962)
Characters:
Emily Grierson. The object of fascination in the story. A mysterious figure who
changes into a vibrant and hopeful young girl to a very secretive
woman. Devastated and alone after her father’s death, an object of
pity of the towns people. She ultimately poison her potential suitor
Homer and sealed his corpse into an upstairs room.
Homer Barron A foreman from the North. Large man with a dark complexion, a
booming voice, and light-colored eyes. A gruff and demanding
boss, he also wins with admirers in Jefferson because of his
gregarious nature and good sense of humor. He develops interest
with Emily and soon townspeople view him as a poor. If not
scandalous, choice of a male. He disappears in Emily’s house and
decomposes in an attic bedroom after Emily kills him.

Judge Steven Mayor of Jefferson. He attempts to delicately handle the complaints

about the smell emanating from the Grierson property. To be
respectful of Emily’s pride and former position in the community, he
and the aide man decide to sprinkle lime on the property in the
middle of the night.
Mr. Grierson Emily’s father. Controlling father, he wanted the best for his
daughter especially the best husband for her.
Tobe Emily’s servant. He dutifully cares for her and tends to her needs.
After Emily’s death, he walks out of the back door and never
returns.
Colonel Sartoris former mayor of Jefferson. Colonel Sartoris absolves Emily for any
tax burden after the death of her father. His elaborate and
benevolent gesture is not heeded by the succeeding generations of
towns’ leader.

Setting: This story was particularly happened in one of the town in

Jefferson.
Theme: Secrecy and obsession: the secretive Emily Grierson is a source
of fascination in the town of Jefferson, and the townspeople regard
her with obsessive curiosity.
 The Old South: Emily represents the Old South and the
aristocracy who held power in Jefferson prior to the civil war: she
refuses to acknowledge that times have changed.
Death and Control; after the deaths of her father and Homer
Barron, Emily attempts to exert control over both of them by
keeping their bodies in her home.
Conflict: (Man vs. Man; Man vs. Himself:
Man vs. nature; Man vs. Society; Man vs. Supernatural)
 Miss Emily vs. her father
 Miss Emily vs. herself
 Miss Emily vs. Homer
 Miss Emily vs. townspeople
Introduction: This story was written of one of the great writers in America,
William Faulkner. He truly wrote a beautiful story which is “A Rose
for Emily” this is one the best story he had published. It seems a
unique story because when you read the title maybe the first thing
that comes in your mind is a lady who received a flower from
someone, but it’s not like that. The character of t5he said flower will
reflect to the personality of one of the character which is EMILY.
Summary:
 In Jefferson’s town where the family Grierson was living,
their house was one of the most beautiful in the town.
Colonel Sartoris is the father of the family, he has a daughter
named Emily, she is beautiful but no man would dare to
court her because of Colonel Sartoris.
 When Colonel Sartoris died Miss Emily got frustrated, she
almost forgot herself and she won’t even went out of her
house and to the point that the house has smell because she
didn’t take care anymore. As days passed by Miss Emily has
changes in her personality, she became fat, the color of her
hairs turns into gray and he lost her looked before and other
people called her poor Emily.
 One time when Miss Emily dare to went out of her house she
met Homer Barron and after some days had passed by they
became a lover and to the point that they will get married.
Others felt happy for Emily because finally she met the man
that she will love. But after several days that they heard that
Emily and Homer Barron got married they were not able to
see Barron in the town.
  One time Miss Emily bought a rat poison but they just
ignored about this. Emily was really running out of her mind
because of what she had done, she poison the man that she
love and left the body in her bed. She didn’t even buried the
body of Homer Barron, she totally lost her mind and old age
come in her way until she got died.
Conclusion: Life is too short to waste even single day of it, the loss of one
of our love ones doesn’t mean the end of our life. It’s not that
easy but we must accept the reality, that’s life and we have
nothing to do but to go with the flow. Life is one of the great
blessings that we have and we must treasure every moment
of our life even in sickness and in healthy.
Moral Lesson: Conflict between Emily and his father.
Parents should treat their sons/daughters the best. Do not
be over protected because sometimes you think that what
you are doing is the right for them but rather children it may
lead them to be a bad person.
Emily and Homer Barron:
In the story, for me Emily loved Homer from the bottom of
her heart. Because of her father did to her teenage life, she
thinks that Homer is the right guy for her that’s why when the
townspeople said that Homer is poor and scandalous and
that they can’t be together, she decided to poison him so
that he will never leave him.
Conflict between Emily and the Townspeople
The actions of the town drove her to do what she did and
how they criticized her for not being social. People always
criticized the actions of other people, she decided to stay at
her house not because she wanted to be alone for her entire
life, and for me she is just too tired for all the criticisms that
she has suffering from the townspeople.