Sharleen Bains

A Rose for Emily

1) Why did Miss Emily not pay taxes?

After Miss Emily’s father passed away, she did not have enough money to pay her taxes. Hence, Colonel Sartoris, being a
traditional southern gentleman, pitied her and exempted her from paying taxes (he created a fake story to do so). Miss
Emily, thus, refused to pay taxes, even when pressured by the newer generation of aldermen.

2) When Miss Emily’s father dies, how does she act? What does this seem to reveal about her mental state? How
does this event impact her subsequent behaviour?

Miss Emily didn’t immediately respond to her father’s death, demonstrating a reluctance to adapt. Miss Emily, for
example, was dressed as usual when she met the women offering condolences, and reassured them that her father was
alive. She also stayed with her dead father's body until he was forced to be buried properly by the townspeople. All of
which demonstrate her psychological decline. From this event onwards, her weak emotional health affected her
subsequent decisions, as she stored her "love" Homer’s dead body until it decomposed into dust as well.

3) Describe some of the events/details of Homer Barron and Miss Emily’s courtship.

Homer Barron and Miss Emily’s relationship is strange. Miss Emily met him directly after her father’s death. This is
significant because at this time she was suffering psychologically. Homer, therefore, to her was more than a significant
other, he was also her only support system. However, as indicated in the story, Homer wasn’t interested in getting married,
instead he seemed to like men. Other details can also be used to explain their relationship, and its failure. For instance,
they seemed to have contrasting characteristics. Homer was a happy, social person, with eyes “lighter than his face.” Miss
Emily, on the other hand, was antisocial, dark and snobby, whose eyes’ look "like two small pieces of coal pressed into a
lump of dough." Both of them were opposites who undeniably clashed, leading to the end of their relationship.

4) In the last sentence of the story Faulkner stresses the fact that the hair is iron-gray and long. What is the
significance of this fact?

In the last sentence of the story Faulkner stresses the fact that Emily’s hair is iron-gray and long because: it signifies the
death of her sexuality. For example, as soon as her father dies, Miss Emily’s hair is cut short, giving her a girlish
appearance. In this case, her hair represents the youthfulness of her sexuality. Her father who stopped her from getting
married just passed away, thus leaving her with the opportunity to get married, and to find love. However, a few years
after Homer "disappears,” Emily’s hair turns grey signifying the death of her sexuality, and the loss of her only chance to
get married.

5) The narrator leaps back and forth in time, rather than following a strict chronological sequence. Why do you
think Faulkner chose this narrative technique?

The narrative is told partly as the character knows it and partly as he reflects on it. The
shift in chronological order keeps us intrigued and creates an atmosphere of mystery/ambiguity.

a. Who narrates the story? (not a specific name)

In the story, William Faulkner employs a collective narrator to describe the events in Emily Grierson's life. The
townspeople of Jefferson, where Emily lives, make up the narrator.
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Sharleen Bains

b. Describe the personality or attitude of the townspeople as revealed throughout the story. Provide at least two
quotations as proof.

The townspeople are best represented by the narrator, who seems to be one of them.
Firstly, Miss Emily’s abrasive attitude and high-and-mighty ways were not appreciated by the townspeople. However, they
still pitied her. As evidenced, when they said “poor Emily. Her kinsfolk should come to her,” when she started to date a
man below her social class. They pitied her enough to check up on her and acknowledged that her loneliness made her
love a man below her standards. Though for the townspeople, she was also a fascinating relic, whose occasional
appearances and anonymity remained a topic of discussion for decades. For example, after her death, the women mostly
attended her funeral “out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one… had seen in at least 10 years.” This
displays a contrasting side of the townspeople, Miss Emily seemed to be a topic of gossip for them, rather than a disturbed
human being.

c. What comment does Faulkner seem to be making about the South through this story?

Miss Emily’s character is used to represent the Old South and its collapse. She is a living relic of a romanticized history,
founded on a hierarchical social order. This explains why the people of the town hold Emily in such high regard. The
Grierson name serves as a sentimental reminder of the so-called glory days before the Civil. Though this concept is
represented in many other ways as well. For instance, Emily Grierson’s strange obsession with her dilapidated home, past
rituals, and with the dead bodies of her loved ones, all represent the South’s nostalgia for the former antebellum ways.

6) For each of the following words, identify its part of speech and define it according to its context within the story:

perpetuity - the state of lasting forever

pallid - pale, lifelessness
temerity - the nerve to do something
circumvent - get around something/or someone, evade
thwarted - prevent something from being accomplished
acrid - pungent smell

7) Discuss tone and mood in the story. What words are being used (diction) to convey a certain purpose? Write this
answer in a paragraph format, stating the tone/mood, providing words from the story and connecting it to the
tone/mood that you identified.

The tone of this short story is sympathetic. The narrator expresses his sympathy towards Emily in various ways. For
instance, he flashes back to moments in her life where she was bullied, first by the town leaders over her taxes, and then
by the townspeople who ridiculed her friendship with Homer. He understands the tough life she's had, from being bound
to her father and then, following his passing, being unable to go on and live a normal life of her own. Thus, he humanizes
her character, making her psychotic actions, like that of storing Homer’s dead body, seem less appalling. The narrator also
highlights her weak, diminishing character by referring to her as “small,” “spare” and “pallid.” By describing her as this
lifeless character, he makes her a subject of pity. Furthermore, the townspeople also pity her, they call her “poor,” and
often justify her actions. For example, when her house reeked, the judge stated “will you go accuse a lady to her face of
smelling bad,” displaying sympathy towards her. The mayor, Colonel Sartoris, even freed her from paying taxes after her
father’s passing.