William Faulkner: a Rose for Emily, the Symbol of Emily's House
William Faulkner's ,,A Rose for Emily " is a tragic story about Emily Grierson's life and death, who desperately stood against the law and the modernization in all her life. The Old South declines, and the new South up rises which Emily can not accept as she wants to keep the memory of the past, when her father was alive, and she did not have to stand alone. The story takes place in a town called Jefferson, in the late 19th century and the early 20th century.
The plot is not told in a chronological order in the story, it is our job to figure out the chain of events. The first event is when her father dies, and she is left alone. Later, in the town the construction of sidewalks begins, and Homer Barrel appears as he is the leader of the builders. Emily and Barrel are seen together a lot of times, and people of the town think they will get married. After a while, Emily visits the druggist, and asks for arsenic poison, she does not say what for. Then Emily's cousins arrive and Homer leaves. While her cousins are in Jefferson, she buys toiletries with Homer's initials. Later, her cousins leave, and Homer is seen entering Emily's house. That was the last time that townspeople saw Homer Barrel. After Homer's disappearance, Emily starts to age, she gains weight, and never leaves the house, which is getting smellier and smellier. Eventually, Emily passes, and people visit her house. They find a secret room, in which there is a bed, and a skeleton lies on it dressed in a nightshirt, and in the room there are the suit and the ties, and the silver toilette that Emily bought before Homer was last seen. The skeleton is in the attitude of an embrace, a next to it there is a pillow, on which the townspeople find a strand of hair which had a colour of Emily's hair before she died. The story is written in first person plural narrative, often uses ,,we", and ,,our" which consist of all the townspeople. This is important, because it indicates Emily's influence upon the town.
The plot is not told in a chronological order in the story, it is our job to figure out the chain of events. The first event is when her father dies, and she is left alone. Later, in the town the construction of sidewalks begins, and Homer Barrel appears as he is the leader of the builders. Emily and Barrel are seen together a lot of times, and people of the town think they will get married. After a while, Emily visits the druggist, and asks for arsenic poison, she does not say what for. Then Emily's cousins arrive and Homer leaves. While her cousins are in Jefferson, she buys toiletries with Homer's initials. Later, her cousins leave, and Homer is seen entering Emily's house. That was the last time that townspeople saw Homer Barrel. After Homer's disappearance, Emily starts to age, she gains weight, and never leaves the house, which is getting smellier and smellier. Eventually, Emily passes, and people visit her house. They find a secret room, in which there is a bed, and a skeleton lies on it dressed in a nightshirt, and in the room there are the suit and the ties, and the silver toilette that Emily bought before Homer was last seen. The skeleton is in the attitude of an embrace, a next to it there is a pillow, on which the townspeople find a strand of hair which had a colour of Emily's hair before she died. The story is written in first person plural narrative, often uses ,,we", and ,,our" which consist of all the townspeople. This is important, because it indicates Emily's influence upon the town.