A Rose for Emily Plot Analysis

Most good stories start with a fundamental list of ingredients: the initial situation,
conflict, complication, climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion. Great writers
sometimes shake up the recipe and add some spice.
Initial Situation
Death and Taxes
As we discuss in "Symbols, Imagery, Allegory," Faulkner might be playing on the
Benjamin Franklin quote, "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death
and taxes," in this initial scene. We move from a huge funeral attended by everybody in
town, to this strange little story about taxes.
Conflict
Taxes aren't the only thing that stinks.
The taxes seem tame compared to what comes next. In Section II, we learn lots of
bizarre stuff about Miss Emily: when her father died she refused to believe it (or let on
she believed it) for four days (counting the day he died); the summer after her father
died, she finally gets a boyfriend (she's in her thirties); when worried that her boyfriend
might leave her, she bought some poison and her boyfriend disappeared, but there was a
bad smell around her house. We technically have enough information to figure
everything out right here, but we are thrown off by the issue of the taxes, and by the
way in which facts are jumbled together.
Complication
The Town's Conscience
For this stage it might be helpful to think of this story as the town's confession. This
section is what complicates things for the town's conscience. The town was horrible to
Miss Emily when she started dating Homer Barron. They wanted to hold her to the
southern lady ideals her forbearers had mapped out for her. She was finally able to break
free when her father died, but the town won't let her do it. When they can't stop her from
dating Homer themselves, they sick the cousins on her.

Climax
"For Rats"
Even though this story seems all jumbled up chronologically, the climax comes roughly
in the middle of the story, lending the story a smooth, symmetrical feel. According to
Faulkner, Homer probably was a bit of a rat, one which noble Miss Emily would have
felt perfectly in the right to exterminate. Yet, she also wanted to hold tight to the dream
that she might have a normal life, with love and a family. When she sees that everybody
the townspeople, the minister, her cousins, and even Homer himself is bent on
messing up her plans, she has an extreme reaction. That's why, for us, the climax is
encapsulated in the image of the skull and crossbones on the arsenic package and the
warning, "For rats."
Suspense
Deadly Gossip
As with the climax, Faulkner follows a traditional plot structure, at least in terms of the
story of Emily and Homer. Emily buys the arsenic, and at that moment the information
is beamed into the brains of the townspeople. This is one of the nastiest sections. The
town is in suspense over whether they are married, soon will be, or never will be. Their
reactions range from murderous, to pitying, to downright interference. We also learn
that Homer Barron was last seen entering the residence of Miss Emily Grierson on the
night in question. So, we can be in suspense about what happened to him, though by the
time we can appreciate that this is something to be suspenseful about, we already know
what happened.
Denouement
The Next 40 Years
At this point, we've already been given a rough outline of Emily's life, beginning with
her funeral, going back ten years to when the "newer generation" came to collect the
taxes, and then back another thirty some odd years to the death of Emily's father, the
subsequent affair with Homer, and the disappearance of Homer. The story winds down
by filling us in on Miss Emily's goings on in the 40 years between Homer's

disappearance and Emily's funeral. Other than the painting lessons, her life during that
time is a mystery, because she stayed inside.
Conclusion
The Bed, the Rotting Corpse, and the Hair
The townspeople enter the bedroom that's been locked for 40 years, only to find the
rotting corpse of Homer Barron
Analysis of Major Characters
Emily Grierson
Emily is the classic outsider, controlling and limiting the towns access to her true
identity by remaining hidden. The house that shields Emily from the world suggests the
mind of the woman who inhabits it: shuttered, dusty, and dark. The object of the towns
intense scrutiny, Emily is a muted and mysterious figure. On one level, she exhibits the
qualities of the stereotypical southern eccentric: unbalanced, excessively tragic, and
subject to bizarre behavior. Emily enforces her own sense of law and conduct, such as
when she refuses to pay her taxes or state her purpose for buying the poison. Emily also
skirts the law when she refuses to have numbers attached to her house when federal
mail service is instituted. Her dismissal of the law eventually takes on more sinister
consequences, as she takes the life of the man whom she refuses to allow to abandon
her.

The narrator portrays Emily as a monument, but at the same time she is pitied and often
irritating, demanding to live life on her own terms. The subject of gossip and
speculation, the townspeople cluck their tongues at the fact that she accepts Homers
attentions with no firm wedding plans. After she purchases the poison, the townspeople
conclude that she will kill herself. Emilys instabilities, however, lead her in a different
direction,

and

the

final

scene

of

the

story

suggests

that

she

is

necrophiliac. Necrophilia typically means a sexual attraction to dead bodies. In a

broader sense, the term also describes a powerful desire to control another, usually in
the context of a romantic or deeply personal relationship. Necrophiliacs tend to be so
controlling in their relationships that they ultimately resort to bonding with

unresponsive entities with no resistance or willin other words, with dead bodies. Mr.
Grierson controlled Emily, and after his death, Emily temporarily controls him by
refusing to give up his dead body. She ultimately transfers this control to Homer, the
object of her affection. Unable to find a traditional way to express her desire to possess
Homer, Emily takes his life to achieve total power over him.
Homer Barron
Homer, much like Emily, is an outsider, a stranger in town who becomes the subject of
gossip. Unlike Emily, however, Homer swoops into town brimming with charm, and he
initially becomes the center of attention and the object of affection. Some townspeople
distrust him because he is both a Northerner and day laborer, and his Sunday outings
with Emily are in many ways scandalous, because the townspeople regard Emily
despite her eccentricitiesas being from a higher social class. Homers failure to
properly court and marry Emily prompts speculation and suspicion. He carouses with
younger men at the Elks Club, and the narrator portrays him as either a homosexual or
simply an eternal bachelor, dedicated to his single status and uninterested in marriage.
Homer says only that he is not a marrying man.
As the foreman of a company that has arrived in town to pave the sidewalks, Homer is
an emblem of the North and the changes that grip the once insular and genteel world of
the South. With his machinery, Homer represents modernity and industrialization, the
force of progress that is upending traditional values and provoking resistance and alarm
among traditionalists. Homer brings innovation to the rapidly changing world of this
Southern town, whose new leaders are themselves pursuing more modern ideas. The
change that Homer brings to Emilys life, as her first real lover, is equally as profound
and seals his grim fate as the victim of her plan to keep him permanently by her side.
Themes, Motifs, and Symbols
Themes
Tradition versus Change
Through the mysterious figure of Emily Grierson, Faulkner conveys the struggle that
comes from trying to maintain tradition in the face of widespread, radical change.
Jefferson is at a crossroads, embracing a modern, more commercial future while still

perched on the edge of the past, from the faded glory of the Grierson home to the town
cemetery where anonymous Civil War soldiers have been laid to rest. Emily herself is a
tradition, steadfastly staying the same over the years despite many changes in her
community. She is in many ways a mixed blessing. As a living monument to the past,
she represents the traditions that people wish to respect and honor; however, she is also
a burden and entirely cut off from the outside world, nursing eccentricities that others
cannot understand.

Emily lives in a timeless vacuum and world of her own making. Refusing to have
metallic numbers affixed to the side of her house when the town receives modern mail
service, she is out of touch with the reality that constantly threatens to break through her
carefully sealed perimeters. Garages and cotton gins have replaced the grand antebellum
homes. The aldermen try to break with the unofficial agreement about taxes once forged
between Colonel Sartoris and Emily. This new and younger generation of leaders brings
in Homers company to pave the sidewalks. Although Jefferson still highly regards
traditional notions of honor and reputation, the narrator is critical of the old men in their
Confederate uniforms who gather for Emilys funeral. For them as for her, time is
relative. The past is not a faint glimmer but an ever-present, idealized realm. Emilys
macabre bridal chamber is an extreme attempt to stop time and prevent change,
although doing so comes at the expense of human life.
The Power of Death
Death hangs over A Rose for Emily, from the narrators mention of Emilys death at
the beginning of the story through the description of Emilys death-haunted life to the
foundering of tradition in the face of modern changes. In every case, death prevails over
every attempt to master it. Emily, a fixture in the community, gives in to death slowly.
The narrator compares her to a drowned woman, a bloated and pale figure left too long
in the water. In the same description, he refers to her small, spare skeletonshe is
practically dead on her feet. Emily stands as an emblem of the Old South, a grand lady
whose respectability and charm rapidly decline through the years, much like the
outdated sensibilities the Griersons represent. The death of the old social order will
prevail, despite many townspeoples attempts to stay true to the old ways.

Emily attempts to exert power over death by denying the fact of death itself. Her bizarre
relationship to the dead bodies of the men she has lovedher necrophiliais revealed
first when her father dies. Unable to admit that he has died, Emily clings to the
controlling paternal figure whose denial and control became the onlyyet extreme
form of love she knew. She gives up his body only reluctantly. When Homer dies, Emily
refuses to acknowledge it once againalthough this time, she herself was responsible
for bringing about the death. In killing Homer, she was able to keep him near her.
However, Homers lifelessness rendered him permanently distant. Emily and Homers
grotesque marriage reveals Emilys disturbing attempt to fuse life and death. However,
death ultimately triumphs.
Motifs
Watching
Emily is the subject of the intense, controlling gaze of the narrator and residents of
Jefferson. In lieu of an actual connection to Emily, the townspeople create subjective
and often distorted interpretations of the woman they know little about. They attend her
funeral under the guise of respect and honor, but they really want to satisfy their lurid
curiosity about the towns most notable eccentric. One of the ironic dimensions of the
story is that for all the gossip and theorizing, no one guesses the perverse extent of
Emilys true nature.
For most of the story, Emily is seen only from a distance, by people who watch her
through the windows or who glimpse her in her doorway. The narrator refers to her as
an objectan idol. This pattern changes briefly during her courtship with Homer
Barron, when she leaves her house and is frequently out in the world. However, others
spy on her just as avidly, and she is still relegated to the role of object, a distant figure
who takes on character according to the whims of those who watch her. In this sense,
the act of watching is powerful because it replaces an actual human presence with a
made-up narrative that changes depending on who is doing the watching. No one knows
the Emily that exists beyond what they can see, and her true self is visible to them only
after she dies and her secrets are revealed.
Dust

A pall of dust hangs over the story, underscoring the decay and decline that figure so
prominently. The dust throughout Emilys house is a fitting accompaniment to the faded
lives within. When the aldermen arrive to try and secure Emilys annual tax payment,
the house smells of dust and disuse. As they seat themselves, the movement stirs dust
all around them, and it slowly rises, roiling about their thighs and catching the slim
beam of sunlight entering the room. The house is a place of stasis, where regrets and
memories have remained undisturbed. In a way, the dust is a protective presence; the
aldermen cannot penetrate Emilys murky relationship with reality. The layers of dust
also suggest the cloud of obscurity that hides Emilys true nature and the secrets her
house contains. In the final scene, the dust is an oppressive presence that seems to
emanate from Homers dead body. The dust, which is everywhere, seems even more
horrible here.
Symbols
Emilys House
Emilys house, like Emily herself, is a monument, the only remaining emblem of a
dying world of Southern aristocracy. The outside of the large, square frame house is
lavishly decorated. The cupolas, spires, and scrolled balconies are the hallmarks of a
decadent style of architecture that became popular in the 1870s. By the time the story
takes place, much has changed. The street and neighborhood, at one time affluent,
pristine, and privileged, have lost their standing as the realm of the elite. The house is in
some ways an extension of Emily: it bares its stubborn and coquettish decay to the
towns residents. It is a testament to the endurance and preservation of tradition but now
seems out of place among the cotton wagons, gasoline pumps, and other industrial
trappings that surround itjust as the Souths old values are out of place in a changing
society.
Emilys house also represents alienation, mental illness, and death. It is a shrine to the
living past, and the sealed upstairs bedroom is her macabre trophy room where she
preserves the man she would not allow to leave her. As when the group of men
sprinkled lime along the foundation to counteract the stench of rotting flesh, the
townspeople skulk along the edges of Emilys life and property. The house, like its
owner, is an object of fascination for them. They project their own lurid fantasies and
interpretations onto the crumbling edifice and mysterious figure inside. Emilys death is

a chance for them to gain access to this forbidden realm and confirm their wildest
notions and most sensationalistic suppositions about what had occurred on the inside.
The Strand of Hair
The strand of hair is a reminder of love lost and the often perverse things people do in
their pursuit of happiness. The strand of hair also reveals the inner life of a woman who,
despite her eccentricities, was committed to living life on her own terms and not
submitting her behavior, no matter how shocking, to the approval of others. Emily
subscribes to her own moral code and occupies a world of her own invention, where
even murder is permissible. The narrator foreshadows the discovery of the long strand
of hair on the pillow when he describes the physical transformation that Emily
undergoes as she ages. Her hair grows more and more grizzled until it becomes a
vigorous iron-gray. The strand of hair ultimately stands as the last vestige of a life left
to languish and decay, much like the body of Emilys former lover.
Time and Temporal Shifts
In A Rose for Emily, Faulkner does not rely on a conventional linear approach to
present his characters inner lives and motivations. Instead, he fractures, shifts, and
manipulates time, stretching the story out over several decades. We learn about Emilys
life through a series of flashbacks. The story begins with a description of Emilys
funeral and then moves into the near-distant past. At the end of the story, we see that the
funeral is a flashback as well, preceding the unsealing of the upstairs bedroom door. We
see Emily as a young girl, attracting suitors whom her father chases off with a whip, and
as an old woman, when she dies at seventy-four. As Emilys grip on reality grows more
tenuous over the years, the South itself experiences a great deal of change. By moving
forward and backward in time, Faulkner portrays the past and the present as coexisting
and is able to examine how they influence each other. He creates a complex, layered,
and multidimensional world.

Faulkner presents two visions of time in the story. One is based in the mathematical
precision and objectivity of reality, in which time moves forward relentlessly, and
whats done is done; only the present exists. The other vision is more subjective. Time
moves forward, but events dont stay in distant memory; rather, memory can exist

unhindered, alive and active no matter how much time passes or how much things
change. Even if a person is physically bound to the present, the past can play a vibrant,
dynamic role. Emily stays firmly planted in a subjective realm of time, where life moves
on with her in itbut she stays committed, regardless, to the past.
The Narrator
The unnamed narrator of A Rose for Emily serves as the towns collective voice.
Critics have debated whether it is a man or woman; a former lover of Emily Griersons;
the boy who remembers the sight of Mr. Grierson in the doorway, holding the whip; or
the town gossip, spearheading the effort to break down the door at the end. It is
possible, too, that the narrator is Emilys former servant, Tobehe would have known
her intimately, perhaps including her secret. A few aspects of the story support this
theory, such as the fact that the narrator often refers to Emily as Miss Emily and
provides only one descriptive detail about the Colonel Sartoris, the mayor: the fact that
he enforced a law requiring that black women wear aprons in public. In any case, the
narrator hides behind the collective pronoun we. By using we, the narrator can attribute
what might be his or her own thoughts and opinions to all of the townspeople, turning
private ideas into commonly held beliefs.

The narrator deepens the mystery of who he is and how much he knows at the end of the
story, when the townspeople discover Homers body. The narrator confesses Already
we knew that an upstairs bedroom had been sealed up. However, we never find
out how the narrator knows about the room. More important, at this point, for the first
time in the story, the narrator uses the pronoun they instead of we to refer to the
townspeople. First, he says, Already we knew that there was one room. . . . Then he
changes to, They waited until Miss Emily was decently in the ground before they
opened it. This is a significant shift. Until now, the narrator has willingly grouped
himself with the rest of the townspeople, accepting the communitys actions, thoughts,
and speculations as his own. Here, however, the narrator distances himself from the
action, as though the breaking down of the door is something he cant bring himself to
endorse. The shift is quick and subtle, and he returns to we in the passages that follow,
but it gives us an important clue about the narrators identity. Whoever he was, the

narrator cared for Emily, despite her eccentricities and horrible, desperate act. In a town
that treated her as an oddity and, finally, a horror, a kind, sympathetic gestureeven
one as slight as symbolically looking away when the private door is forced open
stands out.
Summary and Analysis: "A Rose for Emily"Faulkner's Chronology
One way of explaining the excellence of "A Rose for Emily" is by considering its lack
of chronological order. Such a dissection of the short story initially might appear to
weaken it, but this approach allows us to see Faulkner's genius at work particularly
his own, unique way of telling a story. Unlike other writers of his era, such as John
Steinbeck and Ernest Hemingway, who usually narrate their stories in a strictly linear
progression, Faulkner violates all chronological sequences.

Only a few specific dates are mentioned in the story, but a close reading makes it
possible to assign certain sequential events. We know, for example, that Colonel Sartoris
remits Miss Emily's taxes in 1894, and that he has been dead for at least ten years when
she confronts the new aldermen. Likewise, we know that she dies at the age of 74.
Using these facts, we can build a framework on which to hang the following
chronology:
Section IV: Miss Emily is born.
Section II: She and her father ride around the town in an old, elegant carriage.
Section II: Her father dies, and for three days she refuses to acknowledge his death.
Section III: Homer Barron arrives in town and begins to court Miss Emily.
Section IV: She buys a man's silver toilet set a mirror, brush, and comb and men's
clothing.
Section III: The town relegates her to disgrace and sends for her cousins.
Section IV: The cousins arrive, and Homer leaves town.
Section IV: Three days after the cousins leave, Homer returns.

Section III: Miss Emily buys poison at the local drug store.
Section IV: Homer disappears.
Section II: A horrible stench envelops Miss Emily's house.
Section II: Four town aldermen secretly sprinkle lime on her lawn.
Ironically, when we reconstruct the chronological arrangement in this linear fashion, we
render Faulkner's masterpiece an injustice: Looking at the central events
chronologically, Miss Emily buys poison, Homer Barron disappears suddenly, and a
horrible stench surrounds the house it is apparent why she buys the poison, and what
causes the stench. The only surprise would be the shocking realization that Miss Emily
has slept for many years in the same bed with her dead lover's rotting corpse. The horror
of this knowledge makes the murder almost insignificant when compared to the
necrophilia. However, the greatness of the story lies not in linearly recounting the
events, but, instead, in the manner that Faulkner tells it; he leaves us horrified as we
discover, bit by bit, why this so-called noble woman is now a "fallen monument."
In contrast to a traditional narrative approach, the story, as Faulkner presents it, begins
with Miss Emily's funeral and ends shortly thereafter with the discovery of Homer's
decayed corpse. Among other themes, it emphasizes the differences between the past,
with its aristocracy Colonel Sartoris' gallantry, the Griersons' aloofness and pride,
and the board of old aldermen's respect for Miss Emily and the modern generation's
business-like mentality, embodied in the board of new aldermen and the many modern
conveniences we hear about.