A Rose for Emily Narrator

First Person (Peripheral Narrator)

The fascinating narrator of "A Rose for Emily" is more rightly called

"first people" than "first person." Usually referring to itself as "we," the

narrator speaks sometimes for the men of Jefferson, sometimes for the

women, and often for both. It also spans three generations of

Jeffersonians, including the generation of Miss Emily's father, Miss

Emily's generation, and the "newer generation," made up of the children

of Miss Emily's contemporaries. The narrator is pretty hard on the first

two generations, and it's easy to see how their treatment of Miss Emily

may have led to her downfall. This lends the narrative a somewhat

confessional feel. 

While we are on the subject of "we," notice no one townsperson is

completely responsible for what happened to Emily. (It is fair to say,

though that some are more responsible than others.) The willingness of

the town to now admit responsibility is a hopeful sign, and one that

allows us to envision a better future for generations to come. We

discuss this further in "Tone," so check out that section for more

information.

A Rose for Emily Genre

Horror or Gothic Fiction, Southern Gothic, Literary Fiction, Tragedy, Modernism

Even before we see the forty-year-old corpse of Homer Barron rotting

into the bed, the creepy house, and the creepy Miss Emily let us know

that we are in the realm of horror or Gothic fiction. Combine that with a

southern setting and we realize that it's not just Gothic, but Southern

Gothic. The Southern Gothic genre focuses – sometimes subtly,

sometimes overtly – on slavery, or the aftermath of slavery in the South.

You can definitely see this in "A Rose for Emily." 

Since author William Faulkner won the Pulitzer Prize for

fiction twice(first in 1955 for A Fable, and then in 1963 for The

Reivers), and the Nobel Prize for Literature (1949) we'd also have to put

it in the category of "Literary Fiction." 

Even if Faulkner hadn't won all those prizes, we'd still put "A Rose for

Emily" in this category. The story is masterfully told, and it's obvious

that much care and skill went into it. It's also strikingly original and

experimental in terms of form. This is part of what makes it a classic

Modernist text. The Southern Gothic is a perfect field on which to

perform a Modernist experiment. Modernist is all about what happens

when everything you thought was true is revealed to be false, resulting

in shattered identities. Modernism tries to make something constructive

out of the pieces. We can see all that loud and clear in "A Rose for

Emily."

A Rose for Emily Tone

Take a story's temperature by studying its tone. Is it hopeful? Cynical? Snarky? Playful?

Ironic, Confessional, Gossipy, Angry, Hopeful

We can think of a bunch more adjectives to describe the tone of the

story, these seems to be the dominant emotional tones the narrator is

expressing as Miss Emily's story is told. (Keep in mind that it's also the

town's story.) 

The irony of the story is closely tied to the rose in the title, and to

Williams Faulkner's explanation of it:

[The title] was an allegorical title; the meaning was, here was a woman

who had had a tragedy, an irrevocable tragedy and nothing could be

done about it, and I pitied her and this was a salute…to a woman you

would hand a rose. (source)

It's ironic because in the story Miss Emily is continually handed thorns,

not roses, and she herself produces many thorns in return. This is where

the "confessional" part comes in. Since the narrator is a member of the

town, and takes responsibility for all the townspeople's actions, the

narrator is confessing the town's crimes against Emily. 

Confession can be another word for gossip, especially when you are

confessing the crimes of others. (Here one of the big crimes is gossip.)

The chilling first line of Section IV is a good representative of the

elements of tone we've been discussing so far: "So the next day we all

said, 'She will kill herself'; and we said it would be the best thing." This

is where the anger comes in. Because this makes us angry, we feel that

the narrator too is angry, particularly in this whole section. This leads us

back to confession and hopefulness. 

The hopefulness of the town is the hardest for us to understand. It

comes in part from the title again – if we can put ourselves in the same

space as Faulkner and manage to give Emily a rose, to have compassion

for her even though she is a murderer, to recognize her tragedy for what

it is, this might allow us to build a more compassionate future for

ourselves, a future where tragedies like Emily's don't occur. This also

entails taking off our "rose-colored glasses" (as we discuss in "What's

Up With the Title?") and facing the ugly truths of life, even confessing

our shortcomings. Hopefully, we can manage to take those glasses off

before death takes them off for us.

A Rose for Emily Setting

Where It All Goes Down

A creepy old house in Jefferson, Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, 1861-1933 (approximately)

Setting is usually pretty rich in Faulkner. SimCity-style, William

Faulkner created his own Mississippi County, Yoknapatawpha, as the

setting for much of his fiction. This county comes complete with several

different families including the Grierson family. "A Rose for Emily" is

set in the county seat of Yoknapatawpha, Jefferson and as you know,

focuses on Emily Grierson, the last living Grierson. For a map and a

detailed description of Yoknapatawpha, click here. 

OK, so the where is pretty easy. Though Jefferson and its inhabitants

are unique, we can see their town as any southern town during that

period. The situations that arise in the story develop in large part

because many southerners who lived during the slavery era didn't know

what to do when that whole way of life ended. Imagine if suddenly you

are told and shown that your whole way of life is a sham, an atrocity, an

evil. Then heap on a generous helping of southern pride, and you have

tragedies like this one. This story also explores how future generations

deal with this legacy. To really feel the movement of history in the

story, and to understand the movements of Emily's life, it important to

pin down the chronology of events.

The dates we use, other than 1874, are just a little rough, but in the

ballpark. 

1861 – Miss Emily Grierson is born.

1870s – The Grierson house is built.

1893 – Miss Emily's father dies.

1893 – Miss Emily falls ill.

1893 – Miss Emily's taxes are remitted (in December).

1894 – Miss Emily meets Homer Barron (in the summer).

1895 – Homer is last seen entering Miss Emily's house (Emily is "over

thirty; we use thirty-three for our calculations).

1895 – The townspeople become concerned about the smell of the

Grierson house and sprinkle lime around Emily's place.

1895 – Miss Emily stays in for six months.

1895-1898 – Miss Emily emerges and her hair gradually turns gray.

1899 – Miss Emily stops opening her door, and doesn't leave the house

for about five years.

1904 – Miss Emily emerges to give china-painting lessons for about

seven years.

1911 – Miss Emily stops giving painting lessons. Over ten years pass

before she has any contact with the town.

1925 – They "newer generation" comes to ask about the taxes. This is

thirty years after the business with the lime. This is the last contact she

has with the town before her death.

1935 – Miss Emily dies at 74 years old. Tobe leaves the house. Two

days later the funeral is held at the Grierson house. At the funeral, the

townspeople break down the door to the bridal chamber/crypt, which no

one has seen in 40 years.

This doesn't answer all the questions by any means. Since nobody in the

town ever knew what was really going on in Emily's house, there are

numerous holes and gaps in this history. Still, you can use this as a

guide to help make sense of some of the confusing moments.

William Faulkner told an interviewer what he meant by the

title:

[The title] was an allegorical title; the meaning was, here

was a woman who had had a tragedy, an irrevocable

tragedy and nothing could be done about it, and I pitied

her and this was a salute…to a woman you would hand a

rose. (source)

We think this perspective is very important, not just

because it provides a straightforward explanation, but also

because it persuades us to indulge in a more

compassionate reading. It's easy to judge Miss Emily, and

maybe to forget she's a human being who has had a tragic

life. For a look at how this explanation exposes the story's

irony, check out our discussion of "Writing Style."

Needless to say, there are many possible interpretations of

the title, "A Rose for Emily," and you can feel free to think

creatively when trying to figure out what this title means.

CHARACTERS:

Emily Grierson- The object of fascination in the story. A mysterious

figure who changes from a vibrant and hopeful young girl to a very

secretive old woman. Devastated and alone after her father’s death, an

object of pity of the townspeople. She ultimately poisons 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 many admires in Jefferson because of his

gregarious nature and good sense of humor. She develops interest in

Emily and soon townspeople view him as a poor, if not scandalous,

choice for a mate. 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 alderman 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 Santoris- Former mayor of Jefferson. Colonel Santoris

absolves Emily for any tax burden after the death of her father. His

elaborate and benevolent gesture is not heeded by the succeeding

generation of town leaders.

The story is divided into five sections. In section I, the narrator

recalls the time of Emily Grierson’s death and how the entire town

attended her funeral in her home, which no stranger had entered

for more than ten years. In a once-elegant, upscale neighborhood,

Emily’s house is the last vestige of the grandeur of a lost era.

Colonel Sartoris, the town’s previous mayor, had suspended

Emily’s tax responsibilities to the town after her father’s death,

justifying the action by claiming that Mr. Grierson had once lent

the community a significant sum. As new town leaders take over,

they make unsuccessful attempts to get Emily to resume payments.

When members of the Board of Aldermen pay her a visit, in the

dusty and antiquated parlor, Emily reasserts the fact that she is not

required to pay taxes in Jefferson and that the officials should talk

to Colonel Sartoris about the matter. However, at that point he has

been dead for almost a decade. She asks her servant, Tobe, to show

the men out.

In section II, the narrator describes a time thirty years earlier when

Emily resists another official inquiry on behalf of the town leaders,

when the townspeople detect a powerful odor emanating from her

property. Her father has just died, and Emily has been abandoned

by the man whom the townsfolk believed Emily was to marry. As

complaints mount, Judge Stevens, the mayor at the time, decides to

have lime sprinkled along the foundation of the Grierson home in

the middle of the night. Within a couple of weeks, the odor subsides,

but the townspeople begin to pity the increasingly reclusive Emily,

remembering how her great aunt had succumbed to insanity. The

townspeople have always believed that the Griersons thought too

highly of themselves, with Emily’s father driving off the many

suitors deemed not good enough to marry his daughter. With no

offer of marriage in sight, Emily is still single by the time she turns

thirty.

The day after Mr. Grierson’s death, the women of the town call on

Emily to offer their condolences. Meeting them at the door, Emily

states that her father is not dead, a charade that she keeps up for

three days. She finally turns her father’s body over for burial.

In section III, the narrator describes a long illness that Emily

suffers after this incident. The summer after her father’s death, the

town contracts workers to pave the sidewalks, and a construction

company, under the direction of northerner Homer Barron, is

awarded the job. Homer soon becomes a popular figure in town

and is seen taking Emily on buggy rides on Sunday afternoons,

which scandalizes the town and increases the condescension and

pity they have for Emily. They feel that she is forgetting her family

pride and becoming involved with a man beneath her station.

As the affair continues and Emily’s reputation is further

compromised, she goes to the drug store to purchase arsenic, a

powerful poison. She is required by law to reveal how she will use

the arsenic. She offers no explanation, and the package arrives at

her house labeled “For rats.”

In section IV, the narrator describes the fear that some of the

townspeople have that Emily will use the poison to kill herself. Her

potential marriage to Homer seems increasingly unlikely, despite

their continued Sunday ritual. The more outraged women of the

town insist that the Baptist minister talk with Emily. After his visit,

he never speaks of what happened and swears that he’ll never go

back. So the minister’s wife writes to Emily’s two cousins in

Alabama, who arrive for an extended stay. Because Emily orders a

silver toilet set monogrammed with Homer’s initials, talk of the

couple’s marriage resumes. Homer, absent from town, is believed to

be preparing for Emily’s move to the North or avoiding Emily’s

intrusive relatives.

After the cousins’ departure, Homer enters the Grierson home one

evening and then is never seen again. Holed up in the house, Emily

grows plump and gray. Despite the occasional lesson she gives in

china painting, her door remains closed to outsiders. In what

becomes an annual ritual, Emily refuses to acknowledge the tax bill.

She eventually closes up the top floor of the house. Except for the

occasional glimpse of her in the window, nothing is heard from her

until her death at age seventy-four. Only the servant is seen going in

and out of the house.

In section V, the narrator describes what happens after Emily dies.

Emily’s body is laid out in the parlor, and the women, town elders,

and two cousins attend the service. After some time has passed, the

door to a sealed upstairs room that had not been opened in forty

years is broken down by the townspeople. The room is frozen in

time, with the items for an upcoming wedding and a man’s suit laid

out. Homer Barron’s body is stretched on the bed as well, in an

advanced state of decay. The onlookers then notice the indentation

of a head in the pillow beside Homer’s body and a long strand of

Emily’s gray hair on the pillow.

MORAL LESSONS:

Conflict between Emily and his father:

Parents should treat their sons/daughters the best. Do not be over

protective because sometimes if 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.