FREE ESSAY ON ROSE FOR EMILY

ROSE FOR EMILY

Fall of Emily
Life is fickle and most people will be a victim of circumstance and the times. Some
people choose not to let circumstance rule them and, as they say, time waits for no man.
Faulkner's Emily did not have the individual confidence, or maybe self-esteem and
self-worth, to believe that she could stand alone and succeed at life especially in the
face of changing times. She had always been ruled by, and dependent on men to protect,
defend and act for her. From her Father, through the manservant Tobe, to Homer Barron,
her life was reliant on men. The few flashes of individuality showed her ability to rise
to the occasion, to overcome her dependency, when the action was the only solution
available. Like buying the poison or getting money by offering china-painting classes.
Life is sad and tragic; some of which is made for us and some of which we make
ourselves.
Emily had a hard life. Everything that she loved left her. Her father probably impressed
upon her that every man she met was no good for her. The townspeople even state, When her
father died, it got about that the house was all that was left to her; and in a way,
people were glad being left alone. [. . .] She had become humanized (Faulkner 505). This
sounds as if her father's death was a sort of liberation for Emily. In a way it was, she
could begin to date and court men of her choice and liking. Her father couldn't chase
them off any more. But then again, did she have the know-how to do this, after all those
years of her father's past actions? It also sounds as if the townspeople thought Emily
was above the law because of her high-class stature. Now since the passing of her father
she may be like them, a middle class working person.
Unfortunately for Emily, she became home bound. She didn't socialize much except for
having her manservant Tobe visit to do some chores and go to the store for her. Faulkner
depicts Emily and her family as a high social class. Emily did carry herself with dignity
and people gave her that respect, based from fear of what Emily could do to them. Emily
was a strong willed person especially when she went into the drug store for the arsenic.
She said, Arsenic. [...] I want arsenic (Faulkner 506). All along, the druggist wanted to
know what she wanted it for and she answered back, I want the best you have. I don't care
what kind (Faulkner 506). Needless to say, the druggist never got an answer. The druggist
gave Emily poison out of fear and respect, possibly. 
Yes, Emily didn't socialize much, but she did have a gentleman friend, Homer Barron.
Homer was a foreman for a road construction company, Faulkner writes a foreman named
Homer Barron, a Yankee-a big, dark, ready man, with a big voice and eyes lighter than his
face(505). Emily's father probably would not be pleased with this affair with Homer,
considering her upbringing. Homer was a 'commoner' and did not fit the social standards
of her father. Of course, Emily, like most women dream of getting married and having a
family and most of all, being loved. The gossip around town was spreading; the
townspeople said, So when she got to be thirty and was still single, we were not pleased
exactly, but vindicated; [. . .] She wouldn't have turned down all of her chances if they
had really materialized (Faulkner 505). Emily wanted to be loved, and she was determined
that Homer would be her true love to rescue her from fear, fear of being alone. Indeed
Emily took a great liking to Homer, but Homer's feelings about the relationship were
different. It was rumored that even "[. . .] Homer himself had remarked-he liked men, and
it was known that he drank with the younger men in the Elk's club-that he was not a
marrying man (Faulkner 506). Homer left Emily and the town for three days, and then came
back. While Homer was gone, Emily still was preparing for her wedding. She bought
invitations and clothes for Homer. Emily grew fearful of Homer's departure, fear of being
left alone again. Faulkner writes A neighbor saw the Negro man (Tobe) admit him at the
kitchen door at dusk one evening. And that's the last we saw of Homer Barron (507).
Once again, a fear of change, the fear of losing Homer and being left alone, she decided
to poison him. Feeling that if she could not have him alive she thought she could keep
him with her if he were dead and she did. Because of her seclusion, no one really knew
just how bad it was. Not until her death did the truth come out about Homer's death. The
Rose for Emily, Faulkner talks about in the title of this fictitious story could be found
in the tomb like bedroom she created, which wasn't found till Emily's death. [. . .] Upon
the valance curtains of faded rose color, upon the rose-shaded light [. . .] (508). These
rose colored items gave the room an artificial rose like color. The cliche as seen
through rose colored glasses comes to mind. Homer was dead, all those years, among the
rose colored room. He was also cast with the rose color about the room. Everything in
this room was Emily's rose, locked away for keeping, so she would not be left alone.
Works Cited
Faulkner, William. "A Rose for Emily." The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Jerome
Beaty and J. Paul Hunter. 7th ed. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1998. 502-509.