Mystery, suspense, murder, symbolism; all are elements of an interesting and intriguing story. Stories that capture our attention often involve creative planning and unconventional ideas from the mind of the author. "A Rose for Emily," by William Faulkner, is such a story. Faulkner strings a tale about a peculiar old spinster with eccentric tendencies to shun the outside world. The story is written in a confusing manner as the facts are out of order, and time is of no importance to the organization, leaving the reader with a curious sense of suspicion about the surprise murder at the end. Faulkner had a fantastic grasp on the utilization of language. He even suggested, "In a short story that's next to the poem, almost every word has got to be almost exactly right. In the novel you can be careless but in the short story you can't" (qtd. in Petry 54). This understanding gives Faulkner reign to manipulate the story in such a way that every statement seems to symbolize something important. Specifically, William Faulkner uses Emily's character to symbolize an opposition to the change of time.
Initially, attention should be drawn to how Miss Emily takes on several important physical changes throughout the story that allude to her mental state and even foretell the story's ending. Because the story is written out of order, our best guess at Emily's early character traits is from the portrayal of her being a "slender figure in white" (597) with her father as the strict ruler of the house. After her father dies, Emily takes on a girlish appearance with short hair and a "serene" look. Similarly, when her unfortunate suitor, Homer Barron, mysteriously disappears, Emily becomes fat and coarse. These two alterations may reveal her subconscious need to transform herself into how the formerly mentioned deceased had viewed her, thus trying to erase how time changed her. Mr. Grierson was a strict man who demanded high standards from his daughter. When finally able to mourn his death, Emily tries to become a young, innocent little girl again in order to please him. Homer Barron however, did not approve of the typical ladylike attributes of the time. He was viewed by the town as rough and uncouth and he preferred the company of men. After Homer dies (or disappears, if you will) Emily becomes bloated and unkempt, which was considered very "unladylike." The narrator even describes her hair color to be the same, iron gray color of an "active man" (599) hinting towards Emily's desire to be the type of mate that Homer desired.
These actions reveal the desperate loneliness from which she wants to escape. She romanticized her loved ones' deaths and sought to bring them a sort of immortality "in this, she was like the society that made her and to which she conformed. They, too, are loyal to a past that is no longer, if it ever was, real" (Dilworth 252).
Indeed, the society around Emily provides an intriguing detail to Emily's character. The setting of the story dates to the Reconstruction after the Civil War. Many of the established societies in the "Old South" were not eager to give in to the changes the Reconstruction brought. One heated Southern journalist raved that the Reconstruction was a "surrender for a brief respite of quiet, of the right to go down" and he urges his fellow "People of the South" that "if go down you must, fighting, struggling, dying for the cause of civilization, religion and good morals"(Reconstruction 2). This strong, opinionated ideal was echoed by many Southerners who refused to accept the change of time. Thomas Dilworth conjectures that the townspeople in the story revered Miss Emily so as "to preserve the values of the old South embodied in Emily as a representative of idealized southern womanhood" (251). This glorification of Emily Grierson exempted her from paying taxes because she "had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town" (595) thus giving her leave to live her life as she wanted, in a sort of decrepit isolation. When "the next generation, with its more modern ideas, became mayors and aldermen," Emily was no longer a tradition, but an annoyance that hindered a town's growth. Now it is not her glorification that wins her exemption, but her sheer intimidation.
Joseph M. Garrison Jr. connects this concept with an intriguing idea about an often unanalyzed symbol, the narrator himself. Not only does the narrator confuse us with disordered facts, but he joins in the gossip against Miss Grierson, criticizing her house and appearance yet never investigating her motives for the way she lives. He is giving us a biased opinion of Emily, twisting the details so that we believe his take on the story, just as Emily twists her surroundings to make herself believe her assumed reality. Garrison says the narrator "seems to grant himself special status, promising us that he is not susceptible to the formal, personally disinterested, or merely curious impulses of his contemporaries" (341). However later in the story, "he becomes prey to the insularity and provincial narrow-mindedness from which he had presumed he was free and not only claims a superior sensitivity but also flaunts his practical, realistic' clear-headedness" (343). We could therefore insinuate that Faulkner's use of the narrator was to provide a naivet that "fails to see the encroaching contours of its own biases" (344). This naivet not only impedes the narrator from discovering the truth about Miss Emily, but also explains why Emily resists morphing with her surroundings, to defy becoming overwhelmed by the personal prejudices of the populace.
Not only does Emily Grierson characterize an opposition to change, but she becomes a bothersome hindrance to the town around her. She will not hang post office box numbers on her house even though the rest of the town has them. She keeps Tobe, her household servant, as her sole housekeeper for her entire life, despite the suggestions from well-meaning townswomen that "a man could never keep a kitchen" (596) and the scorn during that time over keeping black servants. She even neglects the housework, allowing dust and mold to collect, almost as though even cleaning would be a betrayal to her need for consistency. She seems to want to stop the hands of time in whatever ways she can control in order to construct her own reality. This assumption is verified when the end of the story reveals that she poisoned the man she loved in order to "preserve" him in the form she longed for him to become, her husband.
This preservation of perfection is also shown through the china painting lessons Miss Emily teaches in her house which are a symbol of her skewed version of reality. Inviting children into an otherwise inhospitable home would not seem sensible unless she was catering to her illusion of being happily married with a house full of children. Ironically, Miss Emily teaches the children to take something that is nice and make it even more appealing. China can be painted and preserved in any manner that the artist sees fit, just as Emily views her life. Sadly, the children grow older and stop coming to her house, they have lost interest in this old-fashioned art, so she simply shuts her doors for good, until her death.
Finally, let us navigate from the body of the story and focus on the title, "A Rose for Emily." Faulkner never explains the rose besides a mention that the bridal room is rose colored. We are left to wonder who gives this rose to Emily and what its presence suggests for her character. The meaning of the rose has been interpreted to suggest concealment, since that was what Emily's life was based around. This assumption is derived from the old European ideal of "sub rosa" meaning "under the rose," an oath of confidence in complete secrecy. Because "the story is, after all, a literary construct, and it is constructed under the title, or in this case sub rosa" (Getty 231), the title becomes a seal that inhibits the reader from discovering the truth. However, I discovered an even more appealing explanation. A single rose represents perpetual love (Rose). Emily wanted that illusive "forever love." She wanted to press it and preserve it as one would a rose, however in order to preserve a rose you must kill it.
The purpose of Miss Emily Grierson's character is to show us that change is unavoidable no matter how we live. We can appear unchanged, we can try to keep our environment from changing, but ultimately, life goes on. That is our reality. Yet in the end, if we imagine that a rose is given to Emily as an opportunity for her to experience perpetual, never-ending love, even if contrived, we must wonder, did she succeed?
Works Cited
• Dilworth, Thomas. "A Romance to Kill for: Homicidal Complicity in Faulkner's A Rose for Emily'." Studies in Short Fiction 36.5 (Summer 1999): 251. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Yocum Library, Reading, PA. 17 Mar. 2008. http://search.ebscohost.com.
• Faulkner, William. "A Rose for Emily." The Norton Introduction to Literature. 9th ed. Eds. Alison Booth, J. Paul Hunter, and Kelly J. Mays. New York, London: W.W. Norton & Company. 2005. 594-601.
• Garrison Jr., Joseph M. "'Bought Flowers' in A Rose for Emily'." Studies in Short Fiction 16.4 (1979): 341. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Yocum Library, Reading, PA. 4 Mar. 2008. www.search.ebscohost.com
• Getty, Laura J. "Faulkner's A Rose for Emily'." Explicator 63.4 (2005):230-234. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Yocum Library, Reading, Pa. 6 Mar. 2008. www.search.ebscohost.com
• One Click Red Roses. "Rose Color Meanings." 1 Click Red Roses. 2008. 28 Jan. 2008.
• Petry, Alice Hall. "Faulkner's A Rose for Emily'." Explicator 44.3 (1986):52-54. Literature Online. Yocum Library, Reading, Pa. 6 Mar. 2008. www.lion.chadwyck.com
• "Reconstruction and Subjugation One and the Same. NO. 1" The Charleston Mercury. 30 Sept. 1864. Rpt. in The CivilWar. Accessible Archives. Yocum Library, Reading, Pa. 6 Mar. 2008. www.accessible.com