It is very interesting to analyze the title of the story because during the whole narration there are no roses and the mood of the story is not so positive. Faulkner explained the reason for his choice of the title as: "It was an allegorical title; the meaning was, here was a woman who has 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.” So it is clear that the author pities and cares for his heroine. Can we care for her? Can we justify her deed? I doubt that.

(by Luck)

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Though "A rose for Emily” is a short story, the author raises many themes in it, like, for example, the theme of death, the theme of the grotesqueness of existence, the theme of a lonely character – the character that is not understood by the society, the theme of unavoidable fate. One of the most interesting topics for me is the theme of death. It is developing with the development of the plot. Narration goes further – and more deaths arise.

But it is not a horror story anyway. All the deaths described – Emily’s, her father’s, her lover’s and even the colonel’s – are to reveal the complexity of Emily’s personality. They just add to our perception of the character.

Her father’s death symbolizes for Emily the end of living under strict control. So, she falls in love with Homer. But unfortunately, their relations do not go well. That is why she kills her lover. And that makes her personality even more complex and therefore interesting for further analysis. Why did she decide to kill him? How should one suffer to kill another person? What on Earth can make one commit such a severe crime? Was it a sudden impulse or really a well-thought desire? These questions and the like remain unanswered by the author. The reader him/herself should find the answers. The author may only create the necessary atmosphere, only hint, show the right direction for thoughts to develop.

Emily’s death shows the attitude of the society to her. People do not pity her; they do not feel sorry for her. Women come to the funeral as they have not been to Emily’s house for a long time or even never.

Therefore, we come to the conclusion that Emily is a lonely character, a misfortunate character, a poor character and at the same time an unpredictable character. What has happened to her psychic so that she behaves in such a way? Is her father to blame? Should the society be accused of ignorance and disrespect? Should Emily herself bear the responsibility for her actions or do we have to admit she is also a victim? A criminal being a victim? Sounds weird, doesn’t it? But don’t you think that a person leading a happy way of life could be able for such doings? Buying arsenic and killing the lover? Even though her love was only hers, it was not mutual she could have taken that arsenic herself. Why did she decide to kill the man she love with all her heart? And how much should she have loved him not to bury him but to sleep with the corpse? Was she a schizophrenic? Was she mentally ill? Or was she just so very much in love that she even lost her head? And even the same question. Why?  

(by Asya)

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Love is always creative?

"When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral…” It seems that Emily was a well-known person in Jefferson. So who was she?

Emily was a little girl living with her cruel father. He was a real despot. All the time Emily was suppressed by him. His total control spread to her feelings either. Because of her father Emily’s personality was being developed in an ugly and unnatural way. It was a great relief for Emily when her father died. By that time Emily had already become a woman.

Time passed, and Emily met a man. His name was Homer Barron. He came into her life by chance. In some time Emily understood that she loved him. Unintentionally Homer broke the ice that had been paralyzing woman’s feelings. She loved, and that was great! For the first time in her life Emily started to live. And she gave herself up to this Love, to this Man in her Life.

One day Emily found out that Homer Barron "liked men”. It was better for her to let him go. But she couldn’t. He was Hers! She loved him more than anybody or anything else including her own life. But he didn’t love her. All creativeness of Emily’s love became destructive all of a sudden.

Emily killed Homer. She killed him to stay with him forever. She killed him to save her life. The love was unrequited, but Emily didn’t care. Till the end of her life Emily lived with Homer’s dead body. Every night she slept with him in a bed. Only God knows what else she could do. And all this time she lived with only one thought in her mind: he killed her Love to stay with it forever.

There is no doubt that Emily went through unreal, incredible inner tortures. Her mind must have been ruptured all the time. The creative power of love ruined her life. She was closed from the world and people outside her house. There were only Emily and the demons in her mind. Emily didn’t live at all. Probably she was emotionally dead after Homer’s death.

And the only thing she got for all her tortures was a lonely rose on her grave.

(by Seagull)

A rose for Emeli. 

This story is very unpredictable and while reading it I didn’t think that it would end so. The story takes place in one American city. And the narrator told us about one strange woman – Emily Grierson. She couldn’t organize her private life because of her father. He was the reason for her loneliness, he didn’t allow her to have a relationships with somebody. That is why it is possible to say that Emily is a victim. When her father died Emily fell in love with a visitant Homer Barron. She loved him so much and placed great hopes for this union. But Homer Barron turned out to be a gay.

Time passed and citizens noticed that Homer Barron wasn’t in the city and nobody knew what happened with him.  Speaking about Emily, the narrator mentioned that she closed her house for any visitor and her house became a secret place for others. And only after the death of the main character, her house opened the doors for people and in the description of it the reader can find words: death, dust, resurrectionist. The house was deserted. Her servant – an old negro, who was all the time near Emily, ran away . But the end of the story is unpredictable. When people entered Emily’s house, they found a room that was full of different wedding accessories of pink and purple colours. There was a huge bed in that room, where was a corpse. The corpse was there over than 40 years and I think each of the readers can imagine what has happened with it. It was Homer Barron. Near him was a mob of gray hair.

William Faulkner didn’t want to write a horror story, as many critics found it. He wanted to show how strong can be love. This love can carry to the extreme, as it was in Emily’s case – to kill the lover and to live with him many years. Emily reached at him as a mate. She didn’t want to let him go that is why he decided to do this crime.

A Rose for Emily. Symbolism of the Story

Sometimes, there’s more to throw light on than meets the eye.

The text is sewed with symbols and allegoric references and is largely supported with gothic inclinations of the author. In fact, the atmosphere and the effect of the entire story are created due to symbolism and foretokens.

The house of Miss Emily Grierson is the major symbol of the story. Its description provides the readers both with its appearance, history, and significance. "It was a big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies, set on what had once been our most select street.” It used to be a domain of luxury and privilege. It symbolized the existence of the higher cast in town, its pane brought back to the times when exuberance was thought to be a virtue. Now the house typifies the expiring aristocratic generation. Where the prosperity and respectability were the full masters, now decay and desolation queen over. Miss Emily Grierson and her old black servant are the sole survivors in the shipwreck of the noblesse.

One more object that possesses some symbolic implication is the watch. Miss Emily carries it with her all the time and "a thin gold chain descending to her waist and vanishing into her belt” is the only tie that makes her close to the world of her past. In the minutes of silence or painful reminiscences, the "invisible watch ticking at the end of the gold chain” still measures off Emily Grierson’s days. The stationery is also a symbol of time. The mayor "received in reply a note on paper of an archaic shape, in a thin, flowing calligraphy in faded ink”. Miss Emily is convinced in her affection to her bygones. She won’t change her habit or replace the things she makes use of. She would rather age along with her wonts.

Lime and arsenic are evidently the story's creepiest symbols. The town dwellers "broke open the cellar door and sprinkled lime there” as the whole place was stinking. The citrus smell of lime is perfectly designed to hide the fetor of the rotting corpse of Homer Barron. Arsenic, being a scentless chemical, was used to murder the man. Both lime and arsenic represent people’s attempts to destroy, conceal or disguise something hateworthy, shameful, detesting.

"A Rose for Emily” resembles a horror story full of chilling images and ominous symbols. But at the same time it strives to reveal human nature, to turn it inside out so as to show what shadows of the past it hides. For things of the present always symbolize their past.

Longing for love...

Imagine yourself in a small town where everyday meal can't be served without a portion of everyday rumours. Imagine all the neighbours discussing each other, all the words and actions as if they all were curious paparazzi chasing celebrities. Imagine that you suddenly turned out to be one of the characters of the story "A Rose for Emily”.

Actually, it's not so difficult to imagine this situation. The very narration is of "gossipy nature”, the story seems to be built up of several sub-stories told by several people, each of them adding some new facts and details. The line of narrating is far from being linear, the whole story looks like a mosaic and every piece of this mosaic is focused on this or that aspect, this or that event. Due to this fact "A Rose for Emily” deals with a great number of themes and conflicts within one leading plot-line. One can single out the theme of loneliness and solitude, the theme of social isolation and one's desire to avoid being talked about, the theme of death and the theme of crime. But still all these themes and conflicts are gathered together in order to reveal the only leitmotif of the narration that manifests itself in Emily's tragedy.

Emily Grierson didn't have a chance to live a happy life. Since the very moment when her life began, Emily was pressed and limited by her father's will. Timid and weak-willed girl, she had no ability to escape his strict control and find her own way to follow. Her father's death could have become a salvation for this lonely sole, if only... One can't avoid his fate and Emily was doomed to be alone. Leaving all the guys from her town aside, she has chosen a gay to fall in love with. And her need for love was strong enough not to let him go.

"A Rose for Emily” is not a story about solitude and misunderstanding. It is not a story about one's death and one's life that's even worse than death. It's not a story about one's betrayal and one's fear of becoming an outcast. It's not a story about protecting one's dignity and hiding form the society. It is a story of one's desire to be loved. It's a story of one's need to be loved. It's a story about a woman lost in her desperation longing for love.