Emily Grierson

Emily Grierson
“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is set in a small Southern town during the post Civil War era. The story revolves around Emily Grierson and the peculiar, tragic events of her life. Faulkner portrays the characters, particularly Miss Emily, as relics, incapable of living in the present.
Emily’s problems start after the death of her father. The day after his death, she answers the door “dressed as usual and with no trace of grief on her face” (551) and tells her visitors that her father is not dead. It takes three days for the town to persuade her that her father is, in fact, dead and retrieve the body for burial.
After her father’s death, a short time passes without her being seen, and when she emerges she meets Homer Barron, the man she believes is the love of her life. They are mismatched from the beginning. Miss Emily is from a prominent Southern family and Homer Barron is a Yankee and a day laborer. Homer tells the young men at the Elks’...