A Rose for Emily

“Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town.”

This opening quote establishes the story’s solemn tone and identifies Emily as a metaphorical historical institution that the town has an obligation to maintain. The narrator’s description of this obligation as “hereditary” suggests that Emily herself is not the point of reverence; rather, they respect her as a part of the fading Grierson family legacy. In framing Emily as both an obligation and metaphorical object, Faulkner characterizes her as separate from the Jefferson community and sets the foundation for the thematic development of The Dangers of Social Isolation.

“Only a man of Colonel Sartoris’ generation and thought could have invented it, and only a woman could have believed it.”

This quote highlights the antiquated social norms and gender roles of the Old South. The reference to Colonel Sartoris’s generation suggests that the new Jefferson administration views Emily in the same vein as pre-Civil War politics—outdated and biased. The suggestion that a man would not have accepted the colonel’s unofficial decree reinforces the epochal gender stereotypes and implies that men are more clever than women, who will accept anything they’re told.

“‘Dammit, sir,’ Judge Stevens said, ‘will you accuse a lady to her face of smelling bad?’”

The people of Jefferson are reluctant to confront Emily about her odd behavior and the decay of her home, preferring instead to maintain a façade of respectability rather than addressing the issue directly. Judge Stevens, a prominent member of the town, defends Emily’s honor and reputation, even if it means denying an unpleasant truth. Additionally, the people of Jefferson are characterized as underhanded because they opt to address the smell unbeknownst to Emily and gossip behind her back.

“We had long thought of them as a tableau, Miss Emily a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip, the two of them framed by the back-flung front door.”

The tableau described here is a frozen moment in the narrators’ collective imagination that symbolizes the control and dominance Emily’s father had over her life. His patriarchal authority is represented by his physical position in front of her and his clutching of the horsewhip. The white dress worn by Emily serves as a symbol of her purity and innocence, which contrasts sharply with the violent imagery of the horsewhip and her father’s domineering stance.

“We remembered all the young men her father had driven away, and we knew that with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her, as people will.”

As a young woman of the Southern aristocracy, Emily had little control over her romantic relationships. Her overbearing father drove away potential suitors to uphold the family’s fading legacy of grandeur. As a result, young Emily was left with nothing but her attachment to the Grierson family name and home. The phrase “cling to that which had robbed her” implies that Emily’s attachment to her father was destructive and prevented her from living a full happy life. The Griersons’ destructive denial develops the theme of The Reconstruction Era and the Decline of the Old South.

“She carried her head high enough—even when we believed that she was fallen.”

Emily’s fortitude supports the theme of Challenging Early 20th-Century Southern Gender Roles. Despite judgments about her relationship with Homer Barron, Emily continues to hold herself with pride and dignity. This quote highlights the societal expectations and constraints placed on women during this period, as Emily is judged harshly for perceived moral failings.

“It was as if she demanded more than ever the recognition of her dignity as the last Grierson; as if it had wanted that touch of earthiness to reaffirm her imperviousness.”

Emily’s status develops the theme of The Dangers of Social Isolation. Emily is desperate to maintain her sense of superiority over the people of Jefferson, despite the fact that her family’s glory days are long gone. She clings to her identity as the “last Grierson” as a way of keeping her dignity and sense of importance, but this identity also isolates her from the rest of the town. The reference to Homer’s “earthiness” darkly foreshadows his death and the horrific decay of his body in Emily’s home.

“Miss Emily just stared at him, her head tilted back in order to look him eye for eye, until he looked away and went and got the arsenic and wrapped it up. The Negro delivery boy brought her the package; the druggist didn’t come back. When she opened the package at home there was written on the box, under the skull and bones: ‘For rats.’”

By highlighting the power dynamic between Emily and the other citizens of Jefferson, Faulkner develops the theme of Challenging Early 20th-Century Southern Gender Roles. Despite her position as an unmarried woman, Emily challenges the druggist’s authority and intimidates him into giving her the poison. The image of skull and bones and the words “for rats” add a macabre element to the scene, further emphasizing the motif of death and decay and foreshadowing Homer’s death.

“So the next day we all said, ‘She will kill herself’; and we said it would be the best thing.”

This quote reveals the townspeople’s cavalier attitude toward Emily’s life and their assumptions about her mental state. Additionally, the belief that suicide is the only recourse for an unmarried woman underscores the gender stereotypes of the period. This remark highlights the townspeople’s lack of empathy for Emily’s situation, which ultimately has deadly consequences.

“Thus she passed from generation to generation—dear, inescapable, impervious, tranquil, and perverse.”

Despite her isolation and eccentric behavior, Emily is a symbol of Jefferson’s tradition and history. Her role in the town is an “obligation” passed down from one generation to the next. The words “impervious” and “perverse” suggest that Emily is a complex and contradictory figure, one who is both resistant to change and willing to act in ways that are outside of societal norms. This quote captures the enduring and reciprocal impact of Emily’s life on the community and thematically underscores The Dangers of Social Isolation.

“[A]nd the very old men—some in their brushed Confederate uniforms—on the porch and the lawn, talking of Miss Emily as if she had been a contemporary of theirs, believing that they had danced with her and courted her perhaps, confusing time with its mathematical progression, as the old do, to whom all the past is not a diminishing road but, instead, a huge meadow which no winter ever quite touches, divided from them now by the narrow bottle-neck of the most recent decade of years.”

The elderly soldiers at Emily’s funeral mistakenly claim to have danced with and courted her in bygone days, even though she was much younger than them. This highlights the town’s inability to come to terms with the present and the changing times. The “very old men” represent the Old South; they prefer to cling to the past and hold on to their memories, even if their recollections are not entirely accurate. The metaphor of the meadow untouched by winter reinforces the idea that the past is a perfect, idyllic time forever out of reach.

“Already we knew that there was one room in that region above stairs which no one had seen in forty years, and which would have to be forced. They waited until Miss Emily was decently in the ground before they opened it.”

The reference to 40 years directly correlates to Homer’s disappearance and implies that the townspeople suspect Emily of foul play. The people of Jefferson know that Emily is hiding a dark secret, and this knowledge enhances the suspenseful mood. The text suggests that the townspeople expect a macabre sight, and indeed, the room contains the decomposed corpse of Homer Barron.

“For a long while we just stood there, looking down at the profound and fleshless grin. The body had apparently once lain in the attitude of an embrace, but now the long sleep that outlasts love, that conquers even the grimace of love, had cuckolded him.”

The description of the corpse indicates that decomposition occurred many years ago, and the positioning of the body implies that Emily’s desire for love and companionship led to Homer’s death. Homer’s murder is described as a cuckolding—a figure of speech referring to a husband whose wife has cheated on him. The use of the word “cuckolded” suggests that death has metaphorically defeated and emasculated Homer.