A Literary Analysis of William Faulkner's “A Rose for Emily”

The narrative point of view of “A Rose for Emily” operates on dual levels. First, the narrator is a participant-observer in the life of the town of Jefferson. In addition, the narrator is a commentator on the social evolution of the South in the first part of the twentieth century, a parable of resistance to change that will occur, at whatever cost. These two themes are connected by death, death as change, death as an end, resistance to death and denial of death.

The narrator is not a sole commentator since the use of “we” suggests that he or she is speaking for the entire town. The narrator is never identified as young or old, or as male or female, suggesting that the narration is a composite of voices, as shown by the initial lines of the story: ". . . the men [went] through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument." “The men” is an aggregation of the men in town, Likewise, the comment: “ … at last the ladies forced the Baptist minister … to call upon her,” indicating an aggregate voice of the ladies.

While it may be the aggregate of Jefferson telling Emily's story, Faulkner's voice in this story may be the aggregate of the early twentieth century South telling their story. While the narrator notes that the Griersons “held themselves a little too high,” he went on to note that “We had long thought of them as a tableau.” Such comments reflect the ambivalence that the South showed, between an aristocratic or a more democratic bearing, when times were rapidly changing.

The appearance of Homer, a Northerner, in Jefferson and his apparent relationship with Emily, a Southerner, continues the theme of a changing South - a mode of decay if you will- one that could contemplate blurring the distinction between North and South. Homer is also a day laborer, while Emily is an aristocrat. While there was public disapproval of Emily's involvement with Homer, there was again ambivalence, as the narrator notes that she “carried her head high enough – even when we believed that she was fallen.” For Emily, and for the South, to hold one's head high is traditional Southern aristocratic behavior.

The inevitable death of the old order that is occurring is woven throughout the story, which begins with a scene of death: “When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral ...” When Emily's father died, she refused to acknowledge his death, and when townsfolk called on her “She told them that her father was not dead. She did that for three days …” When Emily refused to pay her property taxes, she stated that Colonel Sartoris had said she did not have to pay; yet, Colonel Sartoris had been dead for ten years.

The most compelling death in the story is the death of Homer, foreshadowed by his disappearance from, and subsequent reappearance in, Jefferson. His reappearance, however, is short-lived and it is assumed that he has abandoned Emily, and the town, for good. The revelation in the final scene, that Homer never left, and that Emily had killed him to keep him forever with her, is symbolic of the extent to which a society will go in order to resist change – the Civil War and the, yet to happen, deadly resistance to the civil rights movement.

Faulkner's description of Emily's changing appearance throughout the story parallels a community, and a region, that is itself changing: “When we next saw Miss Emily, she had grown fat and her hair was turning gray … until it attained an even pepper-and-salt iron-gray ...” The inclusion of the term salt-and-pepper iron-gray allows the reader to clearly identify the “long strand of iron-gray hair” on the pillow next to Homer's corpse as Emily's. As the story closes, it is clear to the reader that Emily's tragedy was ironic. The one who had most symbolized resistance to change had lived a life that, while deadly and macabre, was certainly non-traditional.

Work Cited

Faulkner, William. “A Rose for Emily.” Collected Stories of William Faulkner. New York: Random House, 1950. Web.