Character Analysis of “A Rose for Emily”

Character Analysis of “A Rose for Emily”

 

                William Faulkner’s short story, “A Rose for Emily”, molds a character told from a perspective of first person plural. Through this distinct narration of the story, the reader never learns of Miss Emily Grierson’s true thoughts and emotions, but rather selectively only her thoughts and emotions as interpreted by the townsfolk. Miss Emily, a static character, was well-defined by the community, but not by anything the reader truly perceives. Much like Emily the young Negro servant, Tobe, does not seem to change throughout the story, other than the fact that the two physically age. Faulkner expresses the content of Miss Emily’s character through physical description, her actions, and words of others, which connotes direct characterization by way of the first person narrative’s direct comments. Although the direct characterization is explained from a different viewpoint, in this case the townsfolk, it is consistent throughout the literary work.

            Miss Emily, subject to gossip and speculation, was viewed as a mysterious yet demanding woman. This trait may be attributed to Emily’s deceased father who restrained her entire life. Depicted in the rising action, her father was standing in front of little Miss Emily with a whip. Due to her father’s controlling actions upon her young love life, after the death of her father, Emily denied his passing and would not allow the doctors to bury him for three days. This self-centered act of rebellion was a way to take control over her father in an act of revenge, as can be inferred by the reader. This reprisal she develops in her heart keeps Emily from truly creating a relationship and leads to the demise of her sweetheart, Homer Barron.

            Homer Barron, a round character, is the gossip of the townspeople creating a perfect scenario for the two love birds. Miss Emily falls in love with this elder black day laborer and wants to marry Homer. Homer’s inability to cope with marriage, whether he is homosexual or non-committal angers Emily and revokes her revengeful traits. The character of Miss Emily continues to expedite as she travels to the local drug store to buy arsenic, “rat poisoning”. In the climax, which happens to be the conclusion of the story, the reader infers that Miss Emily Grierson intoxicated her sweetheart Homer, therefore killing him. One might infer that Emily Grierson loved Homer Barron so much that she wanted to keep him forever, which she ultimately achieved by murdering him.

            Emily Grierson, an unapproachable woman plagued with her father’s controlling rhetorical whip, lover of Homer Barron, and outcast to the townsfolk is defined by the community. The character Emily depicted in the final scene of the story suggests that she is a necrophiliac, which means she has an attraction to dead bodies. Faulkner's use of characterization to describe Miss Emily and her unforeseeable intentions was successful in bringing the story to life and to satisfy the reader. Emily Grierson, symbolized by her house, dark, mysterious, and uninviting was a monumental figure subject to uncanny behavior in the short story. Though Miss Emily Grierson was peculiar in many ways, one constant trait remained evident; her pride.