In the short story A Rose for Emily, by William Faulkner there is a very interesting character. Her Name is Emily Grierson and she is a rich southern gentile. All her life it seems that she was raised at a standard that was above the rest. By living such a secluded and controlled life it set her up for the happenings in her future. When her father passed away she had nobody to tell her what to do and how to act. This was very devastating and she had a hard time dealing with change.
So much so that she wouldn’t let the police take the body of her father out of the house for three days after his death. The only thing that was constant in her house was the slave that was bound to serve her. In this writing I feel that the author takes an outside look at Emily to let you make your own decisions about her. This is a very good way of doing it because it leaves you with an open-ended judgment. You may feel a variety of ways about her, the first being that she is completely psychotic.
This is the first and easiest conclusion to come up with. If you werent reading with much thought and analyzing the character it would be easy to feel this way. The second emotion is the strongest I feel about her, this would be pity for her. Leading a life that is mapped out for you by someone would not be a hard task. In the old south when this story takes place the women are not meant to make decisions or choice on their own. Women were meant to be mindless and powerless to the superior men that knew what was best for them.
By losing this father figure she was left to fend for herself and was virtually helpless. When she finally found a male that showed some interest and emotion, she was attached to them. Thats where Homer Barron comes into the story. He would visit Emily and go for Sunday drives with her. When Homer told Emily that he must move on she found herself on the verge of loneliness once again. If Homer would leave it would be two men that have left her. When she realized that he was about to leave she poisoned him and would keep him forever.
In her mind she had the one thing she needed most, companionship. Even if it was a dead corpse, it was stilling something. In the end of the story when the book states, We saw a long strand of iron gray hair, it was obvious that she sought refuge from the world in that bed with Homer. However twisted that may sound it showed how desperate she really was. That is the pint in the story where things really change. If you look back on her life and how everyone in town abandoned her, you really have strong feelings for her.
You feel sorry that she was left to fend for herself without any idea of what to do. She did what she felt she had to do, and in her mind it was all right. The author wrote this story as a literary genius. There is an extreme level of suspense that leaves you wanting more. You can wait to get to the next page to see what is going to happen next. The mystery due to the narrators outside look on the situation shows how the towns people looked down on her for being with Homer, but offer no solution to help her out. This is why I feel pity for Mrs. Emily Grierson.
