Emily lives in the small town of Jefferson. Jefferson is a town where her family has lived for generations, and where her family is known to have held themselves a little to high for what they were; so they were treated as such. Emily is kept home by her father and almost hidden from the entire town; the gentlemen callers who dared come calling for Miss Emilys hand were only vanquished by her father. They were not of social standing to be permitted her time and company. In her fathers eyes Emily was the last to continue their noblesse oblige duty as a Grierson.
I believe that Emily couldnt escape her familys fate because of her father and her townspeople. Even if Emily wanted to shed the family reputation, she couldnt. The town would never have accepted her as anything, but a Grierson. Even as the generations change, Emilys family reputation is still known. Years of solitude couldnt change her reputation. Emily obviously lived a sad and lonely life. Her father had taken every hope for love from her because of the regarded August name.
I believe because of her fathers death and the sweetheart who deserted her, she realized that she had one last chance to form a new life, and she had a new chance for love (or just companionship). When she reappears after the burial of her father, she has a new look of a young girl. I believe this was Emilys attempt to become part of the town, rather then a tradition, a duty, and a care. During this time she meets Homer, a Northerner, who she is seen riding throughout town on Sunday afternoons with her.
Emily (seeing a man not from her town feels) knows that this is her last hope for companionship. Courting Homer, which was undignified for a Grierson, was her only way to fill her void of the loss of her father and sweetheart. Yet even in this fabricated attempt she still demands recognition as the last Grierson. Its like that old saying, You can take a boy out of the city, but you cant take the city out of a boy. Miss Emily Grierson will always hold that obligation in her stature. However, I dont believe Homer Barron sees Emily as a potential mate.
I think he felt sorry for her and was only being kind out of pity. As stated, He was not a marrying man and remarked he himself liked men. I believe Homer Barron is gay, and to put it simply in todays lingo, hes a player. One can infer that Miss Emily heard the talk around town, small towns and gossip go hand in hand, about Homes sexuality. I believe this is where the demented intensions arouse. I think when Homer returned to Emily, she asked him to marry her, but I think Homer refused. His intensions I believe were only friendship.
Faulkner uses the color Yellow twice in this story when showing Miss Emily and Homer together. Yellow is a color of friendship or uncertainty. For example, pregnant women receive yellow items for the unborn baby, and yellow roses are given as symbol of friendship. Hence the use of Yellow and Roses in A Rose For Emily. Emily has always been ruled by, and depended on men to protect, defend and act for her. Her father, who nurtured, protected, and loved her (in an odd way), to the Negro servant, Tobe, who fed and sheltered her from the outside world. And then there is Homer Barron, who gives her hope.
Emilys rose briefly re-blooms for Homer, but in the end it fades and dies as she didleaving only a lingering fragrance and dusty petals. Faulkner planted only five roses in this story, and within Miss Emilys life she had lost four men. I believe the roses that Faulkner planted were for each of the men Miss Emily lost. The first rose I believe was for her dead father. The second rose was for the sweetheart who deserted her. The third rose for the men her father drove away. And the fourth (yellow) rose was for Homer Barron, who she preserves for everlasting love.
There it stays lain, forever a reminder in an embrace, frozen in time the sleep that outlasts love, as if it were tableau of Emilys tragic and serene desires for love, The man himself lay in the bed. Emily loved the only way she knew howthe way of the rosebeautiful on the outside, but sharp, harsh, and painful as the stem of thorns. By analyzing the significance of the roses in this story it is clear that the men are Emilys fallen roses. However Faulkner did plant one last rose, the rose for Miss Emily Grierson. I believe Faulkner was saying, roses are beautiful and given to show love or admiration by another.
When cared for and loved, roses are the most beautiful sight, but if neglected they can become ugly and spooky, just as Emily had. Her personality was prickly as a torn. Emily without doubt falters after her fathers demise. So poor Emily spends the rest of her life as a wilting, dying flower in which no winter ever quite touches. I think Faulkner gives Emily these roses throughout the story out of pity and obligation just as the town felt pity and obligated to Miss Emily, their fallen monument. Life can be sad and tragic, some of which is made for us, and some of which we make ourselves.
