Emily Grierson In Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

Later in this gothic story Emily Grierson dies (ultimately where the story begins), “our whole town went to her funeral” (Faulkner, 52). Few people had seen the inside of her house in the last decade. Once they buried Emily they quickly opened the upstairs, “which no one had seen in forty years” (Faulkner, 58). When the door was opened they found Homer Barron lying on the bed, decaying. Surrounded in a room full of unworn, unused wedding memorabilia. On the bed beside him was an impression of where a body once laid. On the pillow adjacent to his, “we saw a long strand of iron-grey hair” (Faulkner, 59). Emily Grierson’s death can be seen as an ending of an era, but at the same time the start of a new era. In the sense that Emily was continuously
During the course of this story Emily struggles to accept Mr. Grierson, Colonel Sartoris, and Homer Barron have died. We see this in two different ways. First, her failure to realize years later (days later in her father’s case) that these men have passed away. Secondly, Emily keeps Homer as well as Mr. Grierson bodies even after they died. Exhibiting traits of someone who suffers from necrophilia. Emily also struggles to adapt to the world that is industrializing, and modernizing around her. Instances of this are also through the story. Whether she is unwilling to pay taxes, receive the free new mail delivery, or even her house being the last one standing in the neighborhood. Those are just a few of the instances of how Miss Emily was unable to adapt to a modernizing society. Now, my perspective on “A Rose for Emily” is not the only one that exist. In fact there are numerous others. For example, Thomas Klein, and Aubrey Binder give drastically different perspectives on the story then I did. Whereas, Klein analyzed “voice of gossip” (Klein, 2007), and Binder analyzed the meaning of dust throughout this story. However, both are brilliant in their own