The Protagonist In William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

“A Rose for Emily” In “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner Emily _______ is a known woman in her town. She is known for her great sorrow that came with losing her father and for her single status. As a newly divorced single mom I personally know what it feels like to be singled out among your peers and have them talk about you. In “A Rose for Emily” Emily Grierson is the protagonist. She is known as a quiet and maybe even mental woman. She lived as a recluse “no visitor had passed since she ceased giving china-painting lessons eight or ten years earlier” (34). The townspeople pitied Emily and saw her as harmless “That is when people had begun to really feel sorry for her” (36). She began to withdraw from people after the death of her father and her sorrow was too much for her to bear. Later she was seen occasionally around town and started seeing Homer Barron. Once the townspeople thought that he had moved on and Emily became recluse their …show more content…
The townspeople are antagonist in this because of the way they talk about Emily and the way they stare at her when she comes to town “This behind their hands; rustling of craned silk and satin behind jalousis closed upon the sun of Sunday afternoon as the thin, swift clop-clop-clop of the matched team passed: Poor Emily” (37). They also got involved with her relationship with Homer. They did not like that Emily and Homer were spending so much time together when Homer would go around saying he was not the marrying kind. Homer Barron is also the antagonist in the story. We do not know much about Homer but it is implied that Homer did not treat Emily well. He refused to marry her “that he was not a marrying man” (38). He also left her when the townspeople contacted her kinfolk and they arrived at her home. Once they left, Homer returned “And, as we had expected all along, within three days Homer Barron was back in town”