In the short story " A Rose for Emily," William Faulkner tells the sad
story of a woman who has had an extremely sheltered life. It is a tragic story
in which Miss Emily's hopes and dreams for a normal life are hopelessly lost.
William Faulkner was simply writing a sad story that can be related to anyone
who has had hopes and aspirations, but has conflict within themselves and with
others and who is unable to fulfill any of them. Miss Emily is kept at home by
her father and is almost hidden from the world. It is not said in the story, but
it is assumed that Miss Emily's mother is deceased or no longer around. The
reader is left with the impression that her father was uncaring, abusive, and
arrogant. Apparently he kept Miss Emily hidden from fitting suitors and did not
let her make a life of her own. After her fathers death, Miss Emily was
emotional unstable. For three days after her father died, she refused to
acknowledge his death. She wouldn't let the towns people dispose of his body.
She then regressed when they finally came to take his body out (because of the
horrible smell which all of the neighbors were complaining about). Miss Emily
locked herself away in her self-imposed dark world. When she finally comes out
in to the town again, she has cut off all of her hair trying to make herself
look like a little girl. Perhaps because she was trying to regain stolen time by
her father. During this time she meets Homer, a man the townspeople consider
beneath her who seems to almost replace her father. She finally seems to have
found happiness, but is then seen buying poison in the local drug store. She
asks for arsenic and refuses to tell the druggist what it is for. The
townspeople think she is going to kill herself. Later they will find out how
wrong they were! The townspeople try to pressure Miss Emily to marry Homer
because they call their relationship improper and disgraceful. The townspeople
contact her cousins to come into town and request their intervention. They come
quickly and seem to talk some sense into her. The townspeople were assured of
their marriage and her cousins returned home after one week. Homer then returned
three days later and was seen coming into Miss Emily's back door. That was the
last that was seen of him. The couple did not appear for six months. Rumors
spread that her new husband was a shadow of her father and would not let her
out. Other than a period of about six or seven months when she was about forty,
Miss Emily was only seen when she was giving china painting lessons to some of
the local girls. Years later, the girls stopped coming and she locked herself
away for the next thirty years. At the age of seventy-four, her lifeless body
was found in one of the down stairs beds. Her dusty retreat was open for the
townspeople to come in and pay their respects. After her burial, the room
upstairs that had not been seen for forty years was opened to reveal what
appeared to be a bridal suite. Dust covered crystal and a man's toiletries made
of tarnished silver were near a groom's suit. At last the shocking discovery was
made. The rotting corpse of a man in a nightshirt was all that was left in the
bed. Next to the body, was the indentation of a head. Found on the pillow was a
long iron gray hair, which was Miss Emily's. It is thought that Miss Emily gave
Homer an ultimatum that he had to either marry her or leave. When Homer refused
her request, she was disgraced and deeply hurt. She was also reminded of her
fathers unloving ways. She decided to end her misery and lash out her
frustrations by poisoning the object of her desire. Although her crime of
passion was sinful, the reader can still sympathize with her plight. You are
left feeling sorry for Miss Emily because she left this world with out every
truly being loved or appreciated. She was taken advantage of not only by her
father, but also by her lover and the townspeople who taunted her and used her
as the center of their gossip.