A Rose for Emily Summary by William Faulkner: A Timeless Tale

A Rose for Emily is an interesting short story written by William Faulkner. Published in 1930, it has left a lasting impression on readers globally. It is a horrifying tale set in the fictional town of Jefferson, Mississippi, which happens after the Civil War.

It tracks the life of a Southern woman born into a prominent family but unable to conform to the modern way of living. Faulkner's storytelling capabilities and masterful prose writing have garnered him multiple accolades.

It started with Hollywood recognizing him, where he worked with 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. The highest honor is the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature. Enthusiasts recognize him as one of the greatest 20th-century American writers. While it never made it to the cinema screens, A Rose for Emily is one of his admirable examples of literal prowess and professionalism.

A Rose for Emily Overview

William Faulkner's short story takes place in a fictional Jefferson town in Mississippi, in an equally fictional Yoknapatawpha county. It was first published in the Forum national magazine on April 30th, 1930, marking his breakthrough in writing.

The plot is narrated non-linearly, with Faulkner constantly shifting between the present and the past. What the story portrays and the title may seem unmatched to most readers. When Faulkner was asked why he chose 'A Rose for Emily' as the title, his response was an allegorical description.

According to the Nobel laureate, the woman (Miss Emily) had undergone a great tragedy and misfortune that led to her death. He pities the woman, so he gives her a rose flower. Some may interpret the title differently since no rose appears in the story.

So, the significance of a rose flower is open to debate since there is no actual rose in the story. It's in the Southern Gothic fiction genre, a literary tradition that became well-established in the 20th century.

The unnamed narrator in the story is the whole town or a Jefferson dweller since it's written in the first person plural. You will notice the same style when reading the Great Gatsby summary or the novel itself.

A Rose for Emily Summary

A Rose for Emily has five sections. It starts and ends with Emily Grierson's death. However, toward the end, there is a shocking revelation that the community witnesses shortly after her burial.

Section One

The story opens with the peripheral narrator recounting the death of Miss Emily Grierson. She is a recluse woman who died at 74, with many secrets. The town feels she is a fallen monument to be respected, admired, and observed at a distance.

She is a mystery to the Jefferson townsfolks, who view her as a woman stuck in the past. This section shows that Miss Emily refused to pay taxes for more than ten years. When the new authorities confront her, she dismisses the obligation.

If we judge Emily based on the first section, it would be easy to say that she was proud, stubborn, cold, and decisive.

Section Two

In this section, the narrator recalls an event a few years after Emily's father died. Homer Barron, a northerner, is romantically involved with Emily. The whole of Jefferson town believes that they will marry until Barron disappears.

A few weeks later, the townspeople started complaining of a strange smell emanating from Miss Emily's house. The aldermen in the town's leadership decided to sneak in and sprinkle lime around the house during the night. They couldn't confront Emily since accusing a lady of smelling was ungentlemanly.

After about a fortnight, the smell goes away.

It's also in this section where the narrator tells about Emily's father. He is stern and overly protective of his daughter, dismissing all the young men suitable for marrying Emily. The father dies unexpectedly and leaves Miss Emily with nothing apart from the house.

She becomes penniless, with no marriage suitors and no valuable skills to put to use. After the father's death, Emily refuses to let go of the father's body and does not allow anyone in the house for three days. She finally accepts the death and enables the town's men to take the body out for a proper burial.

Section Three

Developments are springing up in Jefferson, such as constructing street pavements. Homer Barron, a foreman supervising workers in the construction company responsible for the town's upgrade, becomes popular among the townspeople.

Miss Emily becomes attracted to the foreman from the North and becomes romantically involved. They are seen together on Sunday afternoons, driving around the town in a yellow-wheeled buggy. The town starts to talk about Emily's relationship with a man who does not seem compatible with her.

Later, Emily's cousins visit, and that is when she buys arsenic from a drug store. She refuses to tell the seller what it's for, as the law requires. The druggist sells it to her anyway and indicates that it's for rats.

Section Four

The town is now expecting Miss Emily and Homer Barron to get married. They expect her to convince him. When there are no marriage signs, the minister's wife writes a letter to Emily's relatives, two cousins who live far away.

When they arrived in town, Barron left for a few days to avoid the intrusion. During this time, Emily purchases a male's silver toilet set, men's clothing, and a nightshirt. At this point, the entire town is convinced they will get married.

Homer Barron returns to town three days after the cousins' departure and visits Miss Emily. Tobe, Emily's African American servant, welcomes him. After that, no one sees Barron ever again. The doors to Emily's home remain closed, and she rarely gets out.

Occasionally, she offers lessons to children on china painting as a way of earning some income. That, however, happens for a short time. Physical aging signs, such as a stooped walk and gray hair, start to appear as she gets older.

Every year, the town's tax collectors send Miss Emily a letter to notify her to pay taxes. Every time she gets it, she returns it to the authorities unpaid. She grows older and adds weight as her hair continues to gray. All this time, she is still locked in her residence.

Eventually, Emily dies in the house, with her head supported by an old, yellow, moldy pillow.

Section Five

After Emily's death, Tobe invites some women into the house. He later walks out via the back door and is never seen again. Emily's cousins arrive for her funeral, which the entire town also attends because they feel it is their obligation. They are also curious to see how Emily's home looks after all those years of not being invited.

Sometime after the funeral, some concerned residents enter Miss Emily's house to access a bolted-shut upstairs bedroom. It had been locked that way for over 40 years. After knocking off the door and the dust settles, they see Homer Barron's skeletal remains. Next to the remains was a pillow with a head's indentation and a long strand of iron-gray hair.

Setting in A Rose for Emily

The short story happens in Jefferson, a fictional town in Oxford, Mississippi. Jefferson is in an equally fictional Yoknapatawpha county that Faulkner fashioned from Lafayette County in Mississippi, where he grew up.

A Rose for Emily starts several years after the American Civil War, between the 19th century after the war and the first few decades of the 20th century. The antebellum south setting defines the town and its people, stuck to the traditions of the cruel past.

However, the town faces changes in its structure and culture, which is a forward progress that the older generation resists. The resistance is evident in Miss Emily, who doesn't want to pay taxes when the new authorities confront her. She insists on an agreement made by Colonel Sartoris, another traditionalist who forces black women to wear aprons in public.

The close-knit community in Jefferson also portrays the drive for rumor and gossip. The townsfolks are keen on Barron and Emily's Sunday outings. Everyone also seems to know when Miss Emily buys a toilet set engraved with initials or arsenic.

Emily's house is a perfect example of a decaying building. Once upon a time, it was an elegant mansion; now, recent developments surround it, reflecting the effect of modern ideas. The interior is dusty and stuffy, and the furniture and relics belong to a long-gone era.

The southern climate is oppressively hot with high humidity, contributing to stagnation and suffocation. However, the setting changes as the plot develops. Emily's emotional and mental decline becomes more prominent when the town starts to modernize.

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A Rose for Emily Plot Summary

The plot summary of A Rose for Emily starts with the death of Emily Grierson, a 74-year-old woman who died with many secrets. She is a Southern woman whose funeral became the town's obligation. In a non-linear fashion, the narrator recalls how Emily's recluse behavior portrayed itself over the years.

Modern ideas are changing Jefferson, but she is bound to the fading antebellum American South aristocracy. With the Civil War over, Grierson's family chooses to stick to the traditions but faces a hard time regardless. According to the narrator, they still hold themselves a little too high.

Mr. Grierson's restrictive behavior chases away the young men suitable for marrying his daughter since they are one of the few survivors of the aristocratic family. That places Emily in the protective hands of her father, who expects her suitor to be a man from a family he considers to be on the same level as them.

Later, the father dies when Emily is about to hit 30 years old. Due to shock and denial, she refuses to give up the rotting corpse for three days. The townspeople, some of whom are glad about the father's death, assumed that was her way of grieving. They also pity poor Emily since the man who chased away her suitors left her alone and with nothing apart from the house.

Now, the townsfolk knew that she would realize the thrilling and old despair of a penny more or less. After three days, she finally allows men from the town to get rid of the dead body and prepare for the funeral.

A Relationship with a Yankee

After her father's death, she develops a reclusive behavior that reduces her bond with people. The only person seen walking in and out of the house is Tobe, Emily's butler. Occasionally, she teaches lessons to children on china painting as a way of earning income.

When she later accepts her father's death, she becomes lively and even changes her hairstyle. She then becomes romantically involved with Homer Barron, a Yankee foreman at the construction company responsible for building pavements in town.

Miss Emily, being a Southern woman, is not expected to be in a relationship with a northerner and a man regarded as being below her social class. However, other townspeople are glad that it's happening. Barron is not a marrying man, and that was the trouble lurking in the relationship. He bonds more with young men with whom he enjoys drinking.

Later, Emily purchases arsenic from the town's druggist, a drug known to be strong enough to kill a horse. She does not explain why she needs the drug. Word gets around town that she has bought poison, and some wish that she uses it to kill herself.

Emily's relationship does not progress to marriage. The Baptist minister writes to Emily's cousins on the matter, who come to supervise the marriage. During this time, Emily buys male wedding gifts, including a nightshirt and a monogrammed toilet set with HB initials on every item.

During the cousin's visit, Homer leaves town and returns three days after Emily's relatives have left. He is seen entering Emily's home, but no one sees him leaving. The townspeople think that he ran off. While Emily's life changes a few times, she does not alter her reclusive behavior.

Deterioration and Shock

A strange smell starts coming from Miss Emily's house, which troubles the folks. Because of her reputation, the aldermen cannot confront her since they cannot accuse a lady of smelling. Other people thought that Tobe was unable to clean the house properly.

So, the council decided to sneak around the house at night and sprinkle lime around it. After about a week or two, the odor disappears. Colonel Sartoris allows Miss Emily to be exempt from paying taxes. He does that to soothe her pride after the father's death since it's said that the father lent some money to the town while he was alive.

Years later, after a new crop of leaders emerged in Jefferson, they stormed Miss Emily's home to demand tax payments. She, however, maintained that she did not pay taxes and that they should consult Sartoris on the matter. Due to her firmness, the council did not pursue her any further.

Miss Emily continues to be a hermit, rarely seen outside. The community tolerates her behavior and assumes she is now a 'hereditary obligation.' When she dies, the townsfolks predominantly attend her funeral after sparking curiosity around town. People want to know why she was the way she was and how her house looks after all these years.

After the burial, a few people enter her house and find a bedroom door locked upstairs. After breaking the door and letting the dust settle, they see the gifts Emily bought for Barron and what seems to be Homer Barron's body on the bed. Beside him was a pillow with a head's indentation and a long strand of iron-gray hair.

The house was the same as before, meaning Emily struggled to maintain and upgrade it.

A Rose for Emily Characters

A Rose for Emily has very few characters. It’s only the main character who appears in most parts of the story. The rest appear vaguely. The characters in the Southern Gothic fiction include the following:

1. Miss Emily Grierson

Emily Grierson is the protagonist in this book. She is a reclusive, mysterious, and complex Southern lady who is significantly miserable. Her social status and behavior make her become the subject of speculation and gossip in her small Southern town, Jefferson.

Some profound events that lead to Emily's descent into isolation and madness are her father's controlling nature and her tragic romantic relationship with Barron. Emily's traits, such as controlling, stubbornness, and delusion, precipitate her downfall as she irrationally holds on to the past.

2. Homer Barron

Homer Barron is a Northern foreman sent to Jefferson, specifically where Emily resides, to work on the sidewalk construction. Another striking feature of Homer is that he is loud and large. A romantic relationship starts to brew between Homer and Miss Emily, though Homer refuses to wed her since he is not a marrying man.

The community believes it is because of Homer's questionable secular orientation that he declines the marriage proposal. Emily thus murders Homer by poisoning him and locking his corpse in an upstairs bedroom for over 40 years.

3. Mr. Grierson

Mr. Grierson is Emily's father and a former mayor of the town. He is a strict patriarchal figure who denies Emily from having a suitor. His motivation stems from the desire to maintain his family's social standing and reputation, although this is only partially evident in the story.

The controlling nature of Mr. Grierson significantly contributes to Emily's isolation and mental decline. Emily's mental distress worsens after Mr. Grierson dies because he was the only person who ever had control of her life, even though it was damaging.

The control is what led her to kill the first man she fell in love with so that she could keep him permanently.

4. Cousins

These are the only Emily's relatives we know from the short story. They hail from Alabama and are invited by the Baptist's wife to intervene in Barron and Emily's relationship. That never happens, though, since they return to their home after affirming that the two will marry.

They seem not to be close to Emily's family since they never attended the father's funeral.

5. Tobe

Tobe is Emily's African American servant who also acts as the family's retainer. He is loyal to Emily and never discloses her secrets. From the story, you can tell that he served Emily until his old age caught up with him. After Emily's death, Tobe disappears via the house backdoor, and no one sees him ever again.

6. Colonel Sartoris

He is a former mayor responsible for waiving Miss Emily's taxes. Although he does not appear much in the story, he makes a decision that makes Emily stubborn and firm whenever authorities question her about her taxes.

According to him, Emily's father loaned the town some money while he was the mayor. So, remitting her taxes was a way of paying her back.

7. Judge Stevens

Judge Stevens is a minor character in Faulkner's story. He is an influential and respected person in the Jefferson community. His noticeable features include his head's white hair and patriarchal nature; he is keen on upholding traditions.

Stevens and other town leaders take it upon themselves to address the foul smell emanating from Emily's house by sprinkling lime around it.

8. The Narrator

The story has a first-person plural approach. That means the narrator could be one town dweller or a couple of people telling the story in parts. Some events in the story are repeated, such as Emily's refusal to pay taxes and Homer's disappearance.

That means whoever is narrating is the voice of the town.

A Rose for Emily Themes

Several dark themes prevail in the story with an Old South setting.

Tradition vs. Progress

The story, through Emily Grierson, shows the struggle to maintain old traditional values in a changing modern society. Jefferson is a town trying to wake up from the Civil War aftermath and its slavery tradition while still seeming to stick to the same.

It's evident from the story that the once glorious Grierson house and the honored cemetery for the war heroes are still around but are now fading in glory. Emily is a Southern lady who chooses to follow the traditional route, ignoring the many changes happening in society.

While she is a monument that reminds people of the past, she is also a people's burden. She is indeed cut off from the rest of the world, making her live life in her own way. For example, she refuses to use the modern mailing service. Her surroundings are changing from an elegant neighborhood to a place surrounded by cotton gins, gas pumps, and garages.

A new wave of town leaders demands taxes from Miss Emily. She refuses to abide and tells them to consult a Colonel who died years ago. More resistance to changes appears in Emily's house, where she retains Homer's remains, his bridal suit, and the monogrammed toilet set. Clinging onto Homer's body after poisoning him shows how the American South holds on to ideals that are no longer viable.

While her father is the one responsible for instilling Emily's current behavior, she never questions it, even after his death. When he dies, Emily refuses to give up the dead body for three days before finally accepting the sad fate.

Patriarchy

In the whole story, women appear to be less than men. Emily follows what her father says without any questions. That eventually affects her since she cannot get a male suitor without her father's approval.

The following strict gender roles and power dynamics are prevalent in Jefferson. Emily's father controls all aspects of her life. After her father's death, the men in society try to exert their control over Emily.

The townspeople view and handle Miss Emily in a particular way. Some pity her, while others scorn her for her father's loss, her unmarried status, and her relationship with a man who is not the marrying kind. After Colonel Sartoris issues a permanent tax relief to Emily, the story narrates that only a man like Sartoris can offer such a deal. On the other hand, only a woman would agree to that.

That portrays Emily as foolish since she cannot recognize his tactical maneuver. On the other hand, Emily uses patriarchial authority to her advantage when she tells the new authorities to consult Sartoris on her tax matter.

She begins courting Barron, a man considered below her status. Some folks judge her harshly because of the relationship and the social position they place her.

It's worth noting that while Sartoris seems lenient to Emily, he does not extend the same to the Black women in society. He declares that all Black women should wear aprons while walking in the streets. That shows how racist he was, representing a culture that the Old South upholds.

Time and Narrative

Faulkner plays with several periods, repeatedly switching between the present and the past. He uses a non-linear narrative structure to create a story, which allows the author to shape the reader's understanding of the events and people.

A Rose for Emily starts with Miss Emily's death and then goes back in time, unfolding the events that led to it. Ultimately, the entire town is shocked when they discover the horrifying secret in her bedroom. However, the end explains why she bought arsenic from the druggist. That is also how we come to understand Homer's disappearance.

The story's non-linear approach helps us understand why the old want to cling to the past. It also allows us to see the events that shape people into who they are when they remain traditional amid blazing modernization.

The South also wants to remain in the old golden days, which is why the short story involves many flashbacks.

Death

This book reinforces that death is inevitable and affects individuals and society. The whole story reflects on this theme. It starts with a taste of Emily's death before past events unfold the truth. Emily, a well-known figure in Jefferson, gives in to death bit by bit until it catches up with her.

Her skin is deprived of light, and the narrator compares her to a drowned woman. While she chooses to be a traditionalist, the death of the old ways becomes inevitable despite her and the townspeople's remaining true to them.

Emily also portrays the fact that she wants to control death. Her necrophilia starts with denying the father's death and choosing to have the dead body remain in the house until the townsmen approach her for the burial. Later, after Homer's death, she decides to lock the body and his belongings in an upstairs bedroom.

The presence of her hair beside Homer's corpse shows that she wanted to keep him close, whether dead or alive. It's, however, sad that even when she tries to challenge death, it eventually triumphs.

Gossip and Judgement

The peripheral narrator in A Rose for Emily uses the plural 'we' voice, so it's easier to say that the narrator is either a collection of different people or the town's voice. While it seems collective, there is nostalgia and an expose of the townspeople's darker side of their memory collection.

The folks watch Miss Emily closely, wanting her to uphold the pre-civil war aristocratic heritage. They also want to know more about her because of their nostalgic push to stay true to their traditions. It's also evident that Emily is a sad and eccentric character who is fun to watch.

The 'we' also seems to take pleasure in darker issues, such as poor Emily's inability to upgrade her life. The Grierson house remains the same throughout, and that does not go unnoticed. The folks also judge her harshly when she decides to court Homer. The gossip caused the Baptist minister's wife to write to Emily's relatives.

The people want Miss Emily to abide by the social conventions of the town. That is why gossip and judgment intervene whenever she seems to break out from the old way of doing things. However, despite their scrutiny, they failed to realize why she bought arsenic and why there was a foul odor from her house.

The people realize Emily is a criminal after her death when visitors get into her house and break the bedroom door, where Barron's remains reside.

A Rose for Emily Symbols

Some of the symbols in A Rose for Emily are:

• A Rose: The title of the book is A Rose for Emily. What many readers find hard to understand is what the “rose” means. The title, or the word rose, is more of an irony. According to Faulkner, Emily went through tragedy and suffering, so he extends a rose to her as a way to salute. However, the significance of the rose flower here is open to debate.
• A strand of hair: The strand found on a pillow next to Homer's corpse has two meanings. The first is Emily's deep desire to keep Homer close forever. The other is that the hair shows Emily's desperation in holding on to things and inability to let go of the past. It also reveals the kind of criminal Emily is, especially after a strand was discovered near Homer's remains.
• A picture of Emily's father: Mr. Grierson's picture symbolizes many aspects. Foremost, the attachment of Emily to the past, her resistance to letting go of her father's control, and her inability to change. The portrait also presents the source of Emily's psychological struggles and the oppressive patriarchy of her father that continues to haunt her even after her father's demise.
• Miss Emily's house: The house shows the state of Emily's life, specifically the deterioration of her mental state. Emily's house decays by the day while the town gets a new, modernized look. The same goes for Emily's mental state. It's also worth noting that the house continues to depreciate as the town thrives. That signifies how the South wants to freeze time and the past as modern ideas continue to push visible results.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is A Rose for Emily about?

A Rose for Emily is a short story about a reclusive woman in a fictional Jefferson town in Mississippi who does something despicable to change her lonely status.

2. What is a short summary of A Rose for Emily?

William Faulkner's A Rose for Emily is about the main character experiencing agony. As she takes care of her father, she has to abide by his rules. After her father's death, she struggles to have a normal life until the day she dies.

3. What is the hidden message in A Rose for Emily?

The hidden message in A Rose for Emily is that death and evolution are inevitable aspects of life. That is why the story starts with the death of the main character and ends with the shocking revelation of the death of a man many thought had disappeared. In the middle, there are revelations of how the old South could not entertain what modernization brought to the environs.

4. What is the genre of A Rose for Emily?

The genre of A Rose for Emily is Southern Gothic fiction. The gothic literal form is evident in its central themes, which revolve around grotesque events and characters, decay in the town's morals, and societal taboos.

5. Who Can Help Me Write A Rose for Emily By William Faulkner Summary?

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In a Nutshell

A Rose for Emily is part of the naturalism literary movement, portraying determinism. By reading the short story, it's clear that the character's fate is already determined despite the struggle to change. There are a lot of invisible forces preventing the character from exercising control.

As the character suffers from death and decay, the environment around her wants her to remain a monument to the past. It also seems as if insanity runs in the character's family. That may be why the father disallowed the character from getting married, to end the curse, but that is open to debate.

All in all, clinging to the past led to the character's ruin since it was a tarnished way of living.

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