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A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner: Summary | Short Story
A Rose for Emily
ABOUT THE STORY
A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner
"A Rose for Emily" is a Southern gothic short story. It was written by an American author William Faulkner. It was first published on April 30, 1930. The story takes place in Faulkner's fictional town Jefferson, Mississippi. This story was Faulkner's first short story published in a national magazine. This story is about a woman isolated from her community and she takes drastic and horrifying measures to rid herself of loneliness. The major themes in the story are isolation and loneliness.
FULL PLOT SUMMARY
A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner
The story is divided into five different parts. In the first part, the narrator of the story remembers the time and event when Emily Grierson died at the age of 74. During that time, everyone in the town went to her funeral at her home, which hadn't seen a stranger for more than ten years. In a neighbourhood that used to be fancy, Emily's house is the only reminder of a grand past. The previous mayor, Colonel Sartoris, had suspended Emily's taxes after her father died. According to him, her father Mr. Grierson had once lent a significant amount of money to the community. When new leaders in the town took over, they tried their best to make Emily pay taxes again but all their efforts failed. When members of the Board of Aldermen came to meet her to talk about the matter of paying taxes, she was in her old-fashioned and dusty living room. She informed them that she didn't have to pay taxes in Jefferson. Instead, she suggested to them that they should talk to Colonel Sartoris about it. But whom she addressed, he had been dead almost ten years earlier. She called and asked her servant, Tobe, to escort the men out.
In the second part of the story, the narrator describes a time thirty years back. Emily resisted another official investigation by the town leaders. This happened when a strong smell emanated from her property. Her father had just died, and the man whom everyone thought she was going to marry left her. As people complained about the odour, Judge Stevens, who was the mayor at that time, decided to have lime sprinkled around the foundation of Emily's home in the middle of the night. After a few weeks, there was no odour left. But the people in the town started feeling sorry for Emily, who was becoming more and more isolated. They remembered how her great-aunt went crazy. The townspeople had always thought the Grierson family acted like they were better than everyone else, especially Emily's father. He rejected many suitors thinking that they weren't good enough for his daughter. But by the time Emily turned thirty, she hadn't found anyone to marry.
The day after the death of Mr. Grierson, the women in the town came to Emily's house to give their condolences. When they arrived, Emily told them her father wasn't dead. She kept up a similar act continuously for three days. Eventually, she allowed her father's body to be buried.
In the third part, the narrator talks about a time when Emily got really very sick after the death of her father. The townspeople decided to fix the sidewalks that summer. A company led by a northerner named Homer Barron was hired for the job of that construction. Homer became well-liked in town in no time. He was seen taking Emily on buggy rides on Sunday afternoons. This shocked all the townspeople. They started feeling even more condescending and sorry for Emily. They considered that she was forgetting her family's pride and getting involved with a guy who was not of her social status.
As their relationship moved on and Emily's reputation got worse, she moved to the drug store to buy arsenic, a strong poison. By law, she had to explain why she was buying it. But she didn't want to give any reason. When the package arrived at her house, it was labelled "For rats."
In the fourth part, the narrator talks about how some people in town were worried that Emily might use the poison to end her own life. It seemed like her getting married to Homer was becoming less likely, even though they still moved on their Sunday rides. The upset women in town wanted the Baptist minister to talk to Emily.
After the minister talked to Emily, he never talked about it. He promised never to go back again. The wife of the minister wrote to Emily's two cousins in Alabama. Both of them came for a long visit. When Emily ordered a silver toilet set with Homer's initials, people started talking again about the couple getting married. Homer was not in town, and people thought he was either getting ready for Emily to move up North or avoiding her relatives who were being nosy.
After Emily's cousins left, Homer moved into the Grierson home one evening. After his visit, he was never seen again. Emily stayed inside the house. As time passed, she gained weight and turned gray. Even though she sometimes taught china painting, she didn't let anyone in. Every year, she kept on ignoring the tax bill. Eventually, she closed off the top floor of the house. No one heard from her until she died at seventy-four. The only person seen coming and going from the house was the servant of the house.
In the final part, the narrator describes what happens after Emily dies. Her body was placed in the living room. Most women, town leaders and two cousins attended the service. After some time, the townspeople came there and broke down the door to a sealed room upstairs. That room hadn't been opened in forty years. The room was like a frozen moment in time. It was set up for a wedding with a man's suit laid out. Homer Barron's dead body was on the bed, very decayed. The onlookers then noticed a head indentation on the pillow next to Homer's body. There was a long strand of Emily's gray hair on the pillow.
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