A Rose for Emily
A Rose for EmilyA Rose for Emily
William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" tells the story of a young woman who is violated
by her father's strict mentality. After being the only man in her life Emily's father dies and she finds it hard to let go. Emily was
raised in the ante-bellum period before the Civil War. This story takes place in the Reconstruction Era after the war when the
North takes control of the South. Like her father Miss Emily possesses a stubborn outlook towards life, she refuses to change.
This short story explains Emily, her mystified ways and the townsfolk's sympathetic curiosity. The plot of the story is mainly
about Miss Emily's attitude about change. "On the first of the year they mailed her a tax notice. Febuary came and there was
no reply. They wrote her a formal letter asking her to call at the sheriff's office at her convenience. A week later the mayor
wrote her himself, offering to call or to send his car for her, and received in reply a note on paper of an archaic shape, in a thin
flowing calligraphy in faded ink , to the effect that she no longer went out at all. The tax notice was also enclosed, without
comment," (40-41). Miss Emily was convinced that she had no taxes in Jefferson because before the Civil War the South
didn't have to pay. This change occurred when the North took over the South. "After her father's death she went out very little;
after her sweetheart went away, people hardly saw her at all," (41). Miss Emily might have stayed out of the public eye after
these two deaths because she was finally alone, something she in her petty life was not used to. Emily's father never let her
alone and when he died Homer Barron was a treat that she was never allowed to have. Miss Emily's stubborn attitude
definitely came from her father's strict teachings. The characters of this story are very briefly mentioned, Miss Emily and Mr.
Homer Barron are the two main characters described. Miss Emily was described as a short, fat, aged, and mysterious woman.
Miss Emily had been through much and has seen many generations grow before and around her. This brings reason to her
strong Confederate beliefs. Homer on the other hand was quite the opposite, "A Yankee--a big, dark, ready man, with a big
voice and eyes lighter than his face," (43). Homer described himself as a man who couldn't be tied down. This had to be a
terrible opposition for Miss Emily. Towards the end of the story Emily seems to prove him wrong. The setting of this passage is
highly essential because it defines Miss Emily's tight grasp of ante-bellum ways. This story takes place throughout the
Reconstruction Era from the late 1800s to the early 1900s in Jefferson, Mississippi. Jefferson was just one of the many
Southern towns which was reformed by Northern reconstruction. The Confederate...
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