A Rose for Emily

Since William Faulkner (or his omniscient narrator) never reveals exactly why Emily killed Homer, we'll never know for sure what motivated her to do so. It's certainly possible to consider whether...

The point of view is that of the town itself, told from an unnamed narrator’s perspective but sharing the town’s feelings. The point of view of the story is first person, but not the typical first...

At the end of the short story, the townspeople attend Miss Emily Grierson's funeral, and several curious citizens enter her home in order to clean out her possessions. The townspeople are curious...

Exposition: In "A Rose for Emily," Faulkner's approach is not linear, as he moves back and forth in time. Although the story begins with Miss Emily's funeral, the exposition occurs shortly...

Emily Grierson's house is an outward representation of its mistress. Emily is described early in the story as being almost like a "monument" to a time which is now in the past. Her house is one of...

Key to understanding Faulkner's framing of the story with the old chivalric code of the ghostly Old South's past with Part I and Part V, is his creation of a gothic horror with the gruesome details...

Miss Emily represents the American South as it was before the Civil War. She comes from wealth that was built on the backs of slaves, and that wealth is now gone. She is the last of the...

The community seems to be reluctant to confront her or force her to do anything largely because of the role her lineage has played in the town’s history and her defiant nature. One of the most...

In "A Rose For Emily," the exact nature of Emily and Homer's relationship is not made explicitly clear. Certainly, Emily and Homer appear to like each other very much and they spend a lot of time...

The events in "A Rose for Emily" are not in the customary course of chronological order because the author aims to instill in the reader a sense of belonging to the setting. This being said, as the...

There is irony in the way the citizens of Jefferson criticize Miss Emily Grierson for being a Southern aristocratic and acting too far above their social class while they proceed to give her...

In "A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, the protagonist lives a solitary existence. There were many things that caused Emily Grierson to be alone most of her life. Miss Emily was a product of...

The special relationship between Emily Grierson and the town is actually a rather warped, unhealthy one. Emily represents what for many people in the town is a vanished golden age, an age of fine...

In general, without an explicit explanation from an author of his or her purpose in writing a particular piece of literature, it is very difficult to understand with certainty the purpose or...

After her father dies, Emily wants to have total control over her environment. She asserts this control by insisting on stasis: she wants nothing around her to change once she has her life...

The relationship between Miss Emily and her father, though rather unhealthy to modern eyes, was all too common at that time. Mr. Grierson is a domestic tyrant; what he says, goes. And woe betide...

William Faulkner's use of foreshadowing in his Gothic tale "A Rose for Emily" is arranged in a non-sequitur manner; this seems to add to the horror of the ending. Here are two examples: 1. After...

Emily's relationship with her father is characterized by control and dependence. The narrator clues us in to the father's control over Emily through discussion of male suitors. The townspeople see...

Initially, some of the townspeople are happy for Miss Emily when they see her with Homer Barron, who is a foreman from the North. They sympathize with Emily's difficult past and do not believe that...

Concerning Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily," a consensus exists among critics, teachers, etc., about Emily's motivation for killing Homer. Emily is obsessed with holding on to the past and avoiding...

Another way to look at the townspeople referring to Emily as "poor Emily" is that they did not attempt to really try to understand what was behind her strange behavior. They, in my...

In the Old South, women were thought to be like angels, first virginal and then maternal—innocent, self-effacing, and hospitable. They were set apart, revered, and put on pedestals, but what can...

Your question suggests William Faulkner's story, "A Rose for Emily." After Emily Grierson's death, some of the men of Jefferson open an upstairs bedroom that no one had seen for many years. (In...

"A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner takes place in Jefferson, Mississippi. The story spans the life [74 years] of the protagonist Miss Emily Grierson, a daughter of the "Old South." Told in...

If Miss Emily is a monument, it's only because the townsfolk have turned her into one. They're the ones who've put her on a pedestal, venerating her as the last living connection with a supposedly...

"A Rose for Miss Emily" by William Faulkner is set in the post-Civil War South and features one primary character, Miss Emily Grierson. Despite the fact that the war is over, Miss Emily is an...

In A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner, the ending holds a surprise twist. In the bed in Miss Emily’s room is the skeleton of her long dead boyfriend. The impression of Miss Emily’s head and a...

Emily's reaction to the death of her father is one of denial and clinging to unrealistic expectations; it is also very telling of her state of mind and serves as a foreshadowing of what is to come...

Roses need not be literally spoken of to have power. Think of roses and their various roles in human life. Roses are often present at weddings, a promise of love despite hardship, the combination...

Initially she was seen as a southern lady, which is one reason her taxes were initially waved. However, as time passes and a new generation of townspeople grow up, they regard Emily as a bit of an...

After Emily's father dies, Colonel Sartoris invents a way to help Emily survive financially without embarrassing her by revealing that she's actually accepting charity from the town. Everyone has...

Tone refers to the way the author feels about the subject of the text. It is often confused with mood, which refers to the feeling created within the reader by the text. A easy way to keep them...

The effect of the final paragraph is to create shock and horror. Throughout the entire piece, Faulkner does give clues that Miss Emily could have inherited some of her family's insanity, but...

Tension between the modern and the old, specifically, the Old South, pervades "A Rose for Emily" from beginning to end. From the very first scene in the story, Miss Emily's house, which once was on...

Figurative language refers to certain figures of speech used by writers as a means of describing something in a non-literal way. Figurative language may use imagery to depict a person or scene more...

William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily” takes place in the fictional town of Jefferson, Mississippi after the Civil War. The postbellum South saw changes in their economics as they...

Much of Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" is predicated on situational irony, or the contrast between what we (the reader) or the characters expect to happen and what actually happens. Examples are as...

I'm not sure you can pinpoint a single conflict in "A Rose for Emily." Emily's refusal to adhere to the changing world around her is a general problem that seems to affect her throughout her life....

When Homer Barron and Miss Emily begin to date, the community of Jefferson disapproves of their relationship because Homer is a laborer from the North who is not of the same social status as Emily...

At the beginning of the novel, the citizens of Jefferson mention that the mayor of the town, Colonel Sartoris, remitted Miss Emily Grierson's taxes. In the middle of the sentence. Faulkner uses an...

Miss Emily actually did not tell the druggist why she wanted the arsenic. The druggist chose to put rats on the package so he would not get in trouble for selling her arsenic. Faukner writes:The...

A rose is a life form, and there are few life forms in and around the home of Emily Grierson. Emily's home is an eyesore that is dilapidated and decaying, while the rest of the town is rebuilding...

The hair suggests not only that Miss Emily has been sleeping with the dead body in the attic bedroom, but that she has been doing so recently. If the hair were of a different color (not grey), we...

The question of diction is a subtle one. It refers to style, but also to vocabulary and cadence. That means you could take the question in several different directions. Here are a few examples of...

Though the townspeople talk a lot about the smell coming from Miss Emily's home, it's not the townspeople that "solve" the problem with the smell. The smell is solved by time...though the...

Miss Emily Grierson is a symbol of the old South in many ways. She lives in an old house “decorated with cupolas and spires” but now surrounded and threatened by the symbols of modernity, industry,...

The plot structure of William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" definitely helps in creating an ending with impact. Since it deals with the mystery of the stench, and further, the mystery of Miss Emily...

Miss Emily's home is described as a big, square framed house that had once been white but is now a decaying eyesore. The massive home is located on what was once Jefferson's most select street and...

I agree that the climax--the point of highest interest and suspense--is the moment the townspeople herd into Miss Emily's house after years of only her manservant having access. They finally open...

The delay in breaking down the door to Miss Emily's upstairs bedroom was primarily a matter of respect for the recently departed. Most religions observe a period of mourning for the dead, and...