Discussion Topic
Discovery in the upstairs room in "A Rose for Emily."
Summary:
The discovery in the upstairs room in "A Rose for Emily" is the decomposed body of Homer Barron. This shocking revelation, along with the evidence of a long gray hair on the pillow beside him, suggests that Emily had been sleeping next to the corpse, revealing her deep-seated issues with loss and control.
What do the townspeople find in the unseen room upstairs in "A Rose for Emily"?
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 fact, no one from the town had been inside Emily's house for many years.) What they found, after breaking down the bedroom door, was shocking. The room had been decorated as if it were a bridal chamber:
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In the bed, the men found the decayed remains of the man himself. On the pillow next to his head was a long gray hair. This final macabre detail tells the tale of what happened to Miss Emily's suitor, Homer Barron, who had disappeared many years before. Emily had murdered Homer to keep him from leaving her. She had then slept beside his corpse, apparently for the rest of her life.
What is discovered in the upstairs room in "A Rose for Emily"?
Following Miss Emily's death, the citizens of Jefferson force their way into Emily's upstairs room to find the grotesque skeleton of a man, presumably Homer Barron, lying on the bed. The citizens also discover an indentation on the pillow next to the skeleton and find a long strand of iron-gray hair on the pillow, which indicates that Emily Grierson had been lying next to the corpse. Faulkner's anachronism creates suspense and mystery surrounding the enigmatic protagonist, Miss Emily. After Emily suspiciously purchased arsenic from the pharmacy, the citizens of Jefferson noticed that Homer Barron, the man courting Emily, had disappeared. Shortly after Homer Barron disappeared, the citizens were forced to spread lime throughout Emily's yard to quell the stench permeating from Homer's corpse inside her home. Faulkner's use of anachronism enhances the mystery and builds suspense around the community's shocking discovery of Homer Barron's corpse in the upstairs room of Emily's home.
The men discover a dead body in the upstairs bedroom.
Soon after Emily is buried, several of the men force the upstairs open. There they find what is evidently the rotten corpse of Homer Barron.
There is a corpse in the bed that appears to have been there for quite some time. Miss Emily apparently killed Homer Barron and kept his body in a bed upstairs. The rat poison she buys early in the story is explained (by implication) in the discovery of the dead body in the upstairs bed.
Though the identity of the corpse is not entirely clear, the implication is clear that Emily has killed someone (probably Homer) with rat poison and kept the body upstairs as part of a fantasy romance.
A grey hair, like Emily's hair, is found on the pillow next to the corpse. This implies that Emily has spent time lying or sleeping next to the corpse. As some critics have pointed out about Emily, "She may even be mad..."
The discovery of a dead body and evidence that she was spending time lying next to it certainly suggest a strange fantasy life for her character.