A Rose For Emily Analysis Essay

Isn't reading stories that allow the reader to think of what would have happened more intriguing? Stories that have so many interpretations make the reading experience even more phenomenal. I chose “A Rose for Emily” because of how many conclusions I was able to find after just reading through once. “A Rose for Emily” was so carefully constructed that it allowed for multiple interpretations by the end of the story. It also allowed for mixed emotions towards our main character Emily. The plot consists of Emily and her deranged mental health condition and how she reacts to all the people in her life. The plot was brilliantly put together through chapters that consist of reminiscing flashbacks. The plot gave me so much to think about how the story could have went other than what's given to the reader. In “A Rose for Emily,” the use of time lapses allows the reader to absorb the plot immediately and feel a
certain way towards Emily. The way William Faulkner layered the story with unchronological chapters allowed me to understand and also have my own opinion about how differently the story could have gone. I was able to really understand how Emily’s life was as a young woman and how the people in her life shaped her character. It all started with Mr. Grierson who is Emily’s father. He played a controlling role in her life and would forbid her to seek love or the happiness she craved so badly. The story did not clearly state how Mr. Grierson died but I believe that Emily played a big role in her father being deceased because of how he treated her and how she wanted to be free of his controlling nature. After Mr. Grierson’s death, Emily met Homer Barron and was instantly attached to a caring, and loving male role that her father did not provide. I believe that in this time Emily is overwhelmed with joy and believes that she wants to keep Homer Baren within her grasp forever. The townspeople and her cousins not expressing positivity to their relationship only drove Emily further to insanity. I believe when rumors about her attempting to commit suicide is when she decided to pursue keeping Homer Barron. She thinks that everyone is against her happiness starting with her father and that she doesn't want Homer Barron to leave no matter the cost because he is showing passion and love she isn't receiving from any other source. She does the unthinkable and tries to play the assassin role. I believe the only way Emily thinks that Homer Barron won't leave her is by poisoning him and eventually killing him for him to stay and for her to not feel alone. The way the story is presented through time-lapses adds to the overall suspense rather than if it had been presented in a normal fashion. I formed an immediate position on Emily’s character after reading it for the first time and an effect that I kept remembering hours after. It gave me an immediate stance that Emily was a bad individual and a selfish person. After reading the story again and thinking about it more, it's clear that Emily’s state of feeling alone kept getting worse and worse. Emily started seeming like less of an evil person and more of a person who was severely mentally ill with monophobia. Emily was trying to hold on to happiness with Homer Barron so much that she went to incredible lengths just to keep him around. Although poisoning someone is not usually a gesture of love, it was the only way Emily could keep Homer Barron hers. Immediately I was aware of Emily’s condition but it took me hours to completely see that she was severely mentally ill than just insane.
The plot allowed me to realize the extreme distances people will go to not feel alone and feel loved. I was also intrigued by how mental health was looked upon and how everyone in the town disliked Emily until the end where I was left feeling very sad for her. Emily's attitude towards change in her life is inevitably nonexistent. I felt how powerful obsession can get in the way of reality and can delude minds. The plot also allowed me to feel sorry at the very end when the story stated: “Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair.” I was terrified when I read this line for the first time, but was felt sad after because it shows that even as on old lady Emily would still go lay down with Homer Barron and she didn't come to her sense even after she aged.
All in all, “A Rose for Emily” allowed me to create many scenarios like how her Mr.
Grierson died and how Emily’s mental condition was only enhanced because everyone saw her as bitter and didn't want her to be truly happy. I believe that William Faulkner was way ahead of his time because he was able to bring out so many sensitive topics like necrophilia, obsession, mental health and accepting change. Subjects are still controversial today must have taken a lot of backlashes when the story was published back in 1930. William Faulkner used timp-lapses to bring the story and show you how Emily was on a steep hill downward. I was instantly aware of Emily’s condition after reading the story for the first time, but after reading it again I was able to feel some sympathy towards her and realized she was more sick than crazy after all. In conclusion, William Faulkner was able to tell a story through flashbacks that I was able to understand after one reading and was able to identify that Emily’s mental illness is what drives her to murder Homer for her to not feel
abandoned.