Decay In A Rose For Emily

Roses have never described such dark, yet peaceful scenes. Death has never been brought forth by love or romantic qualities; and although the end to this unquenchable sentiment might seem fatal, love has ever only produced more life. Fortunately, there is love in every human being, either good or bad; however, the dark and isolated romanticism can often kill the soul. Be it the lover’s or the lover’s object’s. It is then in the short story, “A Rose for Emily,” that William Faulkner through the narrator’s vision of the story, the inclusion of a decaying Mississippi town, the ongoing battle of Ms. Emily Grierson against her sentiments and the local government clearly presents how the controlling, manipulating and deprecating love of a woman
Grierson that conduces to the death of Homer, too. The mention of the fictitious town of Jefferson, with its belligerent and ambiguous past, adds suspense to the course of action as the narrative unfolds and the character’s nature is revealed. A decaying town parallels a decaying society of the nineteenth century and the deprecating nature of the characters that inhabit the place. This decay is observed in Emily Grierson as she retreats from society with the passing of time. The isolation, abandonment, and the foolish conflict Jefferson experiences alludes to the slow detachment of Miss Grierson from social norms and good morals. The house belonging to Emily also displays the nature of its tenant and aids in the development of the psychotic mind behind Homer’s unexpected death. Emily’s residence is the only house in town representative of the past generation and old traditionalist values. The decaying, unattended construction exposes the character of its owner who is also conceived as a lone and uncared statue (Perrine 535-41). Mystery and suspicion therefore surrounded Emily and the house, for they shared common features. The townspeople connected the house with Ms. Grierson, and they referred to her as a stubborn self-absorbed woman, a duty, an obligation upon the town (Perrine 535-41). The need of the aldermen to visit her reveals the apparent exclusivity of her person, and the sprinkling of lime around the house to mitigate the odor points to a morbid desire for attention only sufficed with proper but cautious care (Perrine 535-41). This smell and appearance of the house, along with the detachment from government reforms indicates rebellion of Emily against established principles and morality. By providing a specific timeframe, referring and characterizing the town of Jefferson and