Decay In William Faulkner's Short Story 'A Rose For Emily'

Campbell 1 Tirzah Campbell Instructor Hugetz English 1301.20 Com 1 9 December 2012 Unchangeable Emily The story begins with the death of Emily Grierson, who is the last of her wealthy upper class family. From there the story is told in a random series of events to give the reader hints of Emily’s surprising secret. Emily’s resistance to change causes a theme of decay that affects every aspect of her life. In William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily,” Emily’s arrogance, reclusiveness, and possessiveness demonstrate her refusal to adapt to the present. One of the characteristics that prevents Emily from adapting to the present is arrogance. Raised in an upper class family from the South, Emily believes that she is entitled to whatever she
In the summer after Emily’s father’s death, she meets her lover Homer Barron. Homer Barron is a working class Yankee who has no ideas of settling down with a wife: “…he was not the marrying man” (Faulkner 793). Emily has no plans of allowing a person she loves to leave her all alone again, so she plans a way to deceive him and the townspeople. After Emily’s death, the men from town creep into her house to the room which has been blocked off. The men find Homer’s decaying body lying in bed: “…long sleep that outlast love, that conquers even the grimace of love, had cuckolded him” (Faulkner 796). Emily betrays Homer and their love for one another by poisoning him. Had no forceful action been taken after her fathers death, one suspects that she would have kept his body as she did Homer’s. While everything from industrial buildings, sidewalks, and mailboxes in Jefferson is changing to more civilized and “modern ideas,” Emily desperately grasps onto old traditions and lifeless decaying bodies. Emily is unchanging, and her way of life is decaying because she lives in the past. Emily’s arrogance, reclusiveness, and possessiveness help her get away with