Emily Grierson In William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

The Frozen Time of Emily Grierson
In this paper, the story of William Faulkner “A Rose for Emily”, I will illustrate how Emily Grierson was living in the past. Firstly, in the beginning of the story, the author’s detailed characterization foreshadowed the irony at the ending of the story. Secondly, Emily’s whole life and faith was controlled and twisted by her father’s selfishness and when her father died, she refused to give up her father’s dead body. Thirdly, she ignored all the public notice and tax collection that was sent to her. Fourthly, she turned her affection and desire to possess Homer that leads him to his death. Finally, the story that started the end of Miss Emily Grierson life was unfolded and the author suggests that Emily’s
relentless attempt to preserve the time and her life was because she would rather have nothing than grief over something lost.
First, the author Faulkner elaborated Emily’s house was in the best neighborhood of the town in 1894. Her faded old house was an eyesore among the commercial businesses to the Civil War cemetery. When Emily died, the whole town went to her funeral and was like a “fallen monument” (33) to the men but most of the women are more interested in the “inside” of the house of Emily. The final moments of Emily Grierson was laid to rest among the “ranked and anonymous graves of the Union and Confederates soldiers” (33). This implied that Emily was to be remembered buried and forgotten. For this reason, Emily can no longer live in the past because she was buried amongst them.
Firstly, Faulkner described the talk of the town was focused on Emily’s treatment from his father.
Her father was overprotective of her and forced all the young men away. She stayed single at the age of thirty when her father died. The people talked about the chances that could have been in her life, if Miss Emily’s father did not deprive her from marrying anybody at least and perhaps she could have somebody with her in times of grief. The people understood of course the situation she was going through assuming Emily’s state of mind was not right because of her lost and now alone with an empty house and could only clasp to what she had lost (34). Miss Emily refusal to accept her father’s death was significant because it took her three days before she finally buried her father. In this situation, I believed that Emily started to stop the time because by denying her father’s death, she could turn the clock around to manipulate her father and take control of him instead but unfortunately he was six feet underground. For this reason, Emily Grierson started taking in charge of her life by keeping it “still” in
time.
Secondly, Colonel Sartoris was the mayor of the town and made up a story that Emily’s father loaned the town money and the town was in debt of Emily’s father. But Colonel Sartoris was dead ten years ago and in this scenario Skloot suggested that the present events transformed into events that had happened decades in the past and then at that moment of time of the present day, these characters appeared in the middle of scenes that do not belong to past. For instance, when the Alderman came to knock on her door to dispute and collect taxes on Miss Emily, she insisted saying that she had “no taxes on Jefferson” and “to see Colonel Sartoris” (33). For this reason, Emily was implying for the authorities to engage their argument with the dead man Colonel Sartoris because her belief in that moment of time was the past was still present with her.
Thirdly, Emily’s demeanor had changed since Homer Baron came to view. To some old folks and ladies would say that Emily would not fall for Northerner man and as for the other folks thought she was still in grieving her father’s death and should be cautious in her moral position in society. This however, was the assumption of the people who would look at Emily and Homer together and all they would say was to pity her because Homer Baron on the other hand was a black man, a laborer, no class at all, and likes to go out with the men and get drank at the Elk club. Watkins stated that “the South and the North” and “the traditional and the traditionless” emphasized how these details are important towards in analyzing Emily life story ended in such way. For instance, when the town people found out that Emily bought arsenic poison at the pharmacy, they assumed that she would kill herself because Homer is not the marrying type, yet they saw Emily bought a silver toilet set and an outfit for men assuming that “they” (Emily and Homer) will conjoin together. And again, the people are disappointment when there was no progress of events and have not seen Homer since as years past and new generation come. Faulkner described Emily was found dead in one of the room downstairs “filled with dust and shadow” (36). The second floor bedroom was where the skeletal body of Homer Baron where he was laid as if he were sleeping dressed in his night shirt and covered in dust. The room was furnished where the man’s toilet things with tarnished silver found on the dresser and a suit carefully folded hung on a chair and pair of shoes and socks beneath it. Besides Baron’s body, a second pillow suggests an indentation of a head once laid there of a long strand of iron gray hair. In this scene, Emily was not only thinking about killing but also preserving her love to Homer because since death was the only way of taking control of the man she loves, death was the ultimate way to make him stay.
Finally, William Faulkner characterization of Emily in the end of the story was a twist of solitude, and pity which nobody could ever imagine but to suggest solitary confinement means alone was not for Emily because she was not alone when Homer’s dead body was found in her home.
To Emily her pride of death was not the ultimate end of her world, her life evolves in death and this shows that if she could not have her way with her father or with Homer, she would rather have them dead living with her. In this story, I could only assume that William Faulkner’s logical explanation for Emily’s behavior that life is no better than death, if she cannot have Homer to herself, then death is the only way to have him
alive.