Mysterious Emily




In William Faulkner’s short story, A Rose for Emily, a very unusual and mysterious character named Emily Grierson is the subject of gossip in a small southern town through out her lifetime and even after her death. She is characterized as lonely, hardheaded, and definitely insane as she struggles with the pain of trying to hold on to a relationship that is destined to fail.

Faulkner provides several examples of Emily’s loneliness and isolation from the world around her. For example when she was younger her father would not allow her to date young suitors, which resulted in her old maid status. “Poor Emily” the towns people would continually gossip as they observed her from afar. The next example is when her father passed away and “she was left all alone and a pauper, she had become humanized”(308) in her mansion with her man servant Toby. Another time Faulkner supports the idea that Emily Grierson is lonely is when he writes “After her sweetheart went away people hardly saw her at all.” obviously Emily’s isolation lead to depression resulting in a drastic change in appearance. She gained weight, became gray headed and “looked sort of tragic and serene”(309) according to the local ladies of the town. Faulkner’s uses the description of Emily in her later life to illustrate her extreme loneliness.

Faulkner not only makes Emily lonely but he also makes her hardheaded and stubborn. For instance she refuses to pay taxes in Jefferson. Emily says “I have no taxes in Jefferson.” (306) Emily is so hardheaded she wont even listen to the federal government about her taxes. Another example is she does not want to let the people take her dead father. The ladies of the town come to her house to pay their respects and Emily tells them he is not dead. These examples show that Emily is very stubborn and she only believes and does what she wants to. Faulkner uses these examples to show the audience that Emily is a determined woman who will do and get what she wants.

Faulkner creates Emily with many problems but her biggest one by far is her insanity. All through the story she does things normal people would not do. One example is when she goes to the drug store and says, “I want some Arsenic.”(310) Emily is so insane that she plans out the way she is going to kill Homer. Obviously she has a mental issue because any normal human being would not plan to murder a person that they love. Another example is when they search Emily’s house after she dies they find some gray hair laying next to a skeleton; this really shows how insane Emily Grierson is. She slept with a dead body for many years after she killed him. Faulkner uses all theses examples to show us just how insane people can become.

Emily Grierson is a strange individual that has many struggles in her lifetime. Faulkner created Emily to hate the world and do only what she thinks in right. In her mind the right is murdering a man she loved and controlling everybody on the planet. In the end her insanity hardheadedness and being lonely made Emily’s life miserable.