A Rose for Emily
"A Rose for Emily" is a short story by the American author William Faulkner first published on April 30, 1930. It is distinctive for its unusual use of first-person plural point of view and non-chronological ordering of episodes. This story takes place in Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, an often revisited setting of Faulkner's.
Plot
"A Rose for Emily" recounts the story of an eccentric spinster, Emily Grierson. An unnamed narrator details the strange circumstances of Emily’s life and her odd relationships with her father, who controlled and manipulated her, and her lover, the Yankee road worker Homer Barron. When Homer Barron threatens to leave her for another man, she is seen buying arsenic, which the townspeople believe she will use to commit suicide. After this, Homer Barron is not heard from again, and is assumed to have returned north. Though she does not commit suicide, the townspeople of Jefferson continue to gossip about her and her eccentricities, citing her family's history of mental illness. She is heard from less and less, and rarely ever leaves her home. Unbeknownst to the townspeople until her death, hidden in her upstairs room is Homer's corpse, which explains the horrid stench that emitted from Miss Emily's house 40 years ago.
The story’s complexities have inspired critics while casual readers find the work one of Faulkner’s most accessible (and shortest) works. It was Faulkner's first short story published in a national magazine. The popularity of the story is due in no small part to its gruesome ending.
The story explores many themes, including the society of the South at that time, the role of women in the South, and extreme psychosis.
The story was adapted for film in 1982 by Chubbuck Cinema Company, and has since been released as a 27-minute video. The star-studded credits include Anjelica Huston, John Houseman, John Randolph, John Carradine and Jared Martin.
External links
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