In William Faulkner’s brilliantly twisted story of “A Rose For Emily”, his eloquent yet dark style of writing causes his readers to develop mixed emotions about his main character in order to emphasize how complicated she is. This story about the main character, Emily Grierson, jumps back and forth from the present to the past, detailing the death of her father and how this negatively influenced her life. She becomes practically destitute, with only a house to survive in. Later, she meets a man, becomes alienated from society, and stops leaving her house altogether. And as more of Emily’s mysterious life unfolds, William Faulkner employs a variety of harsh tones and complex structuring of the events to mirror the intricate personality of Emily
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The entire town pays a visit to the upstairs room of her dilapidated abode “which no one had seen in forty years” (Faulkner 211). They find “a thin, acrid pall as of the tomb seemed to lie everywhere… decked and furnished as for a bridal”: the room has “faded rose” colored curtains and “rose-shaded lights” (Faulkner 211) and the rotting skeleton of Homer Barron on the bed. Upon closer examination, someone finds a strand of Emily’s hair from the indented pillow next to Homer’s head. The scene is so vividly described that the audience can really imagine being in that eerie room, described with words like “acrid”, “fleshless”, and “biding”. Since long sentences are again incorporated to reinforce Emily’s sad and mysterious life, the readers finally realize how insane Emily actually becomes. Her isolation drove her crazy. It is implied that Homer was probably going to leave her which is why Emily decides to kill him and keep his body. No one in town talks to her, acknowledges her except about her taxes, so she craves the only attention she ever received. And for that one person to leave her pushed Emily to pull this insane murder and keep the body so that Homer never truly leaves her. The ending is appalling and downright twisted, but William Faulkner pulls this off beautifully. He is not afraid to dive into the details of Emily’s decay and eventual death. With the somber imagery of the deteriorating house and Emily’s mentality, he uncovers what truly becomes of an alienated individual who grips to the past, the overall theme of the
The entire town pays a visit to the upstairs room of her dilapidated abode “which no one had seen in forty years” (Faulkner 211). They find “a thin, acrid pall as of the tomb seemed to lie everywhere… decked and furnished as for a bridal”: the room has “faded rose” colored curtains and “rose-shaded lights” (Faulkner 211) and the rotting skeleton of Homer Barron on the bed. Upon closer examination, someone finds a strand of Emily’s hair from the indented pillow next to Homer’s head. The scene is so vividly described that the audience can really imagine being in that eerie room, described with words like “acrid”, “fleshless”, and “biding”. Since long sentences are again incorporated to reinforce Emily’s sad and mysterious life, the readers finally realize how insane Emily actually becomes. Her isolation drove her crazy. It is implied that Homer was probably going to leave her which is why Emily decides to kill him and keep his body. No one in town talks to her, acknowledges her except about her taxes, so she craves the only attention she ever received. And for that one person to leave her pushed Emily to pull this insane murder and keep the body so that Homer never truly leaves her. The ending is appalling and downright twisted, but William Faulkner pulls this off beautifully. He is not afraid to dive into the details of Emily’s decay and eventual death. With the somber imagery of the deteriorating house and Emily’s mentality, he uncovers what truly becomes of an alienated individual who grips to the past, the overall theme of the