Theme Of Color In A Rose For Emily

In A Rose for Emily, Faulkner uses color to describe Emily Grierson’s emotional state transitioning from innocence to insanity. Typically in stories, colors provide the current visuals that characters see while helping readers to obtain a better mental image of the scene. Faulkner, however, not only uses colors to help paint a better mental image for his reader, but to also highlight the limitless meaning that colors can embody such as setting the tone and mood. He does not tell Emily’s story in chronological order, in order to draw emphasis on the depth of her character. In these times, Faulkner states colors to represent the duality meanings in Emily experiences. Even though she was happy, time eventually ran out and caused her despair. He …show more content…
Her prosperity was her happiness and her poorness symbolizes things that troubled her. As the narrators progress, Emily Grierson’s life is described with more tarnished and bright colors for the purpose of creating a bittersweet symbol. After her father died, she never paid taxes because her father contributed a major sum. Some unsatisfied government officials, however, arrived to her house in order demand money. When they met her, they described her as “a small fat women in black, with a thin gold chain descending from her waist” supporting herself on “ebony cane with a tarnished gold head.” Dressing in black symbolizes that she was still empowered by her father and his money still supports her through the cane. Black, however, also symbolizes how she was mourning the death of her father. The color gold represents her happiness and prosperity, thus the “thin gold chain” is her happiness hanging meekly to her. The “tarnished gold head” defines that her riches, the gold surface, are becoming dull and dirty, thus it foreshadows that she will lose all her happiness and become even more disturbed to the brink of insanity because of the lost bonds she feebly attaches herself …show more content…
She was described to be riding in a yellow wheeled buggy with Homer Barron, who eventually became someone she dedicated her life to. Faulkner describes spending time with Homer were her happiest times. She was seen as a different person: young, elated, and bright. However hidden in her happiness was the yellow symbolizes impurities. The innocence of Emily was consumed by the impurities of loving a man, foreshadowing her eventual insanity. She let her happiness get to the best of her. Ulf describes Homer as a man of “fluid sexuality” because of his hinted interest in men, eventually began showing less interest to her. (Ulf 309) All the commitment Emily put forth into her relationship slowly lost value and she did not want to relive losing another person close to her. Not wanting to face the same situation she faced before she bought some arsenic from a vendor and invited Homer Back to her house, killing him. Thus yellow represents that within her happiness hides her insecurities of losing the man she