FREE ESSAY ON EMILY'S ROSE

EMILY'S ROSE

Emily's Roses
Emily lives in the small town of Jefferson. Jefferson is a town where her family has
lived for generations, and where her family is known to have "held themselves a little to
high for what they were;" so they were treated as such. Emily is kept home by her father
and almost hidden from the entire town; the gentlemen callers who dared come calling for
Miss Emily's hand were only "vanquished" by her father. They were not of "social
standing" to be permitted her time and company. In her fathers eyes Emily was the last to
continue their "noblesse oblige" duty as a Grierson. I believe that Emily couldn't escape
her family's fate because of her father and her townspeople. Even if Emily wanted to shed
the family reputation, she couldn't. The town would never have accepted her as anything,
but a "Grierson." Even as the generations change, Emily's family reputation is still
known. Years of solitude couldn't change her reputation. Emily obviously lived a sad and
lonely life. Her father had taken every hope for love from her because of the regarded
"August" name. I believe because of her father's death and the sweetheart who deserted
her, she realized that she had one last chance to form a new life, and she had a new
chance for love (or just companionship). When she reappears after the burial of her
father, she has a new look of a young girl. I believe this was Emily's attempt to become
part of the town, rather then "a tradition," "a duty," and "a care." During this time she
meets Homer, a "Northerner," who she is seen riding throughout town on "Sunday
afternoons" with her. Emily (seeing a man not from her town feels) knows that this is her
last hope for companionship. Courting Homer, which was undignified for a Grierson, was
her only way to fill her void of the loss of her father and sweetheart. Yet even in this
fabricated attempt she still "demands recognition as the last Grierson." It's like that
old saying, "You can take a boy out of the city, but you can't take the city out of a
boy." Miss Emily Grierson will always hold that obligation in her stature. 
However, I don't believe Homer Barron sees Emily as a potential mate. I think he felt
sorry for her and was only being kind out of pity. As stated, "He was not a marrying man"
and "remarked he himself liked men." I believe Homer Barron is gay, and to put it simply
in today's lingo, he's a player. One can infer that Miss Emily heard the talk around
town, small towns and gossip go hand in hand, about Home's sexuality. I believe this is
where the demented intensions arouse. I think when Homer returned to Emily, she asked him
to marry her, but I think Homer refused. His intensions I believe were only friendship.
Faulkner uses the color "Yellow" twice in this story when showing Miss Emily and Homer
together. Yellow is a color of friendship or uncertainty. For example, pregnant women
receive yellow items for the unborn baby, and yellow roses are given as symbol of
friendship. Hence the use of "Yellow" and "Roses" in "A Rose For Emily."
Emily has always been ruled by, and depended on men to protect, defend and act for her.
Her father, who nurtured, protected, and loved her (in an odd way), to the Negro servant,
Tobe, who fed and sheltered her from the outside world. And then there is Homer Barron,
who gives her hope. Emily's rose briefly re-blooms for Homer, but in the end it fades and
dies as she did-leaving only a lingering fragrance and "dusty" petals. 
Faulkner planted only five roses in this story, and within Miss Emily's life she had lost
four men. I believe the roses that Faulkner planted were for each of the men Miss Emily
lost. The first rose I believe was for her dead father. The second rose was for the
sweetheart who deserted her. The third rose for the men her father drove away. And the
fourth (yellow) rose was for Homer Barron, who she preserves for everlasting love. There
it stays "lain," forever a reminder in an "embrace," frozen in time "the sleep that
outlasts love," as if it were "tableau" of Emily's "tragic and serene" desires for love,
" The man himself lay in the bed." Emily loved the only way she knew how-the way of the
rose-beautiful on the outside, but sharp, harsh, and painful as the stem of thorns. By
analyzing the significance of the roses in this story it is clear that the men are
Emily's "fallen" roses. However Faulkner did plant one last rose, the rose for Miss Emily
Grierson. I believe Faulkner was saying, roses are beautiful and given to show love or
admiration by another. When cared for and loved, roses are the most beautiful sight, but
if neglected they can become ugly and spooky, just as Emily had. Her personality was
prickly as a torn. Emily without doubt falters after her father's demise. So "poor Emily"
spends the rest of her life as a wilting, dying flower in "which no winter ever quite
touches." I think Faulkner gives Emily these roses throughout the story out of "pity and
obligation" just as the "town felt pity and obligated" to Miss Emily, their "fallen
monument." Life can be sad and tragic, some of which is made for us, and some of which we
make ourselves.