"A Rose for Emily"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses "A Rose for Emily" written by William Faulkner. The paper suggests that as the story progresses, Faulkner leads the reader through a labyrinth of puzzle pieces that slowly fall into place upon the pages, however it also suggests that a reader may be left with as many questions as answers at the end of the story because the content of the story and the ending in particular, are cryptic and macabre.

From the Paper:

"The Grierson family was once prominent and wealthy, however as a family symbolizing the past, in the present of the story's action the family has lost its wealth and is almost completely dead. Emily is described as "a fallen monument" (68) to her family's heritage, and the crayon portrait of her dead father -- who had been described during his life as "a spraddled silhouette in the foreground" (71) -- is prominent in the setting of her home. While Emily has some "kinsfolk" (71) in Alabama, they had had a disagreement with her father, and they did not communicate with Emily nor come to her father's funeral. It may be speculated that her cousins that come to visit represent the part of the family that is trying to integrate into the future, and Emily, in her role as Death, prevents them from doing so out of respect for the family of the past."

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