Foothills Times January 2014 Vol 34 May 2014 | Page 50

“A Rose for Emily,” is a short story by American author William Faulkner (1897-1962), which was first
published in the April 30, 1930 issue of Forum. The story is set in a fictional southern town in Mississippi,
and is filled with layers of symbolism. As I read the story again recently, I was compelled to put my thoughts
on paper. I urge you to read the story for yourself and see if you agree. My thoughts……
Emily Grierson was a grand old lady of the South. However, unlike others who claim that moniker, there
was little about Emily that was grand, or even honorable. Whatever measure of respect she had was given
because of her father’s name, or perhaps out of fear. Emily wore her southern aristocracy like a suit of armor.
It not only protected her from the inconvenience of being left penniless, but served her offensively as well.
“A Rose for Emily” has many interpretive levels, but the one I see clearest is the comparison of Miss Emily
and her life, and the fall of the Confederate States of America. In Emily’s story we see a picture painted of a
once grand southern mansion that has fallen into a state of neglect and disrepair. The home is the last of its
kind in an area now surrounded now by commerce. Emily deals with the change in her surroundings, not by
moving, but by becoming a recluse. Proudly she remains in the old home place with one black male servant,
and rarely ventures out of the confines of her home. On the day Miss Emily dies, the servant walks through
the house and out the back door, never to be seen again.
In the story, we watch as Emily involves herself with a northern man who has come with a construction crew
to build a sidewalk through her town. They have an affair that takes a sinister turn. Emily purchases arsenic from the local apothecary. Even
though the druggist is required to obtain a reason from the consumer for making such a purchase, he does not refuse the sale when Miss Emily
simply answers his inquiry with a cold stare. Later in the tale, the northerner disappears and the remains of his body are discovered in a bedroom
of Miss Emily’s home some forty years later after her death. The body is reposed on a bed as if in sleep. A separate pillow on the bed carries the
indention of a head, with a strand of hair that could only have belonged to Emily.
I see the grand old home as the proud South, refusing to relinquish its place of honor in the socio-economic system. As “progress” encroaches
around her, the South remained steadfast, holding her head high although she no longer wielded any political authority. The black servant
walking out the back door never to return, seems to be symbolic of slavery that was abolished when the South finally bowed to the laws of
emancipation.
Miss Emily was a picture of a less than honorable descendant of the
true South. The sidewalk that was being built was symbolic of the
ways of the North, intruding onto lands that did not want its presence.
A land that Miss Emily’s forefathers had fought to keep under
Confederate rule. I see Emily’s involvement with the northern man as
a melding of two cultures under deception. Her intent was never to
welcome him and to join with him in marriage. Her intent was to lure
him, to seduce him, and to destroy him.
Southern history is full of pictures of once grand plantations,
politeness almost to the point of hypocrisy, and feigned innocence.
One might describe the strength of the south as a “velvet hammer,” in
that anything cold and hard in nature was hidden beneath manners
and petticoats. I see this depicted in the fictional person of Emily
Grierson. I see it in her immediate surroundings: the dusty cracked
leather furniture, and the shabbiness of a once palatial home. I also
see it in the person of Emily, as she goes from prosperity to poverty
and from slender youth, to obese old lady. Emily was not a nice
person. However, as stated earlier, she was treated with a measure of
respect because of her family name – the “velvet” which covered the
hamme