"A Rose For Emily"

If the beginning had started off with the ending, she would have seemed crazy. No reader would have sympathized with a woman who killed her lover and then slept next to his decomposing body. And no one would be content with the fact that [he] was "rotten beneath what was left of a night shirt." Readers would begin to think, "What IS this?"

"A Rose for Emily" is brilliantly written in that such an eerie and disturbing story is introduced in such generic and "make-your-own-conclusion" terms. Faulkner starts off by having the narrator speak on the town's behalf to honor the mysterious death of an apparently aloof neighbor. We see Miss Emily Grierson as a "fallen monument" and the owner of a house that is curiously inspected by the town women. As her story had yet to be unfolded and understood, I began to draw my own conclusions about who this woman was. I decided that she was famous and wealthy, yet private about her life; the town was dying to see what her closed-off life entailed. I then learned that she had been "a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town." I thought I was right: she was respected and famous in this seemingly small town.The inferences I drew were a result of Faulkner's attempt to slowly bring the reader into the mysterious, disturbing life of Emily. His organization and ability to start with a broad idea and then provide subtle hints before presenting the big finale allows the reader to want to find out about Emily's mysterious demeanor.

In class, we discussed Faulkner's organization of the story. I began to realize that if he had began his story with Emily's murdering her lover and then sleeping next to his decomposing body, we-- as the readers-- would have been scared off. Uncomfortable with grotesque imagery and chilling ideals, we would have sided against Emily because she would have seemed weird. However, almost the exact opposite happened. Faulkner introduced Emily as a ghost-like figure and then began to explain her respected role in society-- she continued to argue against paying taxes that she was originally exempt from-- to allow the reader to begin to identify with this woman. After Faulkner allows the reader to begin to like Emily's strong and well-respected character, he dropped hints about Emily's eerie nature. We read that she wanted to by arsenic from a druggist, she had a falling out with her family, and a stench developed from her house. However, we still take her side and even sympathize with a woman who appeared to be going through some rough times because we want to see the best in a respectable woman. When Faulkner eventually hits the reader with the ending of what Emily had done to her lover, we don't immediately think she is a crazy, cold-blooded murderer. Her sad struggles allow us to see her acts as ways to be loved in a society that repeated, "Poor Emily."


Overall, Faulkner's organization of "A Rose for Emily" was beneficial to his writing of such a shocking short story-- I was definitely wrong in my original interpretation of Emily-- because he was able to describe Emily as an outcast in society who needed sympathy before announcing her disturbing act. We, as readers, unite with Emily because we see that she had struggled and just wanted to be with the man she loved.
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