A Rose for Emily
by William Faulkner
Analyzed by Rudi Brata
The story in chronological order (Rudi Brata's opinion)
If I arrange the story of A rose for Emily in order. The story will be like this, First I start with miss Emily’s life when she is young, She is an aristocratic woman. Therefore, her father is so strict to her in choosing for her future husband. Her father wants her to have a high quality husband. Since the standard is so high, it is difficult for her to find the right man who suits to her father’s criteria. I can see this because her father say “ none of the young men are good enough for her”. When her father dies, miss Emily only get the house as an inheritance from her father with little or may be no money. It’s weird, because at that time she doesn’t accept the reality that her father has passed away. By the time the people (mostly ladies) visit her house to give help and say condolence, She tells them that her father is not dead. She keeps her father’s dead body in the house for three days. The ministers and the doctors persuade her to to let them dispose the body .Then she finally allows the people in its neighborhood to remove and burry her father’s body. Second, is when the town has just let the contracts for paving the sidewalks, and in the summer after her father’s death they begin the work. There is a foreman whose name Homer Barron, a yankee- a big, dark, ready man, with a big voice and eyes lighter than his face. Then, he and miss Emily get to know each other through the time, and their relationship grows to become close. And the people around them, especially ladies, start to discuss, gossip and be jealous about their relationship. They gossip about how pity Emily has become whenever she rides a small carriage around the town with Homer. But, the narrator notes that Emily is still proud with herself. Third, Emily buys a poison called an arsenic from the druggist in that town. The druggist tells Emily that she has to tell him why she buys that poison because the law orders her to do so. However, she just stares at him until the druggist moves back and takes the arsenic to be wrapped. And he writes on the box, under the skull and bones: “for rats”. Fourth, the neighborhood think that she will commit suicide by taking that poison. Because, they think that Homer has rejected her marriage proposal. They think like that, because of Homer’s reputation. He is wild and likes to hang out and get drunk in a pub or a bar with his friends. However, they still go together and are seen by the neighborhood. And the boldness of their relationship makes the ladies in town become more jealous. Then, the minister’s wife sends away for Emily’s two female cousins from Alabama in the hope that they will convince Emily either to end the affair or marry Homer. While visiting, Emily buys toilet set written Homer’s name, and also a set of men’s clothing and a night shirt. This fact, makes the town to believe that she will marry Homer. After that, Homer leaves Jefferson in order to give Emily the opportunity to get rid off her cousins away from her house. Three days after the cousins leave Homer is back to Emily house. After that, Homer is never been seen anymore. People think that he has rejected Emily and leaves her just like that. Fifth, The neighbors of Emily complain about the bad smell coming from her house. However, despite several complaints, Judge Stevens, the town’s mayor during that era, is reluctant to do anything about it. Then after midnight, four men cross miss Emily’s lawn , they break open the cellar door and sprinkle lime there in order to get rid off the bad smell. After a week or two the smell goes away. Sixth, Emily is not seen in town for almost six months. When she is finally seen on the streets of Jefferson again, She becomes fat and her hair turns gray. Her house remains closed to visitors, except for a period of six or seven years when she gives china-painting lessons. Seventh, The clash between the past and the present is evidenced by the different approaches that each generation takes concerning Miss Emily's taxes. In the past, Colonel Sartoris had remitted them for her, believing it uncivilized to remind a Southern woman to pay taxes, which Miss Emily does not do after her father dies. But the next generation, with its more modern ideas, holds her responsible for them. Miss Emily, however, returns the tax notice that the new aldermen send to her; when the young men call upon her, she tells them back by saying, "I have no taxes in Jefferson" and "See Colonel Sartoris," who has been dead for at least ten years. Finally, Miss Emily dies alone, except for black manservant, Tobe. After Tobe lets the neighborhood come into the house, he leaves them through the back door and is never seen again. Soon after she has been buried, several of the men open the upstairs forcefully. Surprisingly, they find the room contains a man's tie, suit and shoes, and a silver toilet set which Miss Emily had purchased for Homer before his disappearance. Homer's remains lie on the bed, dressed in a nightshirt. Next to him is an impression of a head on a pillow where the townspeople find a single “long strand of iron-gray hair.” therefore, this implies that Emily has killed Homer and has lain in the bed with his corpse until her own death. And this reveals the behavior of Emily that has been hidden for a long time behind her aristocracy.
What happens if Faulkner wrote the story in actual chronological order? (Rudi Brata's opinion)
If Faulkner wrote the story in actual chronological order, the sense or nuance will not be the same, because if we read the story in a chronological order, just like what I write above on question no. 1. It is not puzzling or easy to easy to be guessed for the ending of the story. Especially about who kills Homer and what causes the bad smell come from her house for almost two weeks. In this case, the writer uses two literary techniques to create a smooth but puzzling and mysterious package of the story written in jumbled chronology of events, also the narrator’s opinion emphasizing miss Emily’s main purpose, her pride as an aristocratic woman, her loneliness, and to lessen the horror of the story and the feeling of disgust about her actions.
The exposition ends in the argumentations between the past and the present is evidenced by the different approaches that each generation takes concerning Miss Emily's taxes. In the past, Colonel Sartoris had remitted them for her, believing it uncivilized to remind a Southern woman to pay taxes, which Miss Emily does not do after her father dies. But the next generation, with its more modern ideas, holds her responsible for them. Miss Emily, however, returns the tax notice that the new aldermen send to her; when the young men call upon her, she tells them back by saying, "I have no taxes in Jefferson" and "See Colonel Sartoris," who has been dead for at least ten years. And the movement toward the story’s climax begin when Emily buys a poison called an arsenic from the druggist in that town. The druggist tells Emily that she has to tell him why she buys that poison because the law orders her to do so. However, she just stares at him until the druggist moves back and takes the arsenic to be wrapped. And he writes on the box, under the skull and bones: “for rats”. The climax is Miss Emily dies alone, except for black manservant, Tobe. After Tobe lets the neighborhood come into the house, he leaves them through the back door and is never seen again. Soon after she has been buried, several of the men open the upstairs forcefully. Surprisingly, they find the room contains a man's tie, suit and shoes, and a silver toilet set which Miss Emily had purchased for Homer before his disappearance. Homer's remains lie on the bed, dressed in a nightshirt. Next to him is an impression of a head on a pillow where the townspeople find a single “long strand of iron-gray hair.” therefore, this implies that Emily has killed Homer and has lain in the bed with his corpse until her own death.
The resolution begins after Tobe lets the neighborhood come into the house, he leaves them through the back door and is never seen again. Soon after is buried, several of the men open the upstairs forcefully. Surprisingly, they find the room contains a man's tie, suit and shoes, and a silver toilet set which Miss Emily had purchased for Homer before his disappearance. Homer's remains lie on the bed, dressed in a nightshirt. Next to him is an impression of a head on a pillow where the townspeople find a single “long strand of iron-gray hair.” therefore, this implies that Emily has killed Homer and has lain in the bed with his corpse until her own death. And this reveals the behavior of Emily that has been hidden for a long time behind her aristocratic status.
The characters (Rudi Brata's opinion)
In my opinion, the antagonist are: First, Emily's Father, he plays an important role in the development of her character. Because, He teaches her how to behave and position herself as an aristocratic woman. As a result, She becomes a aloof person and is difficult to mingle or socialize with other people. Second, Homer Barron. He is a bold and wild man. And, Emily likes and wants him to be her boy friend and may be more than that. But, since it’s difficult to be her life time lover then she kills him and be with his dead body for the rest of her life. Third, The people surrounding miss Emily’s neighborhood, Because they not only always discuss, gossip, mind of miss Emily’s business but they also sometimes are helpful. For instance, help burry Emily’s and her father dead body.
The character of Emily is that she’s an aristocratic person who is Aloof and secretive because she likes to be alone and doesn’t like anybody to know about her private life, she is also necrophilia or A person who has an erotic or sexual attraction to corpses because she sleeps with her boy friend’s corpse for pleasure, she is evil, mean, intolerant, secular because she dares to kill a man for her pleasure and she is also keeps her father’s dead body in her house for three days.
The actual conflict that I can find in the story is between Miss Emily and reality. Reality demands that taxes be paid, she doesn’t want to burry her her father’s dead body right away. And the worst is that she keeps her Homer’s dead body in her house, Her high expectation to be respected by the society as an aristocratic women ,and I think she is not a religious person, those are the accumulation of her bad personality and her disappointments in her life, but Miss Emily doesn’t want to fight against them in order to be a better person.
The essential point that I can find from the story is that we have to be realistic in our life. We don’t have to kill someone on order to posses him or her because it’s against the religion, the law , aesthetics, and ethics. And if we have have the mind just like Emily has, we have to fight against it. We have to seek the help through religion, family or psychologist.
