"A Rose for Emily" Reflection

            "A Rose for Emily" is set in the 1870's and depicts the idea of a diminishing era having to reinvent itself. In the second paragraph this becomes clear to the audience as we discover that the main character, Emily, lives in a home that was once apart of an upscale street, however the house now stands alone overshadowed by the "cotton wagons" and "gasoline pumps." The story is split into five different parts, all taking place during different times. The beginning is in the present and describes how the town has come together to attend the funeral of Emily Grierson. The second part shifts to the recent past and introduces Colonel Sartoris who states that Emily's father was a donor to the town, so therefore she does not have to pay taxes. Although, with the town reinventing itself, this no longer applied to her. When she is confronted about this the audience learns more about her personality, which is harsh and mysterious. The third part transitions back to the past where we are informed of not only her father's death, but the abandonment of her sweetheart. The only person whom she seems to interact with is Tobe, her servant, but even then Faulkner describes his voice as growing weary from its disuse, so we can infer that she keeps to herself and does not speak much to others. Complaints of Emily's house's odor begin to pile up, so four men sprinkle lime to take care of the problem. The fourth part dates back to two years before the smell where we learn about Emily's want for poison. The public's theory is that she is going to kill herself, the towns people describe that as "the best thing." Also, a new character, Homer Barron is introduced. He begins to take Emily out on Sundays, which at first people approved of but then this became a disgrace to the town. When Homer's work in town was done, he returned three days later, stayed with Emily, and neither were seen much after that. The final part loops back around to the present where the narrator describes what happens after Emily's death. An upstairs door is opened and reveals Homer's body laid on a bed with an indentation of a head next to him with one of Emily's gray hairs on the pillow. I believe that Emily used the poison to kill Homer, then grew lonely and slept next to him each night until her death. The author's use of different time periods keeps the audience engaged. I will admit in the beginning I was confused, but when we arrived at the ending, the story made logical sense. The motif of her gray hair was mentioned throughout, symbolizing her aging. Learning about the smell before the dead body created intensity as the story grew. Overall, the story conveyed a mysterious front about Emily while the narrator, who can be described as a towns person, slowly reveals the mystery behind her.