Essay

Bruna , Heidi, Melina and Talita

“A Rose for Emily” was originally published on April 30, 1930. It was Falkner´s first short story published in a major magazine. William Faulkner is a very important figure for the 20th Century Literature. He was born in the post Civil War south and his writing reflects the changing society he lived on. “His literary work captivates the emotional transition faced by southerners as they emerged from an era gone-by to a new, more modern period. The characters he creates exemplify the conflict that was embedded deep within the human spirit of southerners who lived in this changing society” (Qun 2007:66). In “A Rose for Emily” the focus is on Emily Grierson, an eccentric southern spinster , who den ies the obvious changes in her life and society. The symbols present ed in the story contribute to the creation of the atmosphere and foreshadows the outcome of the story.

Amidst all the symbolism present in this short story, the one that could be said to be the most peculiar is the rose mentioned in its title. After all, there is no such rose for Emily in the story per se. Hence, many possible interpretations have been created in order to try to unravel the mystery behind the rose. According to Getty (2005), many critics believe that the rose could be the "final tribute" given by the narrator, by preserving the secret of Homer's murder or even that the narrator offers "little more than bought flowers for Miss Emily by not recognizing the truth until the hair on the pillow is found". Another possible interpretation shows that Homer could be the rose, acting as a dried rose to serve as a "relic of the past". The author, however, says that the interpretation of the rose should not be done by focusing on any of the internal elements. On the contrary, "the focus should be on the impact of the titular rose itself" (Getty, 2005 p. 231). Therefore, one possible and effective way to reflect on the symbolism of the rose present in the title is by taking the sub-rosa concept into consideration. Sometimes, roses are associated with secrecy or privacy. The Greek legend also re in forces this concept, as "Harpocrates stumbled upon Venus while she was making love with a handsome youth, and Cupid bribed the god of silence to keep quiet about the affair by giving him the first rose ever created. This story made the rose the emblem of silence (...)". (Getty, 2005 p. 231)The scholar Jack Scherting proposes a Freud ian reading of the short story which makes uses of this concept only to suggest that Emily's attachment to her father was transferred to her lover Homer. According to him, the townspeople never recognized the Oedipal love present in their affair, not even Emily herself. Such fact shows the presence of the sub rosa concept in the story, hiding from everyone that Emily's love for Homer was most probably only her longing for the deceased father. Getty, on the other hand, goes against this theory, arguing that "the entire story operates sub rosa to conceal that iron-gray hair on the pillow until after Emily is dead"(Getty, 2005 p. 232). Ergo, Faulkner manages to protect Emily's privacy, so that no one is able to grasp the truth until the very last moment. The sub-rosa concept could also carry religious conotations. The concept of the confession with the rose carved above it, present in the Anglican church, could be conveyed by the author Faulkner, who ultimately confesses her actions. Lastly, even the house itself may be under the sub rosa concept, both physically and figuratively. It is in that place, considered an eyesore among eyesores by the people, that every mystery is hidden and then finally unraveled. The house not only conceals Homer's body but also the secrets that Emily was able to maintain hidden while alive. All her privacy remains in that building, and it is only violated "after the flowers have been placed on Emily's grave" (Getty, 2005 p. 232).

Another symbolic feature of the text is the unnamed narrator . Curry, writes that "//The men in the town are portrayed as respectful of Emily, while the women are curious. The narrator is both, and like the townspeople cannot know what goes on in Emily's life. This bisexual narration admits the existence of the female protagonist's subjectivity and in doing so has to admit, through this subjectivity which the narrator cannot be a part of, the gendered aspect of narrative itself”// . These different attitudes towards Emily can be seen  in this excerpt from the first lines of the story itself:

//When Miss Emily Grierson died, the whole town went to her funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old man-servant--a combined gardener and cook--had seen in at least ten years //. (A Rose for Emily. Faulkner, 1931 p.72. IN: The Norton Introduction to English.)

There´s a conflict for we don´t know the gender of the narrator, we infer that there´s an attempt of the author to be impartial in order to give room to the reader to use its own imagination or critical thinking to figure this out. Curry says that gender can be motivated by a division between respect and curiosity, affection for a representation and intention to view the insides of a house. Curry also states that Miss Emily//,” is the woman, the object who provides the reason to feel "affection" and to "see," and "our whole town" floats as subject of the sentence”//. The style of Faulkner's language has its means to “//subordinate Emily, supposedly the subject of the tale, and to elevate the town as the truer subject//”. There is a transition movement from Subject to Object, not in a linear order; the short story is written in media res. Emily starts as a celebrity who died in Jefferson town and follows being the object to represent the fallen monument, the fallen tradition.

Instances of symbolism include how Emily could be the expression of the "Old South" that was slowly fading and opening way for a new concept as Homer arrives. His arrival provokes Jefferson City, he diminishes Emily reputation among the public who had her as a reference of a traditional behavior in this Sothern small town. Emily, who followed her father´s, rules (male oriented patriarchal society) was seen as a traditional person. Her house as well, was the indicator of Tradition, also for having a Negro working there although slavery was over. Homer is the symbolism of innovation, modernity, industrialization, progress over values. The industrialized South is now on its way in. The South was delayed,. It didn´t follow the North in technology, and it took the South longer to become an industrialized society. Miss Emily, with her dilapidated mansion, in the middle of the town, surrounded by changes and growth , was the last portrait of the "Old South" in town .She kind of rebelled; refusing to change and this was one of her tragic characteristics. Her father acted as if no man was ever good enough for her or for the Grierson family. Therefore she was never able to experience passion or the rose of love until she met Homer. Somehow, it seems that she murdered him to keep control of the situation, and we can think of necrophilia (attraction to corpses and control of relationships) behavior, studied by Sigmund Freud, as Homer´s body is found, after Emily´s death, lying in a bed, and next to the body “… in the second pillow, was the indentation of a head.” “…we saw a //long strand of iron-gray hair //. “ (A Rose for Emily. Chapter 5, P6).

Emily represents the past, the tradition and the history of that city. She is a “fallen monument” (Faulker,1930) , and so is her house. She has a southern tradition and old values, and unfortunately, she becomes a victim of her own values and tradition. The narrator himself says that “Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town” (Faulker,1930). On the other hand, the new generation represents progress and development. Homer himself is a good example. Emily’s choosing Homer to date and live, as a corpse, with her is very ironic. This combination of past and present brings a deadly result. She caused Homer’s death in a desperate attempt to freeze time. Then, Emily takes control of her own time and “changes cease to exist” (Powell, 2011)

In her essay “Changing Portraits in a Rose for Emily, Powell affirms Faulkner “creates numerous figurative portraits of Emily herself by framing her in doorways or windows” (Powell, 2011). The view the narrator has from Emily and her father follows this frame structure. He reveals that he and the town people “had long thought of them as a tableau, Miss Emily a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip, the two of them framed by the back-flung front door.” (Faulkner, 1930) This portrait shows the position and the value that women had at that time. Women didn’t have any participation in society; they were only housewives. Emily was the only one in town who didn’t have this role and she suffered a lot due to it. It’s visible how she wanted to be married and form a family. She didn’t have a real family with her father. He held a horsewhip in the picture previously mentioned. This horsewhip represents the oppression her father imposed on her, not a physical and violent one, but he oppressed her ideas and wishes. She really desired to marry, but he prevented her from accomplishing it. However that dark controlling figure, the father, always keep everyone away from her, no one was ever good enough for a she was a Grierson. His wrong concepts of wealth and position in society dismissed all her opportunities to have a husband.

Faulkner uses the symbol of portraits to construct the scenes of Emily’s life, which is an artifice for the reader to follow the changes throughout the story. These portraits enable the readers to picture the story, they give them power over it. While young Emily is first portrayed as a “slender figure in white” (faulner, 1930), a virginal figure, representing purity and beauty. She was a young woman of an important family, and the lexical choices in her description imply she was pretty, besides that it is said that she had many suitors. Ho wever the shadow of her father behind, controlling her. The father represents old values and traditions. The fact that he is pictured with his back to her “suggested his disregard for Emily’s emotional welfare” (Qun 2007: 67). If taken as representations of the south and the southerners it is possible to say that Miss Emily represents the new generation that could be in contact with new things, with a new reality, and the father represents the old traditions, which wouldn’t let her know anything different from his truth.

Emily was so attached to her father’s figure that when he died she couldn’t handle it. She kept her father’s body and she didn’t want to let anyone bury him. Emily didn’t anything different then living by her father’s tradition, so she was lost. Qun (2007, p.67) states that “when her father passed away she was unable to survive” and because of that instead of adapting to this life she secluded herself. Also according to Qun (2007, p.67) “Even after his death Emily’s father played a huge role in her life. The crayon portrait of her father, which appears repeatedly in the story, symbolizes his continued presence in her life.”

At this point of the story the reader is present to another portrait, after her father’s funeral Emily’s appearance changes dramatically. Instead of being set free of her father’s influence Emily becomes the representative of hi old moral values. She doesn’t grow up to be a woman, but is represented as a girl who locks sexuality. The citizens describe her appearance “When we saw her again, her hair was cut short, making her look like a girl, with a vague resemblance to those angles in colored church windows, sort of tragic and serene” (Faulkner, 1930). It is at this moment of her life that she meets Homer Baron, representative of “the new-born class and culture of the North – traveling around, experiencing a lot, enjoying timely, having good relations and being irresponsible” (Qun 2007, p.68). Emily couldn’t bear the insult of Homer leaving her. After Baron’s disappearing she is portrayed again, yet now she is the dominant dark silhouette, Emily has “established her dominance with this act of murder. Emily’s moving to room downstairs is also considered a symbol of the image she wants to pass to the townspeople. “Emily shut off the top floor – or her private life – and allowed townspeople to view only her public image. Just as an idol occupied its nook on a wall, Emily continued to occupy her niche as the last Grierson.” (Qun 2007, p.68)

According to Powell, Emily’s final portrait “contrasts sharply with the portrait of her youth” (Powell, 2011). When she gets old, she becomes a “fat woman in black” (Faulkner, 1930). She has lost her purity, her beauty and her hope to get married. When she received some authorities of the city, she wasvery impolite. As the narrator tells us, “her voice was dry and cold”. In this particular scene, she seems more like a man, maybe her father, than a woman who used to be fragile and submissive. Her behavior is justified by the fact that she was a lonely woman combined with the education she had received from her father. At this point of the story, Emily had already lost track of the changes in the society she lived. Powell says that “time and its inescapable changes have died” (Powell, 2011) for Emily which would explain her strange appearance, her black dress and the fact that she was sleeping with a corpse.

Emily’s mysterious secret is hidden by the symbolic elements that the story contains.The rose, the changes in Emily’s appearance and her house are hints of the story’s tragic outcome. All these elements create suspense and lead the reader to the surprising gothic end. Besides, the conflict between Southern and Northern states in America can be glimpsed throughout these symbolic elements in which characters and situations are representative of the historical background portrayed by Faulkner. The author is successful in keeping readers and critics interested and always searching for new readings of the story. Therefore, the readings and analysis presented in this essay are far from being the final answer to this rose´s mystery, it intends, however, to be a solid base for whoever wants to unravel more of this terrific short story.