A Rose For Emily

In “A Rose for Emily”, it is the third person point of view that tells us this story. It is told through the townspeople point of view, there “representative”.  It’s a story about Emily’s life and the traditions that she tried to hold on to.  The story takes on an eerie feeling beginning with Emily’s death.  Even though the narrator finds the whole story a little strange there is a feeling of caring about Emily. The townspeople seem to respect her like she was royalty. Even though they wanted the back taxes paid on the property where Emily lived, they never forced her to pay. They care for her like she was some fragile piece in a museum.  

 In Emily’s mind, time stands still for her, she who does cope well with change, especially death. “She told them that her father was not dead.” She had kept her father’s body days after he had died, refusing to give it up. They felt sorry for her because of her father. “We remembered all the young men her father had driven away, and we knew that with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her, as people will.”

It’s all about Emily and the townspeople felt sorry for her especially after her father died.  The townspeople wanted to keep her as is, just as Emily wanted to keep everything the same also. 


Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, and leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-grey hair.” 
― William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily