Stay Of Emily's Family example essay topic

In William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" Faulkner uses subtle but notable clues in the story to prepare the reader for the ending. One of the more major underlying themes that Faulkner uses to prepare the reader is the contrast between the north and the south and the progress of time which is to include the incompatibility between Homer the "Yankee" and Emily the southern bell stuck in the past. Though not as much a major theme as important clues is Emily's reluctance to give up her father's corpse, the purchase of rat poison, Homer suddenly disappearing, the light in the upstairs room not turning on for years and Emily's sudden reclusive behavior for over ten years. Another question that Faulkner did an excellent job of is leaving the reader to wonder what happened to the body while decaying upstairs.

Could it be that she kept it up there because she could not let go and it was the only way her and Homer could be together? Lastly, what is the explanation for the strands of silver gray hair left on the pillow beside the body? In "A Rose for Emily" Faulkner gives an excellent portrayal of the stark contrasts between the north and south at the turn of the century with the old civil war generation beginning to die off and the newer more blended generation taking control. Besides the insight into this period of time, Faulkner uses it to develop his gruesome ending with the love affair between Emily and Homer. Emily is the embodiment of the post civil-war mentality that persisted with many southerners accustomed to high society lifestyles. Homer was the newer generation day laborer from the north referred to in the book as a "Yankee".

From the time they meet in the story it is apparent that it is an ill-fated relationship. In part IV of the story Faulkner wrote "because Homer himself had remarked - he liked men, and it was known that he drank with the younger men... that he was not a marrying man". With this Faulkner gives the prelude to an unhappy ending for the two characters. One of the less noticeable clues to the ending but none the less important is toward the middle of the story with Emily's reluctance to give up the body of her father. A bit before that the townspeople remarked that Emily could possibly be crazy. When her father died she refused to give the body and remarked that her father was not dead.

However, the townspeople passed this behavior off as her clinging to all she had left since her father had supposedly run off any man that had an interest in Emily. Immediately after that she met Homer when the town council paved the sidewalks. During the stay of Emily's family while she was dating Homer, Emily goes to the drug store to purchase poison. Faulkner throws the story out of chronological order by first telling of the purchasing of the poison while Emily's family is staying with her and then telling why they came. By doing this Faulkner would appear to be obscuring his clues to the ending but still keeping the reader mindful.

Emily enters the drugstore and requests poison. At first she doesn't want a specific poison, just the best the druggist has. After the druggist names several poisons Emily requests arsenic. The druggist then makes several attempts of inquiry into the Emily's use of the poison. She is very defiant and refuses to state her purpose, she just intimidates him by staring him down until he complies with her wishes.

In the next part of the story it is explained how her family comes to stay to persuade her and Homer to marry, but it was actually during that time that she purchased the poison. After the family visits and the poison the town folk notice that Homer has left the town. It is believed that he has left to make ready for Emily or to give her the chance to get rid of the cousins. A week later he is seen entering the front door and that is the last they saw of Homer. Even Emily was not seen for quite some time.

Only her man servant was seen entering and leaving the house for a period of about six months and the townspeople said that from time to time they would see her in the window. The next time they saw her she had gained weight and her hair was completely gray. After that her door remained shut except for the period of time she gave china painting lessons to the children in the town. As the newer generation began to have children and they did not send them for lessons, she shut her door and did not let anyone in the house. Another clue to the ending which also leads into the thoughts of what went on with the body is that no one ever saw the light come on in the upstairs bedroom making the town believe she had shut off the entire top floor for an unknown reason. When Emily finally dies and the town goes into the house and finds Homer's body upstairs Faulkner leaves it to the reader's imagination as to what went on with the corpse during its stay and why it was there.

From the story you could gather that Homer was probably Emily's last chance at finding someone to be with. Knowing that he would never marry her and there were from two separate worlds, killing him was Emily's way of holding onto him. The last paragraph of the story is probably the most thought provoking in the story. Why would there be an indention on the pillow next to the corpse with a strand of grey hair on it? It could be assumed that Emily slept next to Homer's body each night believing that she was with the man she loved. By that time she was most likely delirious and believed that even if he was dead he was still with her and she would always have him.

Faulkner's extraordinary writing abilities with the stream of consciousness with the town make this an entertaining and yet informative story. When someone reads it for the first time they may not be able to pick up on the clues but at the end everything falls into place. Faulkner was definitely a very gifted writer and knew how to use precise yet not obvious clues to prepare his readers for the ending of the story. Explaining how the rat poison was bought while Emily's family was there but not telling the reader why they were there until later in the story is one example.

As stated before, the major underlying contrast between the north and south and the gap in time by using Emily and Homer as the epitome of that contrast.