Emily Grierson Analysis - William Faulkner's "a Rose for Emily"

Emily Grierson, also known as Miss Emily in the story, is the main character in William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily." The setting of the story takes place in the late 1800s, around the time of the Civil War. Emily was born to a proud, aristocratic family. She lives in a big house with her father and his servants. The text never mentions anything about her mother or her mother's whereabouts. The Griersons' consider themselves to be far more superior to anyone in the town. Emily's father did not think that anyone in the town was suitable for Miss Emily. This became very devastating for Miss Emily when it came to developing certain social skills.

When her father passed away, it was a devastating loss for Emily. Her father was the only man she had really known. The lines from the story "She told them that her father was not dead. She did that for three days, with the ministers calling on her, and the doctors, trying to persuade her to let them dispose of the body," (Faulkner 32) gives the message that she tried to hold on to him, even after his death. Even though this was a sad moment for Emily, she was finally liberated from the control of her father. Instead of going on with her life, it seems as if her life halted when her father died.

Shortly after her father's passing, she meets a young man named Homer Barron. Homer is described as "a big, dark, ready man, with a big voice and eyes lighter than his face." (Faulkner 32) She is seen in public with Homer for a little while, but soon after, he disappears. The story suggests that his work was done and that he had left town. Emily was about thirty years old around the time that this happened. She was "a slight woman, though thinner than usual, with cold, haughty black eyes in a face the flesh of which was strained across the temples and the eye sockets as you imagine a lighthouse keeper's face ought to look." (Faulkner