Foreshadowing the Final Scene of a Rose for Emily

In the final scene of William Faulkner's A Rose for Emily, almost all significant details were foregrounded in a previous part of the short story. It is clear to see from these previous details that Miss Emily premeditatedly killed Homer Barron.

In the second part of the story the author writes “after her sweetheart went away, people hardly saw her at all.” This line highlights the strangeness of her character- her isolation, opening up the readers mind to any possibility. Her ability to deal with corpses is highlighted further on in the chapter explains that she denied her own father's death for three days before admitting the truth that he had passed on. We are also told that craziness runs in her family and that she was estranged from the two aunts whom we meet again in the final chapter when they come to take care of Miss Emily's funeral.

All items found in the room are mentioned in chapter IV of the story. The death outfit, a nightshirt was bought along with a single suit and a man's toiletry set. This event was assumed to be for a wedding by the towns folks. Readers should have been aware that the last assumption- that she had bought arsenic for suicide was a miss direction when she did not kill herself but instead this foregrounding is passed over at first glance.

The smell which is mentioned as having been a sign of insignificant cleanliness due to only one male servant is another foregrounding of a decomposing corpse.

In the final paragraph the author points out the iron-gray hair on the pillow next to the corpse. This iron gray hair is also mentioned as the reader finds out, part of her bodily reaction to the postmortem of Barron. It is then mentioned that after a time she ceases to go upstairs which explains the dust behind the sealed door.

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Faulkner, William, and M. Thomas Inge. A rose for Emily,.