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"A Rose for Emily" is a short story by American author William Faulkner first published in the April 30, 1930 issue of Forum. This story takes place in Faulkner's fictional city, Jefferson, in his fictional county of Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi. It was Faulkner's first short story published in a national magazine.

To the outside world, it might have appeared that Miss Emily Grierson grew up in the lap of luxury. However, it was a lonely existence, for her father ruled Emily’s life with an iron fist, turning away every suitor the young girl had; no one was good enough for his daughter. Not surprisingly, the first thing Emily did after her father’s death was to find a companion, and a very unlikely one at that -- a Yankee day laborer named Homer Barron. She went out driving with Homer in a flashy yellow-wheeled buggy, and bought him extremely personal articles -- a silver toilet set, a nightshirt. Today our first assumption would be that he was her lover, but this was the small-town South, and another time. The townspeople assumed she had gotten married -- secretly, of course, because under the circumstances a big society wedding would be in bad taste.

For a while Emily convinced herself that the townspeople still respected her. After all, she never really intended Homer to supplant her father in the eyes of the town. He couldn’t have, because he was neither a Son of the South nor a pillar of the community; Homer’s role was simply that of a consort, filling a vacancy at Emily’s side.

It was Emily's arrogance that permitted the purchase of arsenic. This was an act of liberation from her father's restrictions.

The logical conclusion -- that Emily had murdered her lover -- could not be incorporated into the myth that the townspeople had constructed around her. It was unspeakable, so no one spoke of it.

Forty years later, after Emily died, the townspeople cautiously entered the house that few had visited since the death of Mr. Grierson, apart from those grandchildren of Colonel Sartoris' china painting lessons. There they were moved, but not really surprised, to find a decomposed skeletal body on a sumptuous bed in a locked room, and Emily’s iron-gray hair lying on the pillow beside his head. In "A Rose for Emily," Faulkner shows the tragedy that results from our adherence to social roles that constrain, rather than liberate, our true selves.

What is the symbolism in A Rose for Emily?

Faulkner’s "A Rose For Emily" is told from the viewpoint of the town of Jefferson, Mississippi, where the Grierson family was the closest thing to true aristocracy. The story presents a powerful argument that privilege can sometimes be a prison. To the outside world, it might have appeared that Miss Emily Grierson grew up in the lap of luxury. However, it was a lonely existence, for her father ruled Emily’s life with an iron fist, turning away every suitor the young girl had; no one was good enough for his daughter. Not surprisingly, the first thing Emily did after her father’s death was to find a companion, and a very unlikely one at that -- a Yankee day laborer named Homer Barron. She went out driving with Homer in a flashy yellow-wheeled buggy, and bought him extremely personal articles -- a silver toilet set, a nightshirt. Today our first assumption would be that he was her lover, but this was the small-town South, and another time. The townspeople assumed she had gotten married -- secretly, of course, because under the circumstances a big society wedding would be in bad taste. For a while Emily convinced herself that the townspeople still respected her. After all, she never really intended Homer to supplant her father in the eyes of the town. He couldn’t have, because he was neither a Son of the South nor a pillar of the community; Homer’s role was simply that of a consort, filling a vacancy at Emily’s side. It was through Emily's arrogance that permitted the purchase of arsenic. This was an act of liberation from her father's restrictions. It then, allowed her to act as she wanted in retreiving what was bereft in result to her father's dominance (when he was alive) (i.e. "Miss Emily a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled sillhouette in the foreground"). The logical conclusion -- that Emily had murdered her lover -- could not be incorporated into the myth that the townspeople had constructed around her. It was unspeakable, so no one spoke of it. Forty years later, after Emily died, the townspeople cautiously entered the house that few had visited since the death of Mr. Grierson, apart from those grandchildren of Colonel Sartoris' china painting lessons. There they were moved, but not really surprised, to find a decomposed skeletal body on a sumptuous bed in a locked room, and Emily’s iron-gray hair lying on the pillow beside his head. In "A Rose for Emily," Faulkner shows the tragedy that results from our adherence to social roles that constrain, rather than liberate, our true selves.

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