A Wilted Rose

A Wilted Rose

"We did not say she was crazy then" (Faulkner 4). Emily Grierson lives most of her life alone because her father, Mr. Grierson, believes that no man is good enough for his daughter, therefore rejecting each who asks for her hand in marriage. After his , Emily is lonely for many years until she meets Homer Barron. He wants to leave her, but disappears before the opportunity arises. After Emily's , the townspeople discover Homer lying on her bed, decaying with her hair beside him contrary to their beliefs of him leaving to the north. William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" conveys the universal concept through characterization and symbolism that people will do anything for love.

Through flashbacks, the reader learns that Emily's father's obsession with the quest to find his daughter the perfect man causes Emily to love only one person, 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..."(4).

Her father loves her so much, that he can't let her go. Nobody is good enough for her, because he doesn't believe that anybody can love her as much as he does. She is his life, and he doesn't want anybody taking her from him. "She told them her father was not . 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" (4). When her father dies she is in disbelief, because she has nobody else in the world. Emily can't give the body away because that is the last thing that connects her to her father. Their love is so strong that she doesn't know how to live without him. Emily's sheltered life as a young fosters her unusual views on love and relationships later on in her life.

Faulkner uses symbolism to show that Homer is not truly in love with Emily, giving Emily the desire to keep him forever. "...that he was not a marrying man..." (5). This statement shows that he cannot love her and isn't looking for a relationship. "Homer Barron with his hat ed and a cigar in his teeth reins and whip in a yellow glove..." (5). The yellow glove symbolizes fear of commitment. The color yellow symbolizes being cowardly. Thus, showing he is not truly in love with Emily. This is