A rose for Emily is a story about Emily and her life and the events that transpire in it
A rose for Emily is a story about Emily and her life and the events that transpire in it. Emily is a strong woman whose father died and husband left her. Emily rarely ever even came out of her house until a man by the name of Homer Barron comes to town and changes her all around. She becomes very friendly with Barron but then Barron goes missing.
After Emily’s father’s death, the only person who is seen around Emily’s home is a young black man who is Emily’s butler. Emily did not have a strong relationship with her community. The only time she was with her community is when she gave art lessons to young kids. The townspeople referred to her as Miss Emily as a sign of the respect that they had for her.
After her father’s death she started to get more friendly and opening up a little she changes her hair style and then gets friendly with Homer Barron. He is a Northern laborer who comes to town shortly after Mr. Grierson’s death. The connection surprises some of the community while others are glad she is taking an interest. However, Homer claims that he is not a marrying man. Emily then goes to a store in town and buys arsenic probably to kill rats, but the people of the town are convinced that she will use it to poison herself. Emily’s distant cousins are called into town by the minister’s wife to watch Miss Emily and Homer Barron. Homer leaves town for some time to try give Emily a chance to get rid of her cousins, and returns three days later after the cousins have left. After he is observed entering Miss Emily’s home one evening, Homer is never seen again.
After Homer goes missing people start to smell a strong odor coming from Emily’s house, but there is to much respect and sympathy for her so nobody goes and asks about it. Later on in the story Emily dies. The funeral is a large affair. After her death Emily’s house sparks a great deal of curiosity about what remains of her house. After she is buried, a group of townsfolk enter her house to see what remains of her life there. The door to her upstairs bedroom is locked, so some of the townsfolk break down the door to see what has been hidden for so long. Inside lies the decomposed corpse of Homer Barron on the bed. On the pillow beside him is the indentation of a head and a single strand of gray hair, indicating that Emily had slept with Homer’s corpse.
In conclusion it turns out that the rat poison Emily bought was not for her but for Homer instead. Homer should never have went back to her house or been involved with her in the first place because it cost him his life. The reason she killed Homer may never be known but how she did it was discovered. So it turns out the horrible odor from the house was just Homers dead corpse rotting away.
