Gloom In Faulkner’s “A Rose For Emily” Essay

William Faulkner opens his short story, “A Rose for Emily,” with Miss Emily Grierson’s funeral. The whole town shows, but readers soon see that their presence is more out of curiosity than respect. Emily had been a recluse for many years and refused the change happening in the town. Closing herself up in her home, she also closed herself off from the rest of the townspeople and did not let visitors into her home. The story tells of a woman hit with much loss in her life and unending pity from her acquaintances. Faulkner sets the scene for a gloomy atmosphere from the start and ends with a morbid discovery that lends to the cloud of gloom that covered Emily’s life.
Emily’s funeral opens the story with a gloomy setting. Death is always a sad affair, but Emily’s is made much more through Faulkner’s descriptions. Emily’s home was in bad shape. Once a white beauty on the town’s prime street, it was now the sole home on the street and surrounded by garages and cotton gins. The house itself was a gloomy vision, described as “an eyesore among eyesores” of “stubborn and coquettish decay” (Faulkner 1). Faulkner goes on to spread this dark cloud over Emily herself, describing her as “a short of hereditary obligation upon the town” rather than someone well respected and loved (Faulkner 1). The fact that the women are more curious to see the inside of her closed-up home than pay their respects brings even more sorrow to Emily’s life and death.
In life, Emily herself could be described as an eyesore to some, but it is more likely her physical appearance was a reflection of her inner pain. Her father’s death took a toll on her, but when her sweetheart deserted her, she rarely left her home. She also attempted to hold onto her father’s corpse after his death, which foreshadows the ending of the story. Faulkner describes her as though a drowned corpse, perhaps to symbolize that she was drowned in her own sorrow and hardship: “she looked bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water, and of that pallid hue” (Faulker 3). She was a “small, fat woman” whose eyes were “lost in the fatty ridges of her face,” yet she had a “small and spare” skeleton that held all that weight (Faulkner 3). It’s possible that Faulkner used her weight to symbolize the weight she carried of the loss and pain she endured and prepare readers for her actions.
The gloomy, sorrowful atmosphere of the story comes full circle at the end. As each new fact about Emily’s life is presented, the reader is pulled further into the gloom of her life. She’d lost much, so when her male companion Homer dies or even is possibly killed by Emily with arsenic, her sorrow and loneliness led her to hide and maintain his body. When the group finds his body and sees the indented pillow with a strand of Emily’s hair, the reader is filled with sorrow for Emily. Her life was difficult and she experienced loss. She resisted change as evidenced by her refusal to pay taxes and maintain her home. Overall, Faulkner uses the descriptions of Emily, her home, and her funeral to successfully establish the atmosphere of gloom and sorrow and to prepare the reader for such a discovery.
William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” paints the picture of a life filled with loss, pity and sorrow. Faulkner uses symbolism and action to pull readers into a sorrowful scene that extends throughout the story. The more that is presented about Emily’s life, the more readers can sympathize with her and feel her pain. It comes as no surprise that Emily may hold onto those she cares about in any way possible; in fact, after the death and loss she experienced, it may be the only thing keeping her going, which adds to the sorrow of the story. It’s almost as if her funeral should be a celebration because she is finally released from the pain and hardship that filled her life.

Reference

Faulkner, William. A Rose for Emily and Other Stories. New York: Random House, 2012. Print.