Name: Praxides, Rachelle V. Subject: INWOLITSection: BSBAA31 Time: 1-4pm

A ROSE FOR EMILY

CHARACTERS:

Emily Grierson- The object of fascination in the story. A mysterious figure who changes from a vibrant and hopeful young girl to a very secretive old woman. Devastated and alone after her father’s death, an object of pity of the townspeople. She ultimately poisons her potential suitor Homer and sealed his corpse into an upstairs room.

Homer Barron- A foreman from the North. Large man with a dark complexion, a booming voice, and light-colored eyes. A gruff and demanding boss, he also wins many admires in Jefferson because of his gregarious nature and good sense of humor. She develops interest in Emily and soon townspeople view him as a poor, if not scandalous, choice for a mate. He disappears in Emily’s house and decomposes in an attic bedroom after Emily kills him.

Judge Steven- Mayor of Jefferson. He attempts to delicately handle the complaints about the smell emanating from the Grierson property. To be respectful of Emily’s pride and former position in the community, he and the alderman decide to sprinkle lime on the property in the middle of the night.

Mr. Grierson- Emily’s father. Controlling father, he wanted the best for his daughter especially the best husband for her.

Tobe- Emily’s servant. He dutifully cares for her and tends to her needs. After Emily’s death, he walks out of the back door and never returns.

Colonel Santoris- Former mayor of Jefferson. Colonel Santoris absolves Emily for any tax burden after the death of her father. His elaborate and benevolent gesture is not heeded by the succeeding generation of town leaders.

SUMMARY:

The story begins at the huge funeral of Miss Emily Grierson. Most of the people of Jefferson went to her house for her funeral. Nobody has been to her house in ten years, except for her servant, Tobe. Her house was old, but once the best house in town. She is a motherless child, so when her father died she denied his death for three days until she break down and gives up the body for burial. The town had a special relationship with Miss Emily ever since it decided to stop billing her for taxes in 1894. While her father was alive they had much money. Her family had so much wealth that when the town needed financial help Emily’s father came through to loan the mayor colonel Santoris money. However, after the mayor died the “new generation” wasn’t happy with this arrangement because they did not have the verbal paper agreement and thus, they required her to pay taxes but she flatly refused to pay.

Thirty years before, the tax townspeople collector had a strange encounter with Miss Emily about a bad smell at her house, about two years ago after her father died and a short time after her lover Homer Barron disappeared. Lots of people complained about the bad smell but the authorities didn’t confront Miss Emily about the problem. So, they sprinkled lime around her house and soon the smell eventually gone.

Not too long after her father died Emily begins to go out with Homer Barron the construction foreman at their town. Most people saw them riding in his yellow-wheeled buggy every Sunday afternoon. The town heavily disapproves the affair and brings Emily’s cousins to town to stop the relationship. One day, Emily is seen buying arsenic at the drugstore, and the town thinks that Homer broke her heart and that she is planning to kill herself.

When she bought bunch of men’s items, the townspeople think that they are going to get married. Homer leaves town, her cousin’s leaves town, and then Homer come back. He is the last person seen to enter the front door of Miss Emily’s house. After that, people rarely seen Ms. Emily leaves her house, except for a period of half years when she gave a painting lesson.

At the age of seventy-four Emily died from illness in one of her downstairs bedroom that hasn’t seen light in many years. Her hair turns gray and she gains weight. Tobe, her servant, lets in the town women and then leaves by the backdoor forever. After the funeral, and after Emily is buried, the townspeople go upstairs to break into the room that they know has been closed for forty years and that they discovered Miss Emily’s disturbing long kept secret.

Inside, they find the corpse of Homer Barron, stretched out on the bed with a suit and wedding tokens spread about. As the townspeople entered and moved closer to the bed one discovered a long strand of gray hair upon the pillow next to him.

MORAL LESSONS:

Conflict between Emily and his father:

Parents should treat their sons/daughters the best. Do not be over protective because sometimes if you think that what you are doing is the right for them but rather children it may lead them to be a bad person.

Emily and Homer Barron:

In the story, for me Emily loved Homer from the bottom of her heart. Because of her father did to her teenage life, she thinks that Homer is the right guy for her that’s why when the townspeople said that Homer is poor and scandalous and that they can’t be together, she decided to poison him so that he will never leave him.

Conflict between Emily and the Townspeople:

The actions of the town drove her to do what she did and how they criticized her for not being social. People always criticized the actions of other people, she decided to stay at her house not because she wanted to be alone for her entire life, and for me she is just too tired for all the criticisms that she has suffering from the townspeople.