I SEE DEAD PEOPLE-- A Rose for Emily

                Faulkner once comment that “A Rose for Emily” was similar to a ghost story, and, in many respects, this comparison is certainly very understandable. A mysterious and aloof woman who lives in a dilapidated house, presumably kills a man, and stores a decaying body in her bed for approximately forty years certainly reflects characters, settings, and scenarios which are may be likely to appear in ghost stories. If one is able to look past these morbid aspects, however, the fact that “A Rose for Emily” amounts to much more than a ghost story is evident. Because the central character, Emily, is dead from the very start of the story, all description of her personality comes through indirect characterization. Although the reader is forced to make several assumptions about Emily because the narrator cannot factually support any of their knowledge about Emily, one can assume that Emily was a very lonely individual. She appeared to only live with her father, who drove all gentleman callers away, and she spent a majority of her life in isolation. Furthermore, the one man who might have given her an opportunity at happiness in life, Homer Barron, was unmarriageable. However, the thought that Emily killed Barron greatly darkens her character. The climax of the story lies at the very end when the gray hair and indentation in the pillow is discovered next to Homer’s decomposed body. Wit this revelation that Emily has been laying beside the body for forty years, the reader begins to fully understand that Emily, who became delusional, attempted to preserve all aspects of her life and was incapable of grasping change. For example, Emily insisted, “’See Colonel Sartoris. I have no taxes in Jefferson’” (Faulkner, 283) despite the fact that she truly did need to pay her taxes and Colonel Sartoris had been dead for ten years. The understanding that Emily kept a decayed corpse for nearly forty years dramatizes the idea that desperately clinging to things that have past while refusing to change is both dangerous and detrimental. Therefore, by teaching this lesson, “A Rose for Emily” becomes much more than a ghost story.