"A Rose for Emily" is a short story by American author William Faulkner first published in the April 30,

1931
issue of Forum. This story takes place in Faulkner's fictional city, Jefferson, Mississippi in the fictional county
of Yoknapatawpha County. It was Faulkner's first short story published in a national magazine.

Title
Faulkner explained the reason for his choice of the title as:

[The title] was an allegorical title; the meaning was, here was a woman who has had a tragedy, an irrevocable
tragedy and nothing could be done about it, and I pitied her and this was a salute ... to a woman you would hand
a rose.[1]

Plot
The story is divided into five sections. In section I, the narrator recalls the time of Emily Grierson's death and
how the entire town attended her funeral in her home, which no stranger had entered for more than ten years. In
a once-elegant, upscale neighborhood, her house is the last vestige of the grandeur of a lost era. Colonel
Sartoris, the town’s previous mayor, had suspended Emily’s tax responsibilities to the town after her father’s
death, justifying the action by claiming that Mr. Grierson had once lent the community a significant sum. As
new town leaders take over, they make unsuccessful attempts to get Emily to resume payments. When members
of the Board of Aldermen pay her a visit, in the dusty and antiquated parlor, Emily reasserts the fact that she is
not required to pay taxes in Jefferson and that the officials should talk to Colonel Sartoris about the matter.
However, at that point he has been dead for almost a decade. She asks her servant, Tobe, to show the men out.

In section II, the narrator describes a time thirty years earlier when Emily resists another official inquiry on
behalf of the town leaders, when the townspeople detect a powerful odor emanating from her property. Her
father has just died, and Emily has been abandoned by the man whom the townsfolk thought she was going to
marry. As complaints mount, Judge Stevens, the mayor at the time, decides to have lime sprinkled along the
foundation of the Grierson home in the middle of the night. Within a couple of weeks, the odor subsides, but the
townspeople begin to pity the increasingly reclusive woman, recalling that her great-aunt had succumbed to
insanity. The townspeople have always believed that the Griersons thought too highly of themselves, with
Emily's father driving off the many suitors deemed not good enough to marry his daughter. With no offer of
marriage in sight, she is still single by the time she turns thirty. The day after Mr. Grierson's death, the women
of the town call on Emily to offer their condolences. Meeting them at the door, Emily states that her father is
not dead, a charade that she keeps up for three days. She finally turns her father's body over for burial.

In section III, the narrator describes a long illness that Emily suffers after this incident. The summer after her
father's death, the town contracts workers to pave the sidewalks, and a construction company, under the
direction of northerner Homer Barron, is awarded the job. Homer soon becomes a popular figure in town and is
seen taking Emily on buggy rides on Sunday afternoons, which scandalizes the town. They feel she is becoming
involved with a man beneath her station. As the affair continues and her reputation is further compromised, she
goes to the drug store to purchase arsenic. She is required by law to reveal how she will use the arsenic. She
offers no explanation, and the package arrives at her house labeled “For rats.”

In section IV, the narrator describes the fear that some of the townspeople have that Emily will use the poison to
kill herself. Her potential marriage to Homer seems increasingly unlikely, despite their continued Sunday ritual.
The more outraged women of the town insist that the Baptist minister talk with her. After his visit, he never
speaks of what happened and swears that he'll never go back. So the minister's wife writes to Emily's two
cousins in Alabama, who arrive for an extended stay. Emily orders a silver toilet set monogrammed with
Homer's initials and talk of the couple's marriage resumes. Homer, absent from town, is believed to be
preparing for Emily's future wife's move or trying to avoid her intrusive relatives.

After the cousins' departure, Homer enters the Grierson home one evening and is never seen again. Holed up in
the house, Emily grows plump and gray. Despite the occasional lesson she gives in china painting, her door
remains closed to outsiders. In what becomes an annual ritual, Emily refuses to acknowledge the tax bill. She
eventually closes up the top floor of the house. Except for the occasional glimpse of her in the window, nothing
is heard from her until her death at age seventy-four. Only the servant is seen going in and out of the house.

In section V, the narrator describes what happens after Emily dies. Her body is laid out in the parlor, and the
women, town elders, and two cousins attend the service. After some time has passed, the door to a sealed
upstairs room that had not been opened in forty years is broken down. The room is frozen in time, with the
items for an upcoming wedding and a man's suit laid out. Homer Barron's body is stretched on the bed in an
advanced state of decay. The onlookers then notice the indentation of a head in the pillow beside Barron's body
and a long strand of Emily's gray hair on the pillow.

Adaptations
• The story was adapted for a longer length film as well in 1987 by Chubby Cinema Company, and has
since been released as a 34-minute video. The cast includes Anjelica Huston, John Houseman, John
Randolph, John Carradine and Jared Martin.

• It has also been adapted many times in various regions in the form of a folk tale, becoming a notable
'camp-fire' story.[citation needed]

• The Zombies' "A Rose for Emily" is a short retelling of the story in song form.[2]

• My Chemical Romance's song "To The End" refers to the story.

Character List
Emily Grierson - The object of fascination in the story. A eccentric recluse, Emily is a mysterious figure who
changes from a vibrant and hopeful young girl to a cloistered and secretive old woman. Devastated and alone
after her father’s death, she is an object of pity for the townspeople. After a life of having potential suitors
rejected by her father, she spends time after his death with a newcomer, Homer Barron, although the chances of
his marrying her decrease as the years pass. Bloated and pallid in her later years, her hair turns steel gray. She
ultimately poisons Homer and seals his corpse into an upstairs room.

Homer Barron - A foreman from the North. Homer is a large man with a dark complexion, a booming voice,
and light-colored eyes. A gruff and demanding boss, he wins many admirers in Jefferson because of his
gregarious nature and good sense of humor. He develops an interest in Emily and takes her for Sunday drives in
a yellow-wheeled buggy. Despite his attributes, the 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 she poisons him.

Judge Stevens - A mayor of Jefferson. Eighty years old, Judge Stevens 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 aldermen decide to sprinkle lime on the property in the middle of the
night.

Mr. Grierson - Emily's father. Mr. Grierson is a controlling, looming presence even in death, and the
community clearly sees his lasting influence over Emily. He deliberately thwarts Emily's attempts to find a
husband in order to keep her under his control. We get glimpses of him in the story: in the crayon portrait kept
on the gilt-edged easel in the parlor, and silhouetted in the doorway, horsewhip in hand, having chased off
another of his daughter's suitors.

Tobe - Emily's servant. Tobe, his voice supposedly rusty from lack of use, is the only lifeline Emily has to the
outside world and he cares for her and tends to her needs. After her death, he walks out the back door and never
returns.

Colonel Sartoris - A former mayor of Jefferson. Colonel Sartoris absolves Emily of any tax burden after the
death of her father, which later causes consternation to succeeding generations of town leaders.
Título
Faulkner explained the reason for his choice of the title as: Faulkner explicou o motivo de sua escolha do título
como:

[The title] was an allegorical title; the meaning was, here was a woman who has had a tragedy, an irrevocable
tragedy and nothing could be done about it, and I pitied her and this was a salute ... [O título] era um título
alegórico, o sentido era, ali estava uma mulher que teve uma tragédia, uma tragédia irrevogável e nada poderia
ser feito sobre isso, e eu tinha pena dela e isso era uma saudação ... to a woman you would hand a rose. [ 1 ] a
uma mulher que iria entregar uma rosa. [1]

Sinopse
The story is divided into five sections. A história é dividida em cinco seções. In section I, the narrator recalls the
time of Emily Grierson's death and how the entire town attended her funeral in her home, which no stranger had
entered for more than ten years. Na secção I, o narrador lembra a época da morte de Emily Grierson e como
toda a cidade foram ao seu funeral em sua casa, que nenhum estranho havia entrado por mais de dez anos. In a
once-elegant, upscale neighborhood, her house is the last vestige of the grandeur of a lost era. Em uma vez que-
elegante bairro chique, a casa é o último vestígio da grandeza de uma era perdida. Colonel Sartoris, the town's
previous mayor, had suspended Emily's tax responsibilities to the town after her father's death, justifying the
action by claiming that Mr. Grierson had once lent the community a significant sum. Coronel Sartoris, o
prefeito anterior da cidade, havia suspendido as responsabilidades de Emily fiscais para a cidade após a morte
de seu pai, o que justifica a ação afirmando que o Sr. Grierson já havia emprestado a comunidade uma soma
significativa. As new town leaders take over, they make unsuccessful attempts to get Emily to resume
payments. Como líderes cidade nova assumir, eles fazem tentativas infrutíferas de obter Emily para retomar os
pagamentos. When members of the Board of Aldermen pay her a visit, in the dusty and antiquated parlor, Emily
reasserts the fact that she is not required to pay taxes in Jefferson and that the officials should talk to Colonel
Sartoris about the matter. Quando os membros da Câmara de Vereadores pagar-lhe uma visita, na sala
empoeirada e antiquada, Emily reafirma o fato de que ela não é obrigada a pagar impostos em Jefferson e que as
autoridades devem conversar com o coronel Sartoris sobre o assunto. However, at that point he has been dead
for almost a decade. No entanto, naquele momento, ele está morto há quase uma década. She asks her servant,
Tobe, to show the men out. Ela pede a seu servo, Tobe, para mostrar que os homens para fora.

In section II, the narrator describes a time thirty years earlier when Emily resists another official inquiry on
behalf of the town leaders, when the townspeople detect a powerful odor emanating from her property. Na
secção II, o narrador descreve um momento 30 anos antes, quando Emily resiste a um outro inquérito oficial,
em nome dos líderes da cidade, quando os habitantes da cidade detectar um odor poderoso que emana de sua
propriedade. Her father has just died, and Emily has been abandoned by the man whom the townsfolk thought
she was going to marry. Seu pai acabou de morrer, e Emily foi abandonada pelo homem a quem os habitantes
pensou que ia se casar. As complaints mount, Judge Stevens, the mayor at the time, decides to have lime
sprinkled along the foundation of the Grierson home in the middle of the night. Como as queixas de montagem,
o juiz Stevens, o prefeito da época, decide ter salpicado de cal ao longo da fundação da casa Grierson no meio
da noite. Within a couple of weeks, the odor subsides, but the townspeople begin to pity the increasingly
reclusive woman, recalling that her great-aunt had succumbed to insanity. Dentro de algumas semanas, o
desaparecimento do odor, mas as pessoas da cidade começam a pena a mulher cada vez mais recluso,
lembrando que sua tia-avó tinha sucumbido à loucura. The townspeople have always believed that the Griersons
thought too highly of themselves, with Emily's father driving off the many suitors deemed not good enough to
marry his daughter. Os habitantes da cidade, sempre acreditei que o Griersons pensei muito bem de si mesmos,
com o pai de Emily condução fora de muitos pretendentes não foi considerado bom o suficiente para casar com
sua filha. With no offer of marriage in sight, she is still single by the time she turns thirty. Sem oferta de
casamento à vista, ela ainda é único, pelo tempo que faz trinta. The day after Mr. Grierson's death, the women
of the town call on Emily to offer their condolences. O dia após a morte do Sr. Grierson, as mulheres da cidade
sobre a chamada Emily para oferecer suas condolências. Meeting them at the door, Emily states that her father
is not dead, a charade that she keeps up for three days. Encontro-los na porta, Emily diz que seu pai não está
morto, uma charada que ela mantém há três dias. She finally turns her father's body over for burial. Ela
finalmente se transforma o corpo de seu pai sobre para o enterro.
In section III, the narrator describes a long illness that Emily suffers after this incident. Na seção III, o narrador
descreve uma longa doença que Emily sofre depois deste incidente. The summer after her father's death, the
town contracts workers to pave the sidewalks, and a construction company, under the direction of northerner
Homer Barron, is awarded the job. No verão depois da morte do pai, os contratos dos trabalhadores da cidade
para pavimentar as calçadas, e uma empresa de construção civil, sob a direção do nortista Homer Barron, é
atribuído o trabalho. Homer soon becomes a popular figure in town and is seen taking Emily on buggy rides on
Sunday afternoons, which scandalizes the town. Homer logo se torna uma figura popular na cidade e é visto
tomando Emily em passeios de buggy nas tardes de domingo, o que escandaliza a cidade. They feel she is
becoming involved with a man beneath her station. Eles sentem que ela está envolvida com um homem abaixo
de sua estação. As the affair continues and her reputation is further compromised, she goes to the drug store to
purchase arsenic. Como o assunto continua e sua reputação é ainda mais comprometida, ela vai até a farmácia
para comprar arsênico. She is required by law to reveal how she will use the arsenic. Ela é obrigada por lei a
revelar como ela vai usar o arsênico. She offers no explanation, and the package arrives at her house labeled
“For rats.” Ela não oferece nenhuma explicação, eo pacote chega na casa dela rotulado "Para os ratos."

In section IV, the narrator describes the fear that some of the townspeople have that Emily will use the poison to
kill herself. Na secção IV, o narrador descreve o temor que algumas pessoas da cidade têm que Emily irá usar o
veneno para se matar. Her potential marriage to Homer seems increasingly unlikely, despite their continued
Sunday ritual. Seu casamento potencial de Homer parece cada vez mais improvável, apesar de seu ritual de
domingo continuou. The more outraged women of the town insist that the Baptist minister talk with her. As
mulheres mais indignados da cidade insistem em que a conversa com seu pastor batista. After his visit, he never
speaks of what happened and swears that he'll never go back. Após sua visita, ele nunca fala do que aconteceu e
jura que ele nunca vai voltar. So the minister's wife writes to Emily's two cousins in Alabama , who arrive for
an extended stay. Então, a mulher do ministro, escreve a Emily de dois primos em Alabama , que chegam para
uma estadia prolongada. Emily orders a silver toilet set monogrammed with Homer's initials and talk of the
couple's marriage resumes. ordens de Emily um banheiro prata conjunto com monograma com as iniciais de
Homero e falar de retoma do casal casamento. Homer, absent from town, is believed to be preparing for Emily's
future wife's move or trying to avoid her intrusive relatives. Homer, ausente da cidade, acredita estar se
preparando para mover futura esposa Emily's ou tentando evitar seus parentes intrusiva.

After the cousins' departure, Homer enters the Grierson home one evening and is never seen again. Após a
partida dos primos, Homer entra na casa Grierson uma noite e nunca mais foi visto. Holed up in the house,
Emily grows plump and gray. Trancado em casa, Emily cresce gordo e cinza. Despite the occasional lesson she
gives in china painting, her door remains closed to outsiders. Apesar da lição ocasionais ela dá na pintura de
porcelana, a porta permanece fechada aos estrangeiros. In what becomes an annual ritual, Emily refuses to
acknowledge the tax bill. Em que se torna um ritual anual, Emily se recusa a reconhecer a dívida fiscal. She
eventually closes up the top floor of the house. Ela finalmente se encerra no piso superior da casa. Except for
the occasional glimpse of her in the window, nothing is heard from her until her death at age seventy-four.
Exceto para o vislumbre ocasional dela na janela, nada se ouviu falar dela até sua morte na idade de setenta e
quatro. Only the servant is seen going in and out of the house. Só o servo é visto entrando e saindo da casa.

In section V, the narrator describes what happens after Emily dies. Na seção V, o narrador descreve o que
acontece depois Emily morre. Her body is laid out in the parlor, and the women, town elders, and two cousins
attend the service. Seu corpo é colocado para fora da sala, e as mulheres, os anciãos da cidade, e dois primos
comparecer ao serviço. After some time has passed, the door to a sealed upstairs room that had not been opened
in forty years is broken down. Depois de algum tempo passou, a porta de um quarto no andar de cima fechados
que não tinha sido aberto nos últimos quarenta anos é quebrado. The room is frozen in time, with the items for
an upcoming wedding and a man's suit laid out. O quarto está congelado no tempo, com os itens para um
casamento programado e terno de um homem é colocado para fora. Homer Barron's body is stretched on the bed
in an advanced state of decay. corpo Homer Barron's é esticado na cama em avançado estado de decomposição.
The onlookers then notice the indentation of a head in the pillow beside Barron's body and a long strand of
Emily's gray hair on the pillow. Os espectadores, em seguida, observar o recorte de uma cabeça no travesseiro
ao lado do corpo Barron's e um longo fio de cabelo grisalho Emily sobre o travesseiro.