A rose for emily

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A Rose for Emily
In William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily, we see events happening in Emily’s life that is inevitably intertwined and building upon one major theme in the story, love. From a series of fore-shadows and symbolism and even the manner in which the town regards Emily, it is not difficult to understand that Emily lacked love in her life. It’s clear that all she wanted was someone to care for her and give her the security and assurance she yearned for. It is symbolic how the hidden watch seems to imply at Emily’s need to forget the impacts of time in her life as if time has made it inevitable she’d not recover things long since gone (Faulkner, 2). Emily’s father with a horse-whip symbolizes her submissiveness. It is also ironic that the freedom she had received after her father’s death was still more like a prison to her.
Even though the town’s people seem ambiguous in their attitude towards Emily, as the narrator deftly implies, there is still a general sympathy towards her. The town’s people do not want her to dishonor her family’s name and therefore make sure that what they deem as her inappropriate relationship with Homer is cut short (Faulkner, 2). It is therefore ironic when the town’s people realize that after all, in a very twisted way, Emily had managed to keep Homer to herself. The ending of the story is unexpected yet still understood as to how the Heroine fell into the volatile mindset which leads to her actions. This makes the end not entirely surprising either.

The ending of the story is practically the biggest irony since the Jefferson people believed and pictured Emily as one thing, only it turns that she is something else altogether.
Works Cited
William, Faulkner. “A Rose for Emily” issue of The Forum, April 30, 1930.