Authentic Nostalgic Story

For the past few weeks, we had tackled all about poems and stories but the most interesting for me was the story of "A Rose for Emily". It is a complex story like, evokes complex reactions. The story is depressing in that Emily lives alone in decrepit house, locked away from the rest of the world for many years. It would be all to easy, however, to condemn her for the disturbing murder of Homer Barron, or to say that the story as a whole is just a disgusting tale of a woman gone mad. Instead, Faulkner weaves all kinds of subtleties into the narrative, like Emily's troubled relationship with her father, that make me have a more nuanced reaction to the story.

Roses need not be literally spoken of to have power. Think of roses and their various roles in human life. Roses are often present at weddings, a promise of love despite hardship, the combination of pain and beauty. However, roses because of their strong odor, are also used in funeral homes to cover the stench of decay. Emily tries hard to be something she is not young, engaging, marriageable. The covering of stench could be applied to a variety of characters; the town in its neglect of one of its own, Emily in covering the death of her lover, the dead flowers symbolic of Homer's apparently neglected promise. It has been traditional for brides and lovers to press and preserve roses. The rose of the title then, may symbolize Emily's stagnant dreams for a life with Homer. Or, one could view the rose as the narrator's offer of friendship, extended too late. Like a clipped rose, life itself is short and once it is gone, the rose can never be restored to its previous glory. In this story presents, a powerful argument that privilege can sometimes be a prison which love can do to the people even if they don't know what is right and wrong when you feel that your in love.

Larmen Joy Dazo Sabornido

BEEd-iiB