The Cask of Amontillado and A Rose for Emily
A summary of A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner
In A Rose for Emily, William Faulkner brings us into the life of a real southern woman, or may I say the typical depiction of a southern woman. He brings us into the life of Emily, a now older woman, past her years. He tells us in the beginning that she has died and then goes into details of her home. Throughout the story Miss Emily is portrayed as a really strong women who has had to over come a lot, such as the death of her father whom she was very close to. She inherited the home and all his assets. She seemed to live a very comfortable life.
We see her strong demeanor when some people are sent by the major to collect some taxes from Miss Emily, which she presumably has no idea of what they are talking about. She speaks to them as though they have no authority and at one point tells Tobe her manservant to, “Show these gentlemen out”. It turns a little suspicious after this because we then hear about a man she loved and how he seems to be missing and the really bad odor coming from her home.
When you read a little further we hear of how people sent complaints to the major about the smell and how we sent four men to go and spread lime at the cellar door. At this point in the story people began to feel really bad for Miss Emily. She had lost her father, had lost her love and now has people assuming things about her because of the smell coming from her house, she became abandoned, and something she did to herself.
When her father died people thought she was really crazy because she would deny that he was dead and tried to show no grief when she was visited by towns people, and actually kept his body in the house for days, not wanting to dispose of the body. After this all happened, she never let anyone come and visit and nobody was in her house expect, her, Tobe, and we soon find out her dead lover Homer Barron. He relationship with Homer Barron was really weird and really shocking for the town’s people.
He was not to normal man her family members would date. It came a time when Miss Emily went to a druggist and asked for poison. They were together for a long time and people thought that they would get married but it never happened and we knew that Emily was very much in love yet it seemed that Homer was not as committed as she was.
Her family had come to visit one-day, some cousins, and Homer left at this time, and after they left he arrived three days later and Homer was never seen after that. Emily became much more enclosed in her house and never really went anywhere and Homer was nowhere to be seen. People hadn’t seen her in months and the next time they saw her she was gray. Her door remained closed at all times.
After many years Miss Emily died. People came to her house for the wake. The mysterious part of the house, which no one had entered for the last 40 years, was now to be explored. They entered the dusty old smelly room, to find a suit and tie and the body of old rotted Homer Barron lying on her bed. And next to him was a pillow with an indented space where someone’s head use to lay, that of Miss Emily.
This story ends in a very peculiar way. William Faulkner waits to be the end to tell us about what really happened to Homer Barron and the real actions of Miss Emily. We see how crazy she really was and really do not understand the real cause of her actions. We knew that something had happened to Homer yet I never really thought it was that and was surprised and creeped out at the end.
