At the end of “A Rose for Emily,”
Emily dies
. The townspeople break down the locked door of her bedroom and find the corpse of Homer Barron in her bed. She killed him and has been sleeping with him every night. She is trying to freeze time and live in an alternate reality, just as the South as a whole is trying to do.
What is the main message of A Rose for Emily?
In “A Rose for Emily,” the main idea is, most obviously,
the inability or refusal of the protagonist, Emily Grierson, to accept and adapt to change
. The fact that the narrator refers to her as a “fallen monument” symbolizes precisely what she represents—a stubborn memorial to the past.
What does the ending of A Rose for Emily mean?
The ending of the story emphasizes the length of
time Miss Emily must have slept with her dead lover
: long enough for the townspeople to find “a long strand of iron-gray hair” lying on the pillow next to “what was left of him, rotted beneath what was left of the nightshirt” and displaying a “profound and fleshless grin …
Did the ending of A Rose for Emily surprise you?
“A Rose for Emily” ends
with the discovery of the forty-year-old corpse of Homer Barron
. Yeah. … Perhaps this is the real surprise of the ending: the realization that the town long ago pieced together the puzzle of Homer Barron’s disappearance…and decided to play dumb.
Why did Emily keep her father’s body?
She sought
to find a replacement for her father
and was attracted to the authoritarian character in the men that she loved and this may have been the reason why she kept their bodies around after their deaths to maintain the same environment to which she had been accustomed and to alleviate the feeling of loneliness.
What happens to homer in A Rose for Emily?
Once Miss Emily dies, people enter her house. All we know for sure is that
Homer Barron is dead and his body has been kept in an upstairs bedroom of Miss Emily’s house
. His body, dressed in a nightshirt, has decomposed into the bed. Nearby is the clothing and toilet set Miss Emily bought for him.
What are the two major themes of A Rose for Emily?
The main themes in “A Rose for Emily” are
secrecy and obsession, the Old South, and death and control
.
WHAT DOES A Rose for Emily symbolize?
The rose symbolizes
dreams of romances and lovers
. These dreams belong to women, who like Emily Grierson, have yet to experience true love for themselves. Throughout the life of Emily Grierson, she remains locked up, never experiencing love from anyone but her father.
What is the main conflict in A Rose for Emily?
The big internal conflict for Emily is
her struggle with reality
. She refuses to accept that she is no longer living in the antebellum South, where backroom deals could be made to evade taxes.
Whose body do the aldermen find at the end A Rose for Emily how did it get there?
When the women go into Miss Emily’s bedroom, they find the skeleton of a man that has been long dead. They also find the toiletry kit of the man that has been etched with the initials “HB”. This confirms that the dead body is that of
Homer Barron
, Miss Emily’s beau from long ago.
What can you infer about Miss Emily?
What we infer about Miss Emily, I think, is that
she was not loved or even liked by the town but was respected, to a degree
, for her family’s former position in the society of Jefferson, and she was also a mystery to the town.
Why does Miss Emily get rid of her cousins?
Miss Emily didn’t want her relatives there to “keep an eye on her” in regards to her relationship with Homer, so now that they appear to be acting responsibly and getting married, everyone — the townspeople and Miss Emily — will be happily rid of the cousins who will no longer have
a purpose
to be in town.
Who died first in A Rose for Emily?
The deaths that occur in the story relate to Emily’s family position, her relationship to the town, and her personal life. First in importance was the (1)
death of her father
who gave Emily both her “backbone” and her imprisonment.
Is Emily a victim or villain?
In this story,
Emily is both a victim and a victimizer
. As a young woman, for example, Emily is the victim of her father’s control. Because he believes that no suitor is good enough for her, Emily is not allowed the opportunity to marry and have a life of her own.
Is Homer’s love for Emily true?
There is no real indication
about Homer’s perspective on his relationship with Emily. Obviously, he has some sort of affection for her that makes him want to spend time with her, but what Emily perceives as romantic interest is merely platonic from his end.
What probably happened to Homer and why?
What probably happened to Homer? Why?
Emily killed him because he wouldn’t marry her
.
