Wednesday, January 7, 2015

What do you think really happened between Emily and Homer in William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily"?Based on there relationship

Given the fact that Emily is known to have gone shopping
for rat poison, and Homer's body (or what remained of it was found in her bed along with
a length of her hair (grey, indicating that she had been sleeping with the corpse even
after she grew old) it seems clear that Homer had, for some reason, decided to leave
Emily. Emily did not want that to happen, so she took matters into her own hands in a
sort of "if i can't have you nobody can" psychotic manner. It did not matter to her if
he was living or dead as long as he stayed with her. The room itself was arrayed in an
almost bridal suite fashion. On the table were the monogrammed items she had purchesd
for him very shortly, it would seem, before she killed him. In her mind, she was
sleeping with her husband.


Even before Emily net Homer, she
had an interesting and not altogether healthy relationship with her father. She was very
attached to her father and refused to believe that he was dead when he passed away. It
is clear from this that Emily needed a man in order to make her feel complete, and she
was willing to hold on to one even after his death.


Emily
was at a disadvantage because her father was very controlling. He did not think any of
the men who can calling for her were good enough for her. The irony is that, based on
her appearance in her older years, she was not all that attractive which means that her
options were limited. She also had a family history of mental instability. It may be
that Homer, at first, thought that she was worth dating (especially as she was wealthy
and he was a common laborer) but came to the realization that Emily was not entirely
sane. When he wanted to end the relationship, or when Emily believed in her mind that he
was going to break things off with her, she killed him to keep that from happening. The
thing we don;t really know is whether or not he would have left had she not killed him.
It is clear that residents of the town and even her own cousins feel that she is
lowering herself by seeing Homer, but they meddle into her affairs truing to get her to
marry him (and be an honest woman) or to end her illicit affair. Homer is gone for a
while, and it is unclear as to whether he left to allow Emily to sort out her family
involvement or if he felt pressured. In any case, she purchases the arsenic and takes
the choice away from him, taking control.

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