The narrative, A Rose for Emily, is about an eccentric spinster, Emily Grierson, the protagonist of the novel. Emily’s peculiar situations and unusual interactions with her parent and her companion, Homer Barron, are recounted by an unknown storyteller. Emily is seen purchasing poison that the residents believe she plans to employ to end her life. Emily’s partner is not spoken from anymore after that, and it is assumed he went North. Although Emily did not commit suicide, the Jefferson dwellers resumed to conversate about her oddities, referencing her family’s history. Emily becomes increasingly unreachable, and hardly departs her home. Barron’s body was hidden in the bedroom, undisclosed to the residents until Emily’s demise. This answers the awful smell that emerged from Emily’s house. The townsfolk learn Miss Grierson was staying with the deceased after gray hair was discovered in the bedding.
A small town in the South serves as the setting for Faulkner’s story. The story occurs in the Mississippi area of Jefferson, which is a make-believe municipality. Emily Grierson, Mr. Grierson, Judge Stevens, Tobe, and Homer Barron are the characters in this fiction narrative. Emily is depicted as a reclusive person who seldom interacts with society and prefers to stay at home. Emily used to ask Tobe to perform errands for her, such as heading to the market. Emily is described as a person who enjoys getting their say in social situations. Emily declines to pay taxes and is viewed as rude, claiming that her family previously loaned funds to the municipality and so qualifies her as a senior citizen.
The theme of change is seen through the hardships of attempting to preserve heritage in the face of pervasive, drastic transformation via the strange figure of Emily Grierson. Jefferson is at a breaking point, toeing the line between accepting a new, more industrial destiny and remaining rooted in the past. From the author’s mention of Emily’s demise at the opening of the tale to the representation of Emily’s death-spooked living to the crumbling of custom in the middle of new innovations, the theme of death hovers throughout the story. Furthermore, Emily gradually succumbs to death throughout the story. The narrative advises readers to release the history and focus on the current to plan for the future. Emily is the personification of individuals who dwell and cling to the past and afraid of change.