William Faulkner (2007)
Genre
Fiction
Reading Time
30 min
Key Themes
See below
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In the decaying grandeur of the Old South, the reclusive Emily Grierson holds a grotesque secret, a symbol of lost love and human desperation.
The story begins with the death of Miss Emily Grierson, an elderly, reclusive woman from a once-prominent Southern family. The entire town of Jefferson attends her funeral. The men feel a respectful obligation, and the women are curious about her mysterious life. Emily was a fixture in the town, representing a bygone era. Her house, once grand, became a decaying eyesore. The narrator, speaking for the town, recalls various events from Emily's life, starting with her refusal to pay taxes many years prior. Colonel Sartoris had granted this exemption out of chivalry after her father's death, though later town officials tried unsuccessfully to collect payment.
Years before her death, when a new generation of town aldermen tried to collect her overdue taxes, Miss Emily firmly refused. She met them at the door, a small, stout woman with a long gold chain disappearing into her belt, her eyes expressionless. She insisted she owed no taxes in Jefferson, referring to an arrangement with the late Colonel Sartoris, who had 'remitted' her taxes after her father's death. Despite the aldermen's explanations that the arrangement was informal and expired, Emily simply said, 'I have no taxes in Jefferson. Colonel Sartoris explained it to me. Perhaps one of you can explain it to him.' She then dismissed them, leaving the town frustrated but unwilling to force the issue, maintaining her unique exemption.
About two years after her father's death, a terrible smell came from Miss Emily's house, leading to neighbor complaints. The aldermen hesitated to confront Emily directly, knowing her reclusive and proud nature. The mayor, Judge Stevens, was reluctant to accuse a lady of smelling bad. After much discussion, four men secretly went to Emily's property late one night and sprinkled lime around the foundation of her house and in her cellar. The smell eventually disappeared, and the town never spoke of it again, though they speculated about its source, connecting it to her father's recent death and Homer Barron's arrival.
Soon after her father's death and the mysterious smell, Homer Barron, a jovial, loud Northern foreman, arrived in Jefferson to oversee sidewalk paving. He quickly became popular with the town's younger generation. To the townspeople's surprise and disapproval, Miss Emily began riding on Sunday afternoons with Homer Barron in his buggy. This relationship was scandalous, as Homer was a Northerner and not a suitable match for a woman of Emily's standing. The town women believed Emily, having lost her father, was forgetting her 'noblesse oblige' and shaming the Grierson name.
When Emily bought arsenic from the druggist, the town worried. The druggist, following rules, asked her what she intended to use it for, but Emily, with her usual haughty demeanor, simply stared him down, offering no explanation. The druggist, intimidated, sold her the poison. The townspeople immediately assumed she planned suicide, fearing Homer Barron had abandoned her or was about to. They recalled her family's history of mental instability and pitied her, believing she was distraught over her doomed romance with Homer.
Concerned by Emily's public relationship with Homer Barron and her arsenic purchase, the town's prominent women pressured the Baptist minister to visit her about her conduct. The minister visited Emily's house but refused to discuss their conversation, only saying Emily would never allow him inside again. Afterward, the minister's wife wrote to Emily's two cousins in Alabama, who arrived shortly to stay with Emily and presumably stop the impropriety and counsel her.
For a time, the presence of Emily's cousins seemed to deter Homer Barron, who was not seen with Emily for a while. However, one evening, shortly after the cousins left, Homer was seen entering Miss Emily's house. A neighbor saw Emily's servant, Tobe, admit him through the kitchen door. This was the last time Homer Barron was seen in Jefferson. He simply vanished, and the town assumed he had left for good, perhaps abandoning Emily as they had predicted. The town's pity for Emily deepened, believing her a victim of Homer's heartlessness.
After Homer Barron's disappearance, Miss Emily withdrew completely from the town. Her front door remained closed, and she was rarely seen. Her only contact with the outside world was through her servant, Tobe, who would go out for groceries. Emily grew heavier, and her hair turned iron gray, then pepper-and-salt, and finally a dull, coal black, as if dyed. She gave private china-painting lessons for a period, but even those stopped. She became a complete recluse, a ghost in her own house, known only by her occasional appearances in a downstairs window or at her door to dismiss tax collectors.
For forty years, Miss Emily lived in her decaying mansion, a living anachronism. The town continued to send her tax notices, which she consistently ignored or refused. Her house became increasingly dilapidated, a stark contrast to the modernizing town around it. She was seen less and less, her appearances becoming events of curious speculation. Tobe, her loyal servant, aged alongside her, eventually becoming a stooped old man. Emily became a legend, a symbol of the Old South's stubborn refusal to change, her life shrouded in mystery and her house a silent, foreboding monument.
At seventy-four, Miss Emily Grierson died in her sleep. Tobe, her faithful servant, let in the town's women and then disappeared forever. The entire town attended her funeral, not only out of respect but also from a long-held curiosity to finally enter the mysterious house. After the funeral, the townspeople began to explore the house, which had been closed off for so long. They found the downstairs parlor dusty and smelling of decay, filled with faded grandeur and forgotten relics of her past.
After the funeral, the townspeople's curiosity led them to explore the upstairs of Emily's house. They found a room locked for forty years, the door bolted from the inside. They had to break it down. Inside, the room was shrouded in dusty, rose-colored light. It was furnished as a bridal chamber, complete with a dressing table, a suit of men's clothes carefully folded, and a silver toilet set with Emily's initials. On the pillow next to a long indentation, they found a single strand of iron-gray hair, a chilling discovery that deepened the mystery.
Within the bridal chamber, the townspeople made a horrifying discovery. Lying in the bed was Homer Barron's long-decayed corpse. He was stretched out as if in an embrace, his body decomposed into a skeleton, his head's indentation still visible on the pillow. The room was thick with forty years of dust and the smell of decay. On the pillow beside Homer's skeleton, among the dust and evidence of a long-ago intimacy, the townspeople found a single, long strand of iron-gray hair, confirming the shocking truth of Emily's macabre secret and her final, desperate act of possession.
The Protagonist
Emily begins as a tragic figure, isolated by her father, and devolves into a desperate, mentally unstable woman who commits a macabre act to preserve her perceived love.
The Supporting
Homer arrives as a symbol of progress and a potential escape for Emily, but ultimately becomes a victim of her desperation to preserve their relationship.
The Supporting
Tobe remains a constant, silent presence, serving Emily for decades, and finally gains his freedom upon her death.
The Supporting
The town's perception of Emily shifts from pity and respect to judgment and finally to horrified understanding.
The Mentioned
N/A (already deceased at the start of the primary narrative).
The Mentioned
N/A (a static character representing old Southern values).
The Mentioned
N/A (already deceased at the start of the primary narrative, but his influence is central to Emily's character arc).
The story shows the decay of the aristocratic Old South and its struggle against modernity. Miss Emily Grierson symbolizes this decline, a relic of a past era whose decaying mansion mirrors her family's crumbling lineage. Her refusal to pay taxes, her adherence to old social norms, and her inability to adapt to the changing town of Jefferson highlight the old order's stubborn resistance. The town's changing attitudes towards her, from respectful pity to frustrated curiosity, reflect broader societal transition. Homer Barron's arrival, a Northern working-class man, further emphasizes the clash between old Southern values and the new industrializing North.
“When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save Tobe, a combined gardener and cook, had seen in at least ten years.”
Isolation is a constant theme, seen in Emily's physical and emotional detachment from the community. Her father's overbearing presence initially isolates her by driving away suitors, leaving her alone after his death. Emily then chooses to withdraw, becoming a recluse in her decaying mansion, a symbol of her deep loneliness. Her only significant relationship, with Homer Barron, comes from this desperation for connection. The town observes her from a distance, curious but unable to truly understand her solitude. This extreme isolation contributes to her mental decline and her macabre attempt to preserve companionship, however twisted.
“She had evidently shut up the top floor of the house—like the rest of us she had long since ceased to be able to afford the Negroes to wait on it—and she lived downstairs with the cook and a young girl.”
The narrative structure itself, non-linear and retrospective, highlights the theme of memory and the past's inescapable grip. The town constantly revisits Emily's history, piecing together her life through fragmented recollections and gossip. Emily, too, is trapped by her past; she clings to family traditions, the tax exemption from Colonel Sartoris, and most tragically, her relationship with Homer Barron. Her house is a museum of the past, filled with dust and decay, refusing to acknowledge time's passage. The final discovery in the locked room reveals her ultimate, horrifying attempt to freeze a moment in time and preserve a past that never truly was.
“Then we knew that this was the last we should see of Miss Emily. She would not be seen again for a long time. She was sick for a long time. When we next saw her, she was fat and her hair was turning gray.”
These intertwined themes drive the central conflict and the story's shocking climax. Emily's life is defined by a desperate desire for love and companionship, initially thwarted by her father. Her relationship with Homer Barron offers a brief glimpse of happiness, but his impending abandonment triggers her ultimate obsession. Unable to cope with loss and the finality of death, Emily tries to control it, transforming Homer's living presence into an eternal, macabre companion. Her arsenic purchase, the terrible smell, and the bridal chamber's discovery reveal a deep psychological disturbance born from an inability to let go of a perceived love, ending in a necrophilic bond.
“Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, and level with the light we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair.”
The story is told out of chronological order, jumping between different periods of Emily's life.
Faulkner employs a non-linear narrative, presenting events out of sequence. The story begins with Emily's funeral, then flashes back to various episodes from her past, such as her tax troubles, the smell incident, and her courtship with Homer Barron, before returning to the present discovery. This structure mirrors the way the town collectively remembers Emily, piecing together fragments of her life. It creates suspense, gradually revealing details that build towards the horrifying climax, and emphasizes the theme of memory and the past's enduring influence, making the reader actively participate in constructing Emily's story.
The story is told from the collective perspective of the town of Jefferson.
The use of 'we' as the narrator makes the town itself a character, representing community gossip, judgment, and collective memory. This perspective provides an outsider's view of Emily, highlighting her isolation and the town's struggle to understand her. It also allows for subjective interpretation and speculation, building suspense around Emily's mysterious life. The collective voice underscores the themes of societal expectations versus individual eccentricity and the way a community preserves and distorts history, ultimately leading to the shared discovery of Emily's secret.
Emily's decaying mansion symbolizes the decline of the Old South and her own mental state.
Miss Emily's house is a central symbol, reflecting both the grandeur and the decay of the Old South. Once a magnificent structure, it slowly deteriorates, becoming 'an eyesore among eyesores,' mirroring the decline of the Grierson family and the aristocratic era it represents. The house is also a physical manifestation of Emily's reclusive nature and her psychological state. Its dusty, closed-off rooms, particularly the locked bridal chamber, symbolize her refusal to move on from the past, her mental stagnation, and the dark secrets she harbors within her own mind and the confines of her life.
Subtle clues throughout the story hint at the macabre discovery.
Faulkner uses several instances of foreshadowing to build suspense. The most prominent is Emily's purchase of arsenic, which she refuses to explain, leading the town to suspect suicide but ultimately used for murder. The 'terrible smell' emanating from her house after Homer's disappearance strongly suggests a decaying body. The description of Emily's hair turning 'iron-gray' and the final discovery of a single strand of iron-gray hair on the pillow beside Homer's skeleton directly links her to the crime and the long passage of time since his death. These clues prepare the reader, subliminally, for the shocking revelation.
“When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save old Tobe, her man-servant, had seen in at least ten years.”
— Opening lines, describing the town's reaction to Emily's death.
“We remembered all the young men her father had driven away, and we knew that with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her, as people will.”
— Reflecting on Emily's past and her relationship with her deceased father.
“Then we knew what was to be expected of her; less than a year later her father died, and the town began to feel sorry for her.”
— After her father's death, the town's perception of Emily shifts.
“She was a small, fat woman in black, with a thin gold chain descending to her waist and vanishing into her belt, leaning on an ebony cane with a gold head.”
— A description of Miss Emily's appearance later in her life.
“She told them that Miss Emily didn't owe any taxes. She had no taxes in Jefferson. Colonel Sartoris had remitted her taxes, personally, on account of her father's services to the town.”
— Miss Emily's refusal to pay taxes, revealing a past arrangement.
“It was as if she demanded more than ever the rigorous attention of her town, not for her sake, but for the sake of the decorum.”
— Describing Emily's demanding nature and her adherence to old customs.
“And sure enough, after a week or two the smell went away. That was when some of the ladies began to say that it was a disgrace to the town and a bad example to the young people.”
— The town's reaction to the mysterious smell emanating from Emily's house.
“Then the next day they saw him at the post office, with a certain wistful alertness, and on the third day he was gone.”
— Homer Barron's disappearance, observed by the town.
“So she had to cling to that which had robbed her, as people will. She never did get married. She was over thirty then. We were glad as if the absence of that youth was a sort of heritage, an obligation, a duty.”
— The town's perspective on Emily's unmarried status and her clinging to the past.
“She was sick for a long time. When we saw her again, her hair was cut short, making her look like a girl, with a vague resemblance to those angels in colored church windows—sort of tragic and serene.”
— Emily's appearance after a period of illness following Homer's disappearance.
“And sure enough, after a week or two the smell went away. That was when some of the ladies began to say that it was a disgrace to the town and a bad example to the young people.”
— The town's reaction to the mysterious smell emanating from Emily's house.
“A day later the town was aghast. A Negro man had been seen on her street at night, carrying a basket.”
— The town's reaction to a black man being seen near Emily's house, hinting at the purchase of arsenic.
“The man himself lay in the bed. For forty years he had lain there, in the attitude of an embrace, beneath the pervasive dust of the room and the long undisturbed change of her bridal atire.”
— The discovery of Homer Barron's body in Emily's bedroom.
“Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, and level with our eyes we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair.”
— The final chilling discovery in Emily's bedroom, revealing her secret.
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William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most of his life. A Nobel laureate, Faulkner is one of the most celebrated writers of American literature and often is considered the greatest writer of Southern literature.
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