"A Rose for Emily" recounts the story of an eccentric spinster, Emily Grierson. An unnamed narrator details the strange circumstances of Emily’s life and her odd relationships with her father, who controlled and manipulated her, and her lover, the Yankee road worker Homer Barron. When Homer Barron threatens to leave her, she is seen buying arsenic, which the townspeople believe she will commit suicide with. After this, Homer Barron is not heard from again, and is assumed to have returned north. Though she does not commit suicide, the townspeople of Jefferson continue to gossip about her and her eccentricities, citing her family's history of mental illness. She is heard from less and less, and rarely ever leaves her home. Unbeknownst to the townspeople until her death, in her upstairs room she hides all day with the corpse of Homer Barron, which explains the horrid stench that emits from Miss Emily's house.
The story’s complexities have inspired critics while casual readers found the work one of Faulkner’s most accessible (and shortest) works. The popularity of the story was due in no small part to its gruesome ending.
The story explores many themes, including the society of the South at that time, the role of women in the South, and extreme psychosis.
In the story, the townspeople's points of views on Emily actually reflect the society's value at that moment to some extent. Although the townspeople don't have direct contact with Emily, their views on her and her family greatly affect her life. Their praises and admiration influence her father to keep her sheltered longer than she actually needs to be. Her father controls her thoughts and lifestyle. Emily feels that she is released when her father is dead. She dives into love with Homer and neglects people's judgments on her. When she realizes that Homer intends to leave her again, she makes sure that he would always be with her, whether he is alive or not. In his death Emily finds eternal love which is something no one could ever take away from her.
