A Rose for Emily – William faulkner
Light as a feather, stiff as a board.
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 an old man-servant–a combined gardener and cook–had seen in at least ten years.
Faulkner, William. A Rose for Emily. 30 Apr. 1930.
Why we loved it
First off, we couldn’t believe how Faulkner slowly revealed Emily’s strange life, like peeling an onion layer by layer. The story starts with Emily’s funeral, and everyone in town is curious about her. Seems normal, right? But then—bam!—we learn she lived in a creepy old house and refused to let go of the past. We loved how mysterious it was—just when we thought we understood Emily, another shocking detail popped up!
What really grabbed us, though, was the way Faulkner made us feel sorry for Emily even as she did disturbing things. At first, she seems lonely and misunderstood, stuck in her father’s shadow. Then (gasp!), we find out she kept her dead lover’s body in her house! Even though that’s horrifying, we couldn’t help but wonder—was she just desperate for love? The story made us think (whoa, deep!) about how loneliness can twist people’s actions.
And can we talk about how *creepy-cool* Faulkner’s writing is? The way he drops hints—like the awful smell coming from Emily’s house or the locked room no one’s seen in years—had us on the edge of our seats. Plus, the twist ending shocked us so much we had to reread it twice! We gobbled up this story like a thrilling mystery, and now we’re dying to read more of Faulkner’s work. Bring on the Southern Gothic drama!