"A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner is a southern gothic tale that takes place in the reconstructive south.  It begins with the funeral of Emily Grierson who from the first couple of lines seems to be a very well-known lady.  This was not because she knew everybody however, but because everyone knew of her from the stories that have been circulated around about her.  Nobody had seen the inside of her house for over ten years.  She kept to herself and had her man-servant Toby do all her errands for her. At the end of the story it is revealed to us in a very backwards fashion that Emily Grierson killed the man she loved and had been sleeping with his corpse for years.  Even during the reconstructive south this would be an extremely weird and bizarre act.   Further research into this time period however helps give a deeper understanding of many elements in the story.  By studying the Antebellum/Reconstructive south time period more you can get a better understanding of many of the comments towards Emily Grierson and help understand the actions of the characters throughout the story. This research however also makes you feel more sympathetic towards Emily giving you a greater perspective of the oppression she was experiencing throughout the story.  

During the Antebellum there were certain expectations of how a woman should conduct herself.  Women during this time were usually a submissive type who obeyed the man figure that was present in their life.  Typically this male figure would either be their father or later in their lives, their husband.  It was generally expected of women to get married and then to be the general housekeeper and do the household chores.  This included taking care of the kids if they had any, cleaning and cooking.  Women couldn't even sign contracts if they were married.  Rarely could they ever file for a divorce and only in rarer cases would they receive custody of their children.  This could be why there was some resentment towards Emily at the end of the story because she never got married and remained unmarried her entire life.  She was supposed to marry Homer, but it can be interpreted from the text that he did not want to get married.  One of the biggest misconceptions in the story is the idea that Homer is homosexual and that is the reason why he does not want to marry her.  This however after reading about the language of the time period is a big misunderstanding that is bound to happen because of the way language changes.  Homer in the story is heard to prefer spending his time drinking with the younger men and was not the marrying kind. That had a different meaning than what it means today when this story was made it was meant to be "used in America during the 1930s, when many heterosexual men seemed to think they were not the "marrying kind" and said that they preferred the "bachelor life." (Mezo).  In the story we see many of the ladies feeling sorry for Emily and her relationship with Homer.  Homer was a day laborer and a northerner.  In the reconstructive south many southerners hated these new laborers and referred to them as "carpetbaggers" (Carpetbaggers & Scalawags).  In the south this term was used to describe a norther who was seeking economic gain from the new abundance of jobs that were available now that slaves weren't used a labor force anymore.  These people were resented by the southerners because they were seen " ... as opportunists looking to exploit and profit from the region's misfortunes ... " (Carpetbaggers & Scalawags).  It was seen in the story that many ladies would just say "poor Emily" as Emily and Homer were seen together throughout the town.  This was not only because he was a northerner but also the fact that he was a day laborer.  As Emily was seen as a more of nobility in her time in the south she was not supposed to acquaint herself with a man that was in a lesser class than herself.  For southern women in particular " ... wealth was the primary factor in arranging marriage or choosing a husband" (Volo).  So for Emily to go after a day laborer she was seeking a man that was in a lower class and therefore was looked down upon and was seen in a very negative way.  This makes you feel more sympathetic for Emily.  She couldn't pursue the man she liked because it wasn't socially acceptable for her to be with a man of Homers type.  As a northerner he was not held in the best standing around the town.  And since he was day laborer and Emily was seen as being in a higher class than him she wasn't supposed to be seen with him unless it was almost charity.

During the Antebellum period it was the traditional for the household to be paternalistic with the man to being the one in charge.  The reason for this structure ties back to the ownership of slaves by southern men during that time.  In the south " ... the entire system of slavery relied on the paternalistic idea that a man who owned slaves should be the father figure for them ... " (Poppendorf).  Because they had to be the person in charge in the eyes of their slaves, men naturally took over as the lead member of the household, making the women of this time very submissive.  During this time the father was responsible for his daughter's well-being while she was at the house.  It was typical then that after the daughter become old enough and found a man "the responsibilities of the father often fell upon a young lady's husband" (Poppendorf).  However in the case of Emily Grierson's father he never let go of his responsibilities as the primary caretaker of his daughter.  He scared off any man that approached Emily leaving her with no chance of having a man in her life until she was almost 30.  An age during this time where it was almost too late for her to marry.  Women in the south "generally married at a younger age than those in the North -- not infrequently at fifteen or sixteen years old" (Allain).  This expectation of women makes you feel sympathetic for Emily.  Her father controlled her life even after his death because society during that time allowed for things like this to be acceptable.  Men during this time were the dominant ones and the women had almost no control or say in what they wanted.  Because of this paternal structure Emily was left alone and was never allowed to find a man during the time when women typically got married.  

Emily's behavior can also help be explained by the culture of the time period she was from.  Her compulsive behavior can be linked to her father's behavior.  And as stated earlier his behavior is a form of how men were supposed to be during that time.  But other things can be explained from the culture of the period.  A norm of the era was for women to not work.  During this time it was typical that men would work and earn the income for the household while the wife stayed home and took care of the house.  During this time "more than 80 percent of American men and women declared that it was wrong for wives to work outside the home if their husbands were employed." (Chafe).  Many women would work before they were married and would obtain jobs like schoolteacher.  But it was even seen in some situations that "school systems throughout the country refused to hire women teachers if they were married, and fired them if they got married after being employed" (Chafe).  This left women to do menial or small tasks.  We see this with Emily's attempt to teach painting china in the story.  However even this became outdated and left Emily with nothing else to do.  In the story it can be assumed that Emily killed Homer because he did not want to marry her but she did not want him to leave her.  Even as this could be true there could also be a sense that it was easier for Emily to kill the person she loved and sleep with his dead corpse than to go back to being oppressed like she was when her father was alive.  Even though it is not explicitly said in the story, women during her time were oppressed with little to no rights once they were married.  Many women hated how powerless they were after they were married and felt trapped in their own life by their husbands.  So even though it not the way the story seems to be telling the tale it could have played a role in Emily's decision to kill Homer.  Women weren't given the opportunity to have a career or to pursue a passion they had because their job was to tend to the house and the needs of the man.  They were trapped in a patriarchal structure that allowed them almost no freedom.  This prison like structure could even lead to women, like Emily, to kill the man in their life as an alternative to living with them because they felt so trapped in their current situation with no other way of escaping it.  

The tale of "A Rose for Emily" is an interesting tale written in a way that surprises and shocks you in different ways.  During the time this story was written it was time with a culture that was very different from culture today.  The extra research into this culture helps you further understand many different elements in the story giving you a sympathetic feeling towards Emily throughout the story.  We see Emily being oppressed by her father with his behavior regarding Emily and the men who approached her.  Because of this Emily never got her opportunity to find a man and get married in a respectable amount of time leaving her all alone.  Then when she finally found a man the whole town disapproved because he was a laborer from the north.  The society during the time didn't even give Emily the opportunity to be happy with the man she found because it wasn't socially acceptable at the time for them to be together.  Without this additional research you can still understand the general story.  But with the extra information you have a more sympathetic feeling towards Emily because you can feel how awkward living for her was and feel bad for her even after it is revealed that she murdered a man and slept with his rotting corpse for years.

