Sophia Wojcik
Ms Atkinson
ENG 4U2
Monday February 12, 2024
The Beauty and Darkness in the Life Span of a Rose
An Analysis of Rose Symbolism in William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily
There are various reasons for sending and receiving roses. Certainly, they are used to
express sympathy and love, but they are also present in events of tragedy and sorrow. However,
how can something which is so symbolic to love and affection also present itself in tragedy and
grief? In William Faulkner's “A Rose for Emily” the word “rose” rarely appears however, its
symbolic continuance and essence reflects the life that Emily has lived. From the blossoming
flower, to its decaying leaves and serrated thorns, a rose illuminates the continuance of an
individual's life through stages of love and affection, to even disorder, isolation and sorrow.
To many, a blooming rose is given as a sign of love, affection or admiration; in other
instances, a rose symbolizes strength, or hope. Roses are often affiliated and conceptualized with
a positive connotation. Thus, the early stages of Emily and Homer’s relationship and how she
was perceived by the town at the time, can resemble such qualities, like the blooming rose. “She
carried her head high enough—even when we believed that she was fallen.” (Faulkner, 4).
Although Emily faced significant scrutiny and judgment due to her relationship with Homer, her
physical actions displayed strength and ignorance to the judgemental thoughts of others. Much
like a blooming rose at the time, Emily displays qualities and behaviors of strength and
perseverance in making efforts to grow away from the rotting of her past. “There were still
others, older people, who said that even grief could not cause a real lady to forget noblesse
oblige—without calling it noblesse oblige.” (Faulkner 4) In any blooming relationship, strength
is something that can be developed overtime like the process of a rosebush growing. Although
Emily’s family does not contain that nobility the community once perceived them to contain,
Emily attempts to apply that within her relationship regardless or what others may think. That
similarity or perseverance can be seen in rose bushes, as they are known to thrive in neglect and
difficult growing conditions.
As a result of her fathers controlling and domineering figure. Emily’s life consisted of
being isolated from the community and prevented her from forming relationships with anyone.
This segregation and lack of position throughout a community can be similarly compared to the
roots of a rose bush cut off. Without the use of its root; a critical lifeline, a rose bush can merely
survive a few days. Similarly for Emily or any individual; life cannot bloom unless roots are
stable within the ground. “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” (Faulkner 4). When Emily’s father dismissed any opportunity for her to form connections
with the outside world, it created an isolated norm; the belief for Emily that no life exists outside
of the four walls of her home. Although Emily’s father instilled the idea of isolation into Emily’s
life, in his death he enabled her to implement the extreme. The representation of Emily’s
isolation taken to the extreme can be seen at the end of the story when Homer’s decayed body is
discovered in Emily's home. “Upon the valance curtains of faded rose color, upon the
rose-shaded lights, upon the dressing table, upon the delicate array of crystal and the man's toilet
things backed with tarnished silver, silver so tarnished that the monogram was obscured.
(Faulkner 7) The rose shaded items described display the concealed reminder that Emily’s life is
an illusion of the beauty and despair of one's triumphs and falters of life. Furthermore, Homer’s
death ultimately displays the inner turmoil Emily contains within herself in that she would rather
have Homer dead by her side than alive but not with her.
Faulkner’s illusion of the rose symbolizes the epitome of the circle of life and displays
the ironic meaning of “all good things must come to an end”. The rose; traditionally associated
with love, beauty, and vitality representing Emily and Homer’s relationship, begins to form a
darker and more ambiguous appearance exhibiting the isolation, despair and sorrow Emily
inflicts on her relationship. Although most of Emily’s dreadful, inexcusable actions stem from
the direct isolation her father inflicted on her as a child, ultimately the trigger to those
inexcusable actions are recycled after her fathers death.
