"A Rose for Emily"

"A Rose for Emily"
by William Faulkner

Many of the details in the course of this story help to characterize Emily; specifically, anecdotes are used illustrate Emily's prominent traits and how other people perceive her.  A common theme in multiple anecdotes is Emily's inability to change or move on.  For example, when Emily's father died, she refused to even recognize his death.  "She told them that her father was not dead. She did that for three days, with the ministers calling on her, and the doctors, trying to persuade her to let them dispose of the body" (Faulkner, 285).  And when neighbors complained about a smell from her house, a young men said, "Send her word to have her place cleaned up. Give her a certain time to do it in, and if she don't..." (Faulkner, 284)  But people were afraid to confront her, so four men simply spread lime in and around her house to dispel the odor.  Another instance of Emily's stubbornness is when the town authorities come to inform her that she needs to pay taxes and she tells them to "see Colonel Sartoris" because he excused her father from paying taxes.  But the Colonel has been dead 10 years and Emily simply refuses to accept that things are changing.  She won't even allow a number to be put on her house in order to receive mail.
These repeated displays of Emily's stubbornness and resistance to change help the reader unravel and understand the final events of the story.  Emily wanted Homer to stay with her forever, she didn't want things to change.  Therefore, she kept his dead body on a bed in a room that was in a state of preparedness for a wedding.  Also, the reader discovers that Emily would repeatedly lay next to the dead and decomposing body of the man.  Though there is no concrete proof, the reader can assume or deduce with confidence that Emily poisoned Homer so that he would stay with her forever, so that she would never have to let go.