What was the secret in A Rose for Emily?

Figurative Language in ''A Rose for Emily''
The story is told from the town's perspective after Emily's death. They recount different memories of Emily, ultimately revealing her secret life as a murderous necrophiliac who kept her ex-lover's corpse upstairs where she slept.

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What is the hidden message in A Rose for Emily?

The hid message that the Falkner tries to precise in his story is that the themes of death and evolution. Death lurks in “A Rose for Emily” from the beginning right to the top because the utterer starts to explain the commencement of Miss Emily's ceremonial.

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What is Emily's secret?

An exhilarating blend of past and present, of mystery and romance, and of love lost and found. Alex Hightower, an American professor, has always been fascinated by Emily Bronte and her brief, tragic life.

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What was the smell in A Rose for Emily?

When the city authorities in Jefferson visit Emily in her old age to try to collect her taxes, they notice that the home, which no one had visited in ten years, 'smelled of dust and disuse - a close, dank smell.

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What is Emily hiding upstairs?

Emily, although she deliberately sets up a solitary existence for herself, is unable to give up the men who have shaped her life, even after they have died. She hides her dead father for three days, then permanently hides Homer's body in the upstairs bedroom.

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A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner | Summary & Analysis

39 related questions found

What mental illness did Emily have in story?

Miss Emily suffers from schizophrenia because she shows symptoms of withdrawing from society. Throughout Emily's life, her aristocratic father the townspeople highly respected, kept Emily closed in believing no suitors are worthy enough for her.

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What does A Rose for Emily ending mean?

What does the ending of A Rose for Emily mean? When the onlookers see the indentation in the pillow beside Homer's decayed body, they know that someone has been lying beside the corpse. When they discover the single strand of "iron-grey hair", they realize that Emily has been sleeping with the corpse for many years.

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Why did Miss Emily keep her father's body?

Keeping her father's and Homer's bodies indicates that she does not accept death. She can love both in life and in death, as if subjects were still living.

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Who is the body in the rose for Emily?

When Emily dies and her body is buried, the townsfolk finally venture into the upstairs bedroom in the house, where they discover the dead body of a man lying on the bed, surrounded by dust – presumably, the man is Homer Barron (though this is not stated).

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What are 3 symbols in A Rose for Emily?

In this story, the writer found some symbols reflected a sad life from Emily Grierson. They are: The rose, Emily's hair, watch ticking, black color, and her father.

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Why did Emily go crazy in A Rose for Emily?

The story speaks of Emily's descent into insanity that is caused by a combination of her father's control over her, isolation, and a tendency in the family towards mental illness. However, the story is also a commentary on society.

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Why was Emily donating her eggs?

In season 6b, Emily decided to donate her eggs in order to pay for school. She had lost her scholarship, and, with the recent death of her father, she didn't want her mother to have to worry about finances any more than she already did.

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Why does Emily have a shadow?

Answer and Explanation: In William Faulkner's short story "A Rose for Emily", the shadow of the protagonist, Emily, is the murder that she committed against Homer Barron, her supposed beau.

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What does Emily Grierson symbolize?

What does Emily Grierson symbolize? Emily Grierson is a symbol of the decline of the Old South. She represents the attempts of the Old South to resist the changes that resulted from Reconstruction.

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Who is the antagonist in A Rose for Emily?

Emily Grierson

For Homer Barron, Emily was definitely an antagonist. In a way, the town sees her an antagonist as well. Her own generation persecutes her out of revenge for her family's pretension of nobility.

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Was Emily depressed in A Rose for Emily?

She faces depression right after her strict dad dies and her sweetheart dumps her. As a consequence, she poisons Homer Barron, her ex-boyfriend, and keeps his body in her room for many years.

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Why is Miss Emily an idol?

Lesson Summary

Emily is compared to a monument or an idol as she represents a part of the town that has passed when the Confederates lost the Civil War. While it is remembered as part of history, it has been tarnished.

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Does Emily deserve a rose?

She was a martyr of the lost south. Faulkner gave Emily the rose to salute her for her irrevocable tragedy; the readers give her the rose to salute her for her adamancy as well as her suffering. As the above analysis, Emily was deserved a rose.

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Is she black in Rose for Emily?

She was from an antebellum Southern aristocratic family. Emily seemed to have mental breakdown after her father, and then her potential lover, died. As Emily is a part of an antebellum family, she is likely not black. Additionally, her corpse is described as "pale and swollen."

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Why did Emily deny her father's death?

When he dies, Emily goes into denial and refuses to allow him to be buried for the first three days as a coping mechanism. She has no one else to turn to because her father drove away her suitors and broke relations with other family members who might have been able to support her.

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Why did Miss Emily never marry?

A proud Southern gentleman, controlling of his daughter, who thinks that no suitor is worthy of her hand in marriage. As a result, she never does marry when he is alive, and is close to being beyond “marriageable age” after he dies.

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Why didn t Homer marry Emily?

However, Emily ends up murdering Homer by poison. It was known that Homer “liked men, and it was known that he drank with the younger men in the Elks' Club—that he was not a marrying man” (4). He would never marry Emily because he was a homosexual.

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Why does Emily sleep with Homer's body?

She does not have a mother and has no relationship with any other relatives, so when her father dies, there was a huge void. Emily attempts to fill it with a relationship with Homer Barron. He is gay and does not feel the same way, but she doesn't accept this. She poisons him and keeps his body in her bed for decades.

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What makes Emily a villain?

Emily is qualified to be the antagonist because she murdered Homer Barron. Murder is quite a big deal and would definitely go under as being the bad guy. She also feels superior to everyone so she sticks her nose up to everything and treats others below her because of her family's former position in the town.

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Is Emily a tragic hero?

Emily is portrayed as a tragic figure after her father's death who refuses to accept the reality of the changing world.

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