“Dammit, sir,” Judge Stevens said, “will you accuse a lady to her face of smelling bad?” [25]That was when people had begun to feel really sorry for her.
The city's health regulations are on the books, “Dammit, sir,” Judge Stevens replied, “will you accuse a lady to her face of smelling bad?” Emily had given in to social pressure when she allowed them to bury her father, but she triumphed over society in the matter of the smell.
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.
why do some townspeople avoid asking Miss Emily about the smell? it was seen as impolite to ask a lady why she smelled foul.
The story explores themes of death and resistance to change. Also, it reflects the decaying of the societal tenets of the South in the 1930s. Emily Grierson had been controlled by her overbearing father for the first 30 years of her life and she had never questioned it.
The Symbolic Meaning of Rose
Rose is a very beautiful flower, which stands for the love and happiness. In this story, however, Emily suffered her whole life lonely and dolefully, having her love only by staying with her lover's corpse.
''A Rose for Emily'' contains verbal irony when Colonel Sartoris promises the Grierson family that if they loan the town money, they won't have to pay taxes and when Emily tells the new mayor to see Colonel Sartoris, who has been dead for ten years, about her taxes. Neither party means or believes what they are saying.
There have been complaints about an awful stench emanating from Miss Emily's house. The older generation, which feels that it is improper to tell a lady that she stinks, arranges for a group of men to spread lime on her lawn and inside the cellar door of her house.
Eighty years old, Judge Stevens attempts to delicately handle the complaints about the smell emanating from the Grierson property. To be respectful of Emily's pride and former position in the community, he and the aldermen decide to sprinkle lime on the property in the middle of the night.
A foul odor emanates from Miss Emily's house. After midnight, four citizens, responding to complaints made by neighbors to Judge Stevens, the mayor, stealthily spread lime around the house and in her cellar. In a week or so, the smell goes away.
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.
It means consciously directing your mind to be aware and attentive to the present moment to be able to experience and enjoy more of the world surrounding you. As Mac Davis wisely said: You got to stop and smell the roses.
“Stop and smell the roses” is an idiom that means to relax; to take time out of one's busy schedule to enjoy or appreciate the beauty of life.
''A Rose for Emily'' Literary Devices. In ''A Rose for Emily,'' Faulkner uses several different types of figurative language, including metaphors, similes, alliteration, irony, personification, symbolism, and imagery, in order to deepen the audience's understanding of Emily Grierson, the town, and the plot.
Answer and Explanation: In the short story "A Rose for Emily", Emily is humanized in the eyes of the town of Jefferson, Mississippi after her father dies and Emily is alone in the old house. It was at this time that the town "could pity" her, and with her now "left alone, and a pauper" she is finally "humanized".
One instance of foreshadowing occurs when Emily Grierson buys arsenic from the pharmacist. According to the narrator, Emily is a haughty aristocrat who thinks she is better than most of the other townspeople. Emily uses her demeanor to bully the druggist into selling her poison.
A contingent of men are dispatched during the night to discreetly sprinkle lime around Emily's house to get rid of the smell. The narrator says that the only thing Emily inherited from her father was the house.
Another use of foreshadowing is when the townspeople talk of the putrid smell coming from Emily's house. They ignore this smell and blame it on rodents. However, if the story were read from back to front, readers would know this smell is a result of the dead body rotting in Emily's house.
Miss Emily refuses to pay her taxes; she will not even allow postal numbers to be put on her house, a symbolic gesture on her part to resist what the town sees as progress.
In a sense, Emily's disregard of time also means that she is oblivious of death and decay. 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.
Why doesn't Judge Stevens want to confront Miss Emily about "the smell"? He doesn't want to accuse a lady of smelling bad. What did Miss Emily inherit from her father?
Miss Emily is an old-school Southern belle trapped by a society bent on forcing her to stay in her role...and an abusive father bent on forcing her to obey his will.
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.
The gray hair on the pillow indicates that she has been lying down on the bed, beside the corpse of her dead former fiance. There's also an indent in the pillow, which suggest that it wasn't a once-or-twice occurrence. Gray hair is sometimes seen as a sign of wisdom and respect.
Death. The onset of the story reveals that Miss Emily has died and the whole town is at her funeral. Thus, going off the title, the rose must play a role in or symbolize aspects of Emily's life story.