A Rose For Emily

"The man himself lay in the bed...One of us lifted something from it, and leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair." - William Faulkner.


For this blog, I am going to formally answer a question included in the text book.  The question is this:

What is the effect of the final paragraph?  How does it change the reader's attitude toward Emily and her fate?

The effect of the final paragraph was to create shock and surprise.  I was totally caught off guard when I read it.  Once I did read it, though, I realized how all the pieces fit together.  The poison she bought was probably used to kill the man.  The smell that so many of the towns people were complaining about was probably the smell of the decaying body.  My attitude, as well as the attitude of probably almost every reader, was definitely changed by the final paragraph.  Through the course of the story, I felt sort of bad for the woman.  She seemed to be living a sad life where everyone around her was dying.  She seemed lonely and unhappy the entire time.  After reading the last paragraph, I was disgusted by Miss Emily.  I now saw her as a psychotic, crazed woman who was obsessed with having a man stay with her.