A Rose for Emily From Emily’s Point of View.

Part 1:

When my father died, all he left me was his house. What was once an elegant estate in one of the best neighborhoods of Jefferson had now become a decaying building standing in a neighborhood taken over by cotton wagons and gasoline pumps. As a Grierson, I was part of nobility and expected to live a life of luxury. Instead, I ended up feeling betrayed by my father into living a life of poverty with no one to look after me but myself and my negro. A while after my father had died, some of the townspeople began demanding that I pay taxes. This was a preposterous demand as I was remitted of paying any taxes due to the fact that my father had loaned a great amount of money to the town and they are still unable to pay it back. At first they wrote me a few letters requesting me to pay the taxes, however i ignored their nonsensical claims and simply mailed them back. One day, they had the nerve to come into my home and ask me to pay taxes. I was enraged and told them to speak to Colonel Sartoris. I never heard from them again.

A year or so after the death of my father, the town had decided to pave the sidewalks. They had signed a contract with the company who had arrived to begin their work in the summer. The man who came from the company was named Homer Barron. He was a northerner. Tall, dark, and with a demanding voice. He became acquainted with everyone in town in a fairly short amount of time. He was able to make everyone laugh and was the only person who had managed to grow close to me after the death of my father. We began going on drives in his yellow-wheeled buggy on Sunday afternoon.

The townspeople thought i was not aware of what they were saying about me and Homer Barron, but I was completely aware. I just did not take heed to what they were saying as they were of lower status than me, as I was a Grierson. After some time had passed, some of my kin from Alabama had come over and demanded I get married to Homer Barron, as what I was doing with him was a bad example to the townspeople. I did not attend on marrying him as he was a northerner and a Grierson would not marry a northerner. However, I still decided to go along with it so as not to raise any suspicions on what I was about to do. I pretended to be planning for the wedding. I had been to the jeweler’s and ordered a man’s toilet set in silver , with the letters H.B. on each piece. I also bought a complete outfit of men’s clothing, including a nightshirt.

One day I decided the only way to get out of the marriage would be to kill Homer. I found my way to the druggist and asked him to give me the best poison he had. After much persuasion, he finally had the arsenic delivered to my home. That day, I had put some arsenic into his food. He went to sleep that night and never woke up again. Since that day I had never left the house for fear of someone discovering the body. I did not care to move it or bury it and it remained in the bed in the same position for years to come. At one point his body had decayed into the bed and it was impossible to move. I decided to keep him there and did not let anyone visit my home. When the neighbors began complaining of the smell I took no notice. After my death, I knew that they would soon discover the source of the smell.

Part 2:

“A Rose for Emily,” is originally written in the first person point-of-view from the perspective of either the residents of the town as a whole or a specific resident of the town. The thoughts of the people of the town are clear as well as some of their emotions. It is very clear to see the conflict from everyones perspective except for Emily. This is the reason i chose to write it in Emily’s point of view.

The story is set in a southern town which seems to follow traditional values. Many of the things that Emily and her family does seems to go against these values, and due to this, many of the townspeople dislike her. They not only dislike her due to this but it seems as if they are jealous of her former high standing in society. Telling the story from Emily’s point-of view will give the audience a different perspective into the story. Instead of having a biased version of Emily being portrayed to the audience, they will have direct access to the thoughts and emotions of Emily Grierson.

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