Ever since Miss Emily’s father passed away, she had been staying in her house for years. I was the only connection to the town- but only when I need grocery or something for Miss Emily or for the house. When Homer Barron, a foreman of the construction company, came to the town for paving the sidewalks, Miss Emily started to come out to the town, driving in the yellow-wheeled buggy on Sunday afternoons. I saw the town people were surprised that she actually came out to the town. Not only that, but also it might be a shock that Miss Grierson, with dignity of her family and noblesse oblige, came out to the town because of this day laborer nigger like me. There cannot be any relationship between a nigger laborer and a noble family in any places in the world – even if the Grierson is being corrupted and Miss Emily might be the last person in the Grierson, I think. I grew up with Miss Emily in this house, and I saw her going through hard time after Mr. Grierson passed away, and even before that. I think I knew her feeling better than anyone else because I was the only one who had been staying with her in this house for years. It was just my duty that I have to take care of her and do anything to protect her, but I also have loyalty and compassion to her. So when the people in the town talked about Miss Grierson and Homer Barron, I pretended I didn’t hear anything as I’ve done for my whole life.
Miss Emily might know what other people in town would think about her falling in love with Homer Baron. I was sure that she cared about the town’s thoughts when I saw her getting poison. It was arsenic. She even went out to the town to get the poison by herself. If it was for rats, she would’ve told me to get it. I knew she got the poison because of Homer Barron but I didn’t know how she would use it. Is she going to kill herself? But I know she is not the type of person to kill herself because she cares about other people’s eyes. She is the tradition and the noble in Jefferson, and she can’t just kill herself because of love for a Northern laborer. But I cannot ask or tell her what to do because I am not in the position; luckily, regardless of my concern, she didn’t use the poison for herself.
Later Miss Emily ordered a man’s toilet set in silver with the letters H.B. on each piece. She also bought a complete outfit of men’s clothing, including a nightshirt. I wondered what she was planning to do; even her two cousins came over to the house. On the day the cousins came to the house, I overheard that they came because the town sent them a letter saying it would be a disgrace to the town and a bad example to the young people if Miss Emily and Homer Barron marry. When I looked at them, – they didn’t see me looking at them because I pretended I was just serving them a cup of tea – I felt like they were little different than Miss Emily. They looked full of egoism and prejudice that they were not even considering Miss Emily as a member of family. Maybe that was why they didn’t let me be next to Miss Emily when they were talking. And maybe, that was the reason why they left back to their home because they think nothing would happen. And even if anything happen to Miss Emily, it wouldn’t matter to them.
After the two ladies left, I had to clean a room in upstairs and furnish the room as for a bridal and Homer Barron came to the house couple of days later. I opened the door for him at dusk, Miss Emily, with sad smile on her face, greeted him. She took him to the bridal room, and that was the last time I saw Homer Barron.
It has been years now, and Miss Emily’s corpse is laid in this house and I know some other corpse is still in the abandoned room. In this morning I announced the town people that there is going to be funeral held for Miss Emily today. There are people coming: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house. Poor my lady, poor Miss Emily, I thought. She had been a tradition, a history, and the last real lady in this town. But now she is laid dead, and the whole town doesn’t look like they really came for Miss Emily’s farewell sincerely. How hollow and meaningless life she had lived! But now, after I’ve done with all of my duty for Miss Emily, after all these years in this dreadful house, I am leaving the house through this back door, and I say farewell to this house, to this town, and to Miss Emily.
This version of “A Rose for Emily,” is quiet different written from the Tobe’s heterodiegetic first person perspective. Here we see another look at some of the main events in the story, from someone on the “inside.” We can see how even someone so close to her still couldn’t figure her out. Tobe has access to more than the towns-person narrating the story in the original. As opposed to just these main events, I feel adding some dialogue or other private interaction between Emily and Tobe, would benefit the story a lot. Maybe something that shows Emily’s mental instability.
In your version, Tobe’s homodiegetic narration gives us his insight into Miss Emily’s relationship with Homer Barron that the townspeople can’t see because they aren’t inside the house. I wonder if he thought of her in such positive ways as your version suggests–that he felt a connection to her, or a sense of ownership that he would consider her “my Miss Emily” as you write. I would think he would find her crazier than you do, and harder to work for. I always wonder what keeps him there, working for her–do you think it’s this sense of connection?
In two places, you use the controversial n-word that we talked about at the start of the discussion on “A Rose for Emily.” I wonder if, now that the narration has shifted from the townspeople to Tobe, would Tobe use the word to describe himself? I doubt it, since it’s such a derogatory word. I suggest you change that, and you might even write about that in your Part 2 comparison, if you agree with my view of that word and the hatred it represents.