William Faulkner's story, A Rose for Emily - Essay Example

Emily Grierson loved Homer Barron to the point of obsession in William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”. She wanted to keep him so bad that when Barron visited Emily after a long absence, he never got out and he was never seen again. Emily on her part also became recluse after that visit that “From that time on her front door remained closed, save for a period of six or seven years, when she was about forty, during which she gave lessons in china-painting” (Faulkner line 49). When she died and the doors of her top floor was dismantled, Homer’s body was found “apparently once lain in the attitude of an embrace” (line 59) attesting Emily’s extreme love that he kept him even if he was already a cadaver.

Homer’s death in the hands of Emily was confirmed after her death when the door she sealed for forty years was torn down. The room was not touched and it bore Emily’s elaborate preparation for her supposed wedding that never happened. What is troublesome with Emily’s wedding dress was that it had been there for forty years. And what is more sickening was that Homer’s body was on the bed as well lying and in an advanced state of decomposition. Homer after all had never left Emily’s house and the arsenic that she bought might have been used against Homer.

It is obvious that Emily is not normal and is suffering from disorder. There are two disorders that existed in the story. First is the social repression characterized by Emily’s tendency to be extremely recluse if she has problem. This first manifested during the death of her father where she was also recluse. This tendency fed the psychological obsession disorder which could be the motivation that killed Homer. Obsessive disorder was very obvious in the character of Emily that it became very fatal that she had to kill Homer just to claim him.

According to Dr. Dryden-Edwards, persons who suffer from obsessive disorder tends to spend excessive time with their love object and engage in behaviors that would keep them in touch or be with their love object to an extreme degree. This was very apparent in Emily’s case when the door of the top floor of her house was torn down exposing her prepared wedding dress which is symbolic of her desire to be with Homer until eternity. Moreso when this was kept intact for forty years that she did not get out of house until the day she died but just with the cadaver of Homer.

This reclusiveness just to be with the cadaver of Homer is explained by Dr. Dryden-Edwards that obsessive people limits or in the case of Emily, terminated her social and recreational activities just to be with her love object which is Homer and may employ tools of psychological control such as stalking, violence or in extreme case such as this, even murder. An obsessive love just does not have a clear limit and boundary on their obsessive behavior (Poisoned Love). There is a probable trigger for Emily’s obsessive disorder to become fatal.

One of this could be rejection. Faulkner’s story was unclear but Homer may have been in Emily’s house to formally break up with her. It is important to note here that prior to the visit, Homer was gone for a significant period of time and this could be his waning interest for Emily despite the townspeople’s impression that he was preparing for their wedding to move Emily away from her intrusive relatives. So when Homer broke up with Emily, she will not Homer go and the arsenic that she bought earlier may have been used to kill Homer.

According to the book Poisoned Love, rejection, such as breaking is the trigger of toxic and obsessive love that has an insatiable longing to possess the object of their love and believes, they can only be happy if they are with the object of their love. Sickening as it may be, this was evident in the story when there was furrow that resembles a human on the pillow besides Homer’s cadaver and with it was Emily’s long strand gray hair. Apparently, Emily may have been role playing as Homer’s wife for forty years by lying beside him when she sleeps as if she was his wife.

Indeed, there is a need for “A Rose for Emily” as the title suggest. Works Cited Faulkner, William. "A Rose for Emily” Fu Jen University, Department of English Language and Literature. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2013. . Dryden-Edwards, MD, Roxanne . "Confusing Love With Obsession."MedicineNet.com. N.p., 10 Oct. 2013. Web. 14 Oct. 2013.