Emily’s Motive in William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”
Emily’s Motive in William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”
Introduction
Throughout his short story, William Faulkner has narrated of how Emily was brought up in a
wealthy family and the numerous challenges she faced after her father’s demise. Even though
there are numerous themes that have been presented in the short story, it is clearly evident that
Emily harbored some secret motives. For instance, she courted Homer Barron and then
murdered him mysteriously in her house. Additionally, Emily maintained that she was exempt
from paying taxes even though the town has experienced many changes more so in terms of
modernization.
Thesis
Emily’s most outstanding motives in William Faulkner’s story encompass tax evasion, resistance
to change and murdering Homer Barron.
Emily’s Motives
Tax Evasion
Throughout the short story, tax evasion stands out among the most notable motives for Emily’s
behavior as presented by the author. As briefly outlined in the introductory section, Emily’s
father was one of the wealthiest men in the town; this earned their family tremendous respect
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Emily’s Motive in William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”
from the local authority. Soon after her father’s demise, the local authorities of the town decided
to exempt Emily from paying any form of taxes or revenues. This was obviously a huge privilege
in that other people in the town were obliged to pay taxes. Just like any other place, “Jefferson
experienced change with time in terms of administrative and leadership frameworks.” (Mandell,
p. 72)
The new office-bearers were obviously surprised that Emily was not supposed to pay taxes
based on the town’s old legislation. Based on her behavior, it was clearly evident that Emily was
anxious that she would be eventually forced to pay taxes at some point in the future. In order to
divert attention from such a sensitive issue, Emily had to detract the authority’s efforts towards
making her tax compliant. Considering the fact that even the town’s judge was on her case, it is
clearly evident that Emily had the motive of evading taxes. This is also exemplified by the fact
that she courted Homer Barron in order to create a general impression that she was getting
married. By murdering her lover, she further exemplifies her motive of diverting attention from
her failure to pay taxes to the local authorities. (Fargnoli, p. 98)
Murdering Homer
Apart from tax evasion, another notable motive based on Emily’s behavior is that she had
planned to kill Homer Barron for quite some time. For instance, she was spotted at the local
shopping center buying arsenic. This is a toxic substance used by many people to commit
suicide or terminate the lives of other people. Another issue that exemplifies Emily’s motive to
kill Homer Barron is that he kept relocating from her house. This behavior serves as an indicator
that “some strains and/or differences characterized Emily’s relationship with Homer Barron.”
(Volpe, p. 61)
Additionally, this motive is also depicted in the short story by the fact that Emily never spoke
positively about Homer Barron in public. Indeed, Emily duly fulfilled her intentions when she
poisoned Homer Barron using arsenic in her house. From a different perspective, the fact that
Emily did not burry the corpse serves as evidence that she intended to detract the townspeople
attention from her issues with regard to tax evasion. By murdering her potential husband, Emily
condemned herself to a life of misery and poverty; this was a motive to further enhance the
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Emily’s Motive in William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”
townspeople’s sympathy towards her plight and thus exempt her from paying taxes. All these
perspectives encapsulates Emily’s motive to murder Homer Barron. (Mandell, p. 107)
Resistance to Change
Even though resistance to change serves a major theme and highlight of William Faulkner’s
short story, it is also depicted as one of Emily’s motives throughout the publication. There are
numerous instances that depict Emily’s motives and/or intentions as far as resistance to change
is concerned; firstly, she fails to enter into any stable relationship with a man until later in her
life. This was mainly because Emily held on to the traditional beliefs and practices that a
woman should always wait for the right man. Irrespective of the fact that she was close to
Homer Barron, they two never tied the knot because “Emily was strongly restricted by the
beliefs and practices of her culture.” (Faulkner, 27)
Emily’s motive with regard to resistance to change is further highlighted by her consistent
opposition and/or resistance towards the payment of taxes to the local authorities. The
agreement exempting Emily from paying taxes had been made many years before and as such,
times had changed. Consequently, there was no point in evading taxes but this was one of
Emily’s biggest motives based on her behavior as exemplified by the author in different parts of
the short story. This particular motive is also exemplified whereby Emily dies slowly in her house
as a result of old age. Due to her resistance to change, she never sought help from other
people. (Baldwin, p. 96)
Conclusion
Throughout the essay, Emily’s motives have been critically examined as presented by William
Faulkner in his publication. References have been made from the short story in order to
substantiate and hence justify the assertions as pertains to Emily’s motives in the short story.
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Emily’s Motive in William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”
References
Baldwin, Charles. American short stories, Ballou Press, 2008
Fargnoli, Nicholas & Hamblin, Robert. William Faulkner, New York: Facts on File, 2008
Faulkner, William. A rose for Emily, Perfection Learning Corporation, 2007
Mandell, Stephen. Fiction: Reading, reacting and writing, Hartcourt Brace & Company, 1994
Volpe, Edmond. A reader’s guide to William Faulkner: The short stories, Syracuse: Syracuse
University Press, 2004
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