A Rose for Emily: Why Ms. Emily Did Not Kill Homer Barron

A Rose for Emily: Why Ms. Emily did not kill Homer Barron

Ms. Emily Grierson, a well know figure in her community has a lot of controversy surrounding her. Known for being reserved and quiet, Ms. Emily is considered to be the local crazy person. Her family is known for having members with mental illnesses, and she is quite bizarre also. After her love interest Homer is found dead in her house, everyone wonders if Ms. Emily killed him. Ms. Emily never really got the chance to have a male companion in her life, so when she met Homer Baron she fell in love. Homer showed Ms. Emily attention and she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, therefore she had no need to murder him.

Ms. Emily lived a reserved and quiet life, due to the fact that her father was extremely over-protective of her and “none of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily.” Due to the fact that Ms. Emily never had a chance to get close to a man, she stayed single up until the age of thirty. The townspeople “remembered all the young men her father had driven away, and with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her, as people will.”

Homer Barron, a Yankee came to town and befriended Ms. Emily. They began spending a lot of time with one another and the townspeople began assuming that they were seeing one another. Homer was the first man that she was able to get close to. No one was ever good enough for her, and now she had found someone that made her happy and wanted to be around her. After loosing her dad, getting close to Homer was the only thing that Ms. Emily could do because she had nothing left until she met Homer. On Sunday afternoons, they were seen driving in a yellow-wheeled buggy. After being seen so much together, there were rumors that they were getting married.

Rumors of marriage circulated throughout the community. They said, “She will persuade him yet” because Homer was not the marrying type; then they learned she had been to the jewelers. She ordered a man’s toilet set in silver with the letters on each piece. She bought a complete outfit of men’s clothing including a nightshirt, and everyone assumed “They were married.”

After rumors of marriage, Homer was not seen for a while. He was done working on the streets, so he left for a period of time. The townspeople thought he had left to give Ms. Emily some time with her cousins, but after one week and three days, he returned. The Negro servant let him in through the kitchen door and no one ever saw Homer again. After Homer returned, he could have been sick