Analysis of William Faulkner's A Rose for Emily

In William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" Faulkner creates a character in Emily Grierson that is very dynamic. She is a strong woman with a great sense of tradition but at the same time she suffers from a very skewed perception of the world. While her seeming insanity drivers her to murder it also seems to be balanced by her character and her strong inner sense of pride, both in herself and in her family. …

…she should act. In the situation where she is involved with Homer Barron, the man working for the city, she seemingly tries to persuade him to stay with her. She acts with him as she would have in days gone by. But this is another situation where her underlying mental problems intercede and she goes to far to protect herself, killing Homer with arsenic then sleeping with his dead body every night until her death.