A Rose for Emily

A short story by William Faulkner, published in Forum on 30 April, 1930.


 * Affair Hair: The story ends with.
 * Expository Hairstyle Change: Emily's hair changes at important points in the story.
 * Important Haircut: Emily cuts her hair after her Overprotective Dad dies.
 * I Love the Dead: The title character
 * Jigsaw Puzzle Plot: The story is comprised of five parts which are mostly out of order. For those who don't pick apart and reassemble the events, whether Emily killed her beau, and why, is an perplexing matter. The fact that the narrator (implied to be the townspeople) has a severely limited understanding of Emily's personal life and occasionally relies on conjecture to guess at her actions doesn't help much either.
 * Love Will Lead You Back: Subverted, It is strongly implied that Emily murdered her lover and spent her time in "mourning" sleeping next to his corpse.
 * Mummies At the Dinner Table: Mummies in bed, even.
 * Noodle Incident: A clergyman is persuaded to call on the reclusive title character. "He would never divulge what happened during that interview, but he refused to go back again." Considering that, this is not surprising.
 * Overprotective Dad: The story paints the image of Emily in the background, and her father at the door with her back to her, bullwhip in hand. It is implied this is why she never got engaged.
 * Personal Effects Reveal: The inhabitants find her husband's possessions (she bought for him for their wedding) after her death.  ]]
 * Rose-Tinted Narrative: Deconstruction of this trope applied to the antebellum southern US.
 * Yandere: Of the posessive variety, the eponymous Emily Grier fell in love with Homer Barron, a workman far below her (perceived) class. One day, he went in Emily's house and was never seen leaving. When Emily eventually passes away, her house is searched and it turns out she killed Homer with arsenic, dressed him in a suit, and kept the corpse on her bed.