A Rose for Emily

William Faulkner's short story "A Rose for Emily" demonstrates a theme of loneliness. Miss. Emily Grierson isolates herself from society, due to events in her past. Extreme isolation can cause loneliness in one's life. In the story, Faulkner shows that such isolation can cause someone to do unspeakable acts. Isolation and loneliness in any case will cause some behavioral issues.

The main character, Emily Grierson lives her life under her father strict rules. Her father thinks that no man is good enough for his daughter. Therefore, he pushes anyone who comes near his daughter."We remembered all the young men her father had driven away..." (3) After living like this for many years, Emily is left with nothing after her father dies. Due to that fact her father didn't want her together with any men; she is left alone in complete isolation from the world.

No one knew what was going to happen to Miss Emily. They thought maybe she would never leave the house and be alone for the rest of her life until someone came along and she started to come out in public. Miss Emily seems to start to show some sense of socialism when she meets a man named Homer Barron. They are together for a long time and everyone in town believes that they will be married soon." Then we were sure that they were to be married. We learned that Miss Emily had been to the jeweler's and ordered a man's toilet set in silver, with the letters H.B on each piece." (5) When Miss Emily started showing signs of marriage, they were all in a shock and were glad that Miss. Emily would have an interest in someone.

However, Homer decides that he wants to leave Emily because he's not the marrying type. Emily, after going through the loss of her father, decides to kill Homer. She purchases Arsenic from the drug store and poisons Homer leaving his corpse inside her bedroom. In her mind she will always have him by her side, so she leaves his body positioned on the bed. She sleeps with his corpse until her own death, "Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, and leaving forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair." (7) She didn't want Homer to leave just like the rest of her family did to her. Having him lay on her bed forever gave her some kind of relief that she wouldn't be alone ever again.

In the story it is evident that her father's possessiveness had a strong effect on his daughter. His need to keep her all to himself to avoid being left alone was transmitted to Miss Emily. When her father died, she could not let go of him. Emily was in denial for three days. She acted if everything was normal. "Miss. Emily met them at the door, dressed as usual and with no trace of grief on her face. She told them that her father was not dead." (3). Miss.