In William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily," the town of Jefferson is more than just the setting. It is a character with a voice and values, and ultimately it is the narrator. Throughout the story, the reader knows more about the town itself than about Emily Grierson. However, it is through the town's attitudes and the narrative voice of an unnamed townsperson that Emily's character is discovered.

The narrator, the voice of the town, knows the life story of Miss Emily Grierson through gossip, speculations, and legends of the town. The story begins at the end, at the funeral of Miss Emily. The narrator, or voice of "our whole town" describes Emily as "a tradition, a duty, and a care" (465-66). The people of the town have their own views about Emily. They attend her funeral for different reasons: "the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house" (465).

The narrator reflects back on the town's sense of responsibility for Miss Emily, and gives the reader the example of Col. Satoris remitting Emily's taxes in 1894. Throughout the sto

The town has now described Miss Emily as a monument and an idol. This perception is reinforced by the memory of the Grierson's holding "themselves a little too high for what they really were" (468). Emily's father thought no boy was good enough for his daughter and she was not allowed to date. The narrator describes a scene where Emily is standing in the background in a slender white dress and her father is standing before her clutching a whip. When Emily turns thirty and she is still unmarried the townspeople are "vindicated" (468).

At this point, Emily visits the town druggist. She wants to purchase "poison"-"the best"-"arsenic" (470). In an attempt to free himself of responsibility, the druggist sends "the Negro delivery boy" (470). Immediately, the town knows about this and assumes "she will kill herself" (470). The neighborhood gossip continues. First she will commit suicide, then she will get married, and so on.

When Miss Emily dies, it is yet another event for the town. They go to her home together. They go in the bedroom together. As a group, "we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. We saw a long strand of iron gray hair" (472-73). In this house are all the elements of Emily's life, the portrait of her overbearing father, her dead husband, and most importantly the town of Jefferson.

At the time of Emily's father's death, the gossip of the town is that Emily w

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Approximate Word count = 962
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)