A Rose for Emily

For my English class, we are reading William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily," and we're supposed to give the short story another title and explain why. I had a really hard time understanding the story because it is just plain weird. It's about an old woman named Emily Grierson who lives by herself in a large house except for her black servant Tobe. The story is told from the perspective of a towns person so we're only told what the town knows. Emily is seen as a tradition in the small town, and she's basically known as the crazy, harmless old lady. At a young age, Emily's father never allowed her to see or go out with men. After her father's death, she started seeing a man named Homer Barron. He would always be seen walking through her backdoor, and she even bought him a toilet set and nightshirt. Even though he was openly gay, the townspeople believed that they would marry. One day, Emily goes out into town to buy arsenic. When asked what she would be using it for, she replied with "rats." The townspeople definitely did not believe that.... But after a few days, Homer was never seen again. People thought he had just left because he was a "Yankee" and was moving on to the next job. Later, people complained about a strange smell and after nothing was done about it, a few of the men sprinkled Lyme around her house. After Homer left, Emily never left the house again forcing Tobe to go into the market. Years and years later, Emily dies. Every one shows up for her funeral and remembers her. After the funeral, a group of ladies hurried into the house to look at the one room that hasn't been opened in 40 years. It looked like a bridal suite and in the bed was a rotten skeleton wearing the exact nightshirt that Emily had bought Homer. And on the pillow next to him was an indention and one of Emily's hairs.

The summary is a bit sketchy, but that's because it's told in five parts and I left a bit out too. But I'm supposed to figure out another title for this story..... how about "Emily was a Crazy Lady." I think that's self explanatory. Okay an actual title could be "A Southern Tragedy." The tragedy would be Emily's life. She had to face many hardships in her life. Her father casted away other men, and she only had Homer in her life. The only man she ever loved (besides her father) wanted to leave her. She was pretty much lonely... and it was set in a small Southern town in the 1930's. So I think "A Southern Tragedy" works well.