"A Rose for Emily"

In the story “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, there are many conflicts involved, as the story follows the life of the protagonist-Emily Grierson. Emily Grierson is presented as a rather mysterious woman, who is not quite right in the mind. The townsfolk do not understand Emily’s mindset and seem to be aware of Emily’s incapability of dealing with loss. Emily does not seem capable of moving forward in life, and she embraces the Old South- life before the Civil War. For instance, Emily was one of the last descendants from the soldiers of the Confederate Army in her town, and she refused to let her town forget that. According to the story, Emily “…had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town, dating from that day in 1894 when Colonel Satoris, the mayor…remitted her taxes, the dispensation dating from the death of her father on into perpetuity…” According to this information, Emily was regarded as a prominent figure in her town, reflecting her town’s pride of the Confederate Army. However, later on when more modern ideas were introduced into her town, and the town veered away from Old South morals and ideas, Emily refused to pay her taxes. She did not want to lose her title as a member of the Grierson family and refused to give up events that occurred in the past.

Another conflict that is prevalent in the story, is the one in which Emily loses her father. After losing her father, Emily refused to believe that he was dead for three days. Most of the townspeople saw this as acceptable, since Emily was trying to deal with loss, however they change their attitude later on in the story. When Emily becomes sick and hides in her home for many years, it is obvious that Emily is incapable of dealing with loss. She also cannot seem to get over the fact that a piece of her past is gone- her father- and she keeps his portrait in her home. 

It is most apparent, however, that Emily is incapable of dealing with loss when it is revealed what happened to her sweetheart. For a while, Emily was courted by a man by the name of Homer Baron. Baron left Emily for a few days and the narrator suggests that he may have had homosexual feelings, therefore Emily may have been fearful of losing him. As a result, Emily kills him yet it is apparent that she still loves him. This is due to the fact that at the end of the story, the narrator reveals that Emily still slept beside his dead body for forty years: “Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of 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-grey hair.” Emily’s fear of loss is apparent in the way that she took extreme measures in order to keep a man whom she loved by her side. 

Overall, based on Emily’s fear of losing the past and things that she loved, it can be determined that the loss is the antagonist of the story. Loss is the enemy because it causes Emily, the protagonist, to take extreme measures in order to preserve the things she loved. Emily refuses to pay her taxes, in memory of the good days, shuns herself from the rest of the world, and kills her lover. Therefore, it can be concluded that loss is the antagonist in “A Rose for Emily.”