In this essay I will attempt to create an in depth  historical analysis of the poem by William Faulkner “A Rose for Emily” and what motivated this particular work.  As the poem was written during one of the harshest times our nation has ever gone through, it provides great analogies that may be transferred into the historical successes of the 1929 Great Depression and the changes the south adopted after the civil war.  William Faulkner wrote a fictional story, but he introduced parallel topics of reality into his works, such as Yoknapatawphacounty, general Satoris and the decay of the Grierson during changing times.

In “A Rose for Emily”, William Faulkner describes the Grierson house a prominent structure “It was a big, squarish frame house that had once been white decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies, set on what had once been our most select street.”(2). this is a representation of what the house and the south were prior to the end of the civil war, and gradual decay of the house and Emily Grierson represent the changes that came after the civil war ended.

The end of the civil war brought about changes for the south that not all southern population was content with.  However, they all had to live with the regulations brought up on them on order to stay within the law.  The negligence of Emily to pay taxes may reefer to the south unwillingness to pay for the financial crisis that the Yankees had put the nation in.  “I have no taxes in Jefferson.  Colonel Sartoris explained it to me.  Perhaps one of you can gain access to the city records and satisfy your selves.” this quote is with high probability to the southern people feeling cheated into paying for a crisis such as the 1929 stock market crush.

At the time that Faulkner wrote “A Rose for Emily” he was deeply in debt, and he had to turn his interests into making money during a time as harsh as the 1929 stock market crash. “Faulkner’s need for income stemmed largely from his growing family. In April, Estelle Oldham had divorced Cornell Franklin, and in June she and Faulkner were married at or near College Hill Presbyterian Church, just north of Oxford. Estelle brought to the marriage two children”.

The year 1930 would be significant to Faulkner.  In April of this year, he bough an old decrepit home, which he named the Rowan Oak.  The purchase of this home plunged him further into debt, but he would keep the home for the rest of his life “he bought a decrepit antebellum house in Oxford”, I could not ignore the term decrepit as an adjective for the house that William Faulkner bought, as it might have influenced the description of the house of Emily Grierson.

“Also in April, Faulkner saw the first national publication of a short story he had written, “A Rose for Emily,” in Forum magazine. It would be followed that year by “Honor” in American Mercury, “Thrift,” and “Red Leaves,” both in the Saturday Evening Post. Over the coming years, as sales of his novels sagged, he would write numerous short stories for publication, especially in the Saturday Evening Post, as a principal means of financial support.”  This new means of income would provide William Faulkner with the necessary income to support his growing family.

In “A Rose for Emily”, we are presented with the many changes that a society is going through in a parallel to reality through a literary work.  Faulkner does a great job in putting all the pieces together to make the connections with the present reality of 1929 and the way that all the successes of hat time in history affects southern society.  As the south was adapting to the changes that the northern society was inflicting upon them, they had to deal with the 1929 market crash and the clash of customs that would bring inevitable consequences to their lives.

Works Cited:

http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=18985

http://www.mrrena.com/misc/emily.shtml

http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/litweb05/workshops/fiction/faulkner1.asp

http://www.bismarck.k12.mo.us/English/skinner/Classes/advlit.htm

http://college.cengage.com/english/heath/syllabuild/iguide/faulkner.html

http://www.echeat.com/essay.php?t=29608

http://renzpaz.blogspot.com/2009/05/analysis-of-rose-for-emily-historical.html

http://www.oxfordcvb.com/documents/FaulknerCounrty.pdf

http://timelines.com/1929/6/20/william-faulkner-marries-estelle-oldhamhttp://timelines.com/1926

http://www.teenreads.com/authors/au-faulkner-william.asp

http://perdoober.tripod.com/Faulkner.html

http://www.olemiss.edu/mwp/dir/faulkner_william/

http://amsaw.org/amsaw-ithappenedinhistory-092503-faulkner.html

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