Historical Context In William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

In William Faulkner’s, “A Rose for Emily,” the historical context is important to understand. In order to fully comprehend the short story there must be some sort of understanding about the time period in which the story took place. This short story took place in the 18th/19th century during and after the Civil War in the South. In “A Rose for Emily” the historical context shows the social, economic, and the cultural environment of the background. Miss Emily was born during the Civil War. The Civil War took place in 1861-1865. Since Emily was raised in the South, her family had the same values and morals of the confederate side. Emily’s family was very wealthy and owned a beautiful home. Unfortunately, after the South lost the Civil War they

In that time period nothing was said about it. In today’s society she would be considered insane or mental and would be taken away and put into a facility for mental people. She also kills Homer Baron, who is her “husband” supposedly. Everyone in town is suspicious, but no one really thinks anything of it because she goes out and buys a toilet set and men’s suit for Homer. They just believe they are now married. No one ever sees Homer come back out of the house and everyone starts to notice an awful smell coming from inside. Since it was in a generation when the law wasn’t so strict no one really looked into the situation. When Emily died people finally were let into her house for the funeral. They found Homer lying in the bed decayed. Everyone then realizes that was the awful smell coming from house. If there was a missing person now, the people in the town would have been more suspicious and notified the police. The authorities would have questioned Miss Emily about Homer’s disappearance and searched her house since that is where he was last seen. In William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”, it is important to have knowledge of the background history. In order to understand whats happening in the story and why Miss Emily acts the way she does someone must understand why she thinks she is above everyone in the first place. Knowing the historical period can help account for Miss Emily’s behavior.