The story A Rose for Emily, written by William Faulkner, tells the story of the main character Emily Grierson. Emily was a staple character in the small town of Jefferson and the story follows the maddening acts of this sad woman caused by her want for love. In 1983, A Rose for Emily was made into a movie. The movie incorporated many of the main ideas from the story, however, some important ideas from the original were not included or made clear in the movie. Emily Grierson, the timeline of events, and Homer’s death were all focal points in the story and were presented quite similarly within the writing, there were also many differences.
William Faulkner made Emily Grierson out to be this crazy woman who did an unspeakable act. The writing portrayed her as this once beautiful young woman oppressed by her father. The movie showed this quite well by showing her and her father's relationship and how his death affected her. Both the story and the movie also showed how the townspeople viewed Ms. Grierson. They perceived her as a deranged woman whom the ladies of the town felt bad for. However, in the story, the townwomen are often heard saying “Poor Emily” and in the movie, this statement was not said. Toward the end of the story, Emily gets fat and her hair turns an iron-gray color with age. The movie did not depict these important details. At the end of the story after Emily has passed away, her house is being cleaned out and they find the body of Homer. Next to him in the bed, was an iron-gray hair. This was supposed to relay the message that Emily had been sleeping with her husband's corpse even into her old age. However, with the movie not showing her gray hair, this message is not made clear.
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The setting that this story takes place in is the same for both the writing and the movie. The events take place in a town named Jefferson. The atmosphere that is illustrated within this town is eerie and kind of creepy feeling. This is important to the story because it adds to and fits Emily’s actions. However, the order of events that take place between the story and the movie is different. The story starts with Emily’s death and then goes into the story of her life going backward from chronological order. The movie starts in the morgue as well, then goes into Emily’s life but it is shown in chronological order. This is important that the movie was made in this way. In the writing, more detail can be explained that can’t be done within the movie. This was most likely done so the viewers had an easier time understanding the story. tax
Homer was Emily’s love interest and played a major role in A Rose for Emily. Homer was a foreman and a working man who showed up at Emily’s door one day. He showed interest in her and ended up taking her out in a horse and buggy. Later in the story, Emily ends up poisoning him and keeping his body locked away in a room upstairs. In both the story and the movie, Emily buys arsenic to poison Homer at a drugstore. The scene was almost exactly the same and had her telling the man behind the counter that she needed the strongest poison he had. The scene is very important because it is the first indicator that she is planning to poison Homer. This scene clearly shows you that Emily is not acting out of a sane state of mind. Another important thing that happens in both the movie and the story is Homer being found dead in an upstairs bedroom. This scene was pretty similar between the two, however, there were some differences. When Emily’s house is being cleaned out and her cousins find the locked door, in the writing they had a key that unlocked the door. In the movie, the door has to be knocked down. This change was probably done to make the scene seem more dramatic for entertainment purposes.
Overall, William Faulkner's A Rose for Emily, it a good and thrilling storyline. The events that take place make you think and leave you wondering. Although some aspects of the original storyline were not incorporated into the movie, both give you the same creepy feeling at the end and get the main point of the story through.
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