"A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner

“A Rose for Emily” could be interpreted under the psychological aspect of the story considering that Miss Emily’s behavior was not of the usual or typical form. But one must ask themselves why Miss Emily’s behavior took such a toll and what the reason behind her isolation was. The story tells that the house Miss Emily lives in once was a beautiful place, and “white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies” (404). But now, it is nothing but a huge mess, decaying and rotting away. It is important to come to a conclusion about what went wrong and why Miss Emily all of a sudden stopped caring about her belongings and herself.
We are informed that “her sweetheart – the one [people] believed would marry her – had deserted her” (405). This implies that Miss Emily was once in love but sadly, the man she loved had left her for whatever reason he had. This leads me to believe that the reason for Miss Emily’s sudden isolation and depressive state she was in, came from the lack of love in her life. She lost something that was significant to her; she lost a part of her heart. With the losing of her heart, she lost all desire to carry on after her father died. It must have been very difficult to deal with two loses. Could she have found someone else to spend the rest of her life with? I’m sure she could but when something or someone one loves leaves forever, it is hard to get back on two feet. The narrator says that “none of the young man were quite good enough for Miss Emily and such” which makes perfect sense because no one but her sweetheart would ever truly complete her (407).
I am also lead to believe that the reason for Miss Emily’s strange behavior of keeping Homer Barron’s body in a room at her house who no one was allowed to enter, was to for once in her life keep someone close forever. She did not want to let him leave her, like her sweetheart and father did. It was difficult for her to let go of her father after his death but she was forced to give up his body when she was threatened by law. Keeping Homer’s body, although it’s fanatical to do so, was Miss Emily’s way of for once not letting go of someone who played a vital role in her life. Whether or not Miss Emily was mad, her intentions were nothing but a loud cry for love.