The Recipe For Murder
For a person to successfully commit a murder, he/she has to be in the right place at the right time. A victorious murder is a pre-meditated murder. It is a well thought out plan with a vivid image of what the outcome will be. To follow a good murder plan is like following a good recipe, they both have ingredients. One needs to have whatever it is they are going to kill the other person with. He/She also needs a secluded place and planned time to commit this crime, to where no one will suspect a thing. In the short story “”A Rose for Emily”” by William Faulkner, the setting creates the perfect opportunity for one woman to get away with murder. Faulkner paints a flawless picture for murder in this short story with geographical, historical, and physical settings. All aspects of these settings that Faulkner describes, help Emily succeed in murdering the man she loved, Homer Barron.
The geographical setting takes place in a town call Jefferson. Emily represents the “”old south”” by the wealthy environment she was brought up in. The town of Jefferson was always living in curiosity and concern for Miss Emily, especially when her house began to give of this terrible, “”deathly”” smell. Faulkner shows readers how easy it is to get away with something, due to your social ranking, by saying “”Dammit, sir,…will you accuse a lady to her face of smelling bad?…So the next night…They broke open the cellar door and sprinkled lime there, and in all the outbuildings…After a week or two the smell went away”” (218). Emily’s collection of wealth and title of elegance keeps her out of blame’s way in the “”old south””. Due to the location of Jefferson being in the south makes it very easy for Emily to get away with murder. No one will question her bad smelling property, nor will they question anything else, clearly because of her social status. The geographical ingredient to the setting almost gives Emily permission to commit a murder and remain innocent for her entire life.
Emily falls in love with a Yankee, Homer Barron. Historically speaking, she is already committing a social mistake. During the late 1800s and early 1900s a lot of issues that are strongly respected if not accepted today, were not even thought about being brought up during that time. Homosexuality was a huge social mistake in this time period. Faulkner gives readers a glimpse of Homer Barron’s mistake when he says, “”…Homer himself had remarked-he liked men, and it was known that he drank with the younger men in the Elk’s Club-that he was not the marrying man”” (220). During this time in the South, to be gay was unheard of. People always think of being gay as a mental problem or disease. In 1969, the stonewall riots transform the gay rights movement from a small number of activists into a widespread protest for equal rights and acceptance (Infoplease). Clearly, one can see that more than 70 years after the time of this literary work, people were just beginning to fight for homosexual acceptance. Being in her mid-30s and single, Emily refuses to settle being alone again. With Homer being a Yankee and a homosexual, Faulkner portrays Emily’s unbreakable pride when he states, “”Later we said, Poor Emily…Miss Emily with her head high and Homer Barron with his hat cocked and a cigar in his teeth, reins and whip in a yellow glove”” (220).
Even though Emily knows that she is merely a cover-up for Homer’s sexual preference, she still rather have him then no one at all. Therefore, she holds her head high, when going out in public. She even convinces herself of a possible marriage when Faulkner explains, “”We learned that Miss Emily had been to the jeweler’s and ordered a man’s toilet set in silver, with the letters H.B. on each piece. Two days later we learned that she had bought a complete outfit of men’s clothing, including a nightshirt”” (220). Neither Homer nor Emily is in love with one another but, they do both need each other when it comes to social acceptance throughout the historical aspect of the setting. Emily needs him in order not to be a single 30 year old woman, which is unheard of in this time period, while Homer needs Emily in order to protect his sexuality from be slandered by society. Both lack love for each other but they do carry a need for one another then anything, in order to maintain their own survivals in this time period of the “”old south””.
Historically, this story that Faulkner tells readers, emphasizes the absence of women’s rights. Emily so desperately wants and needs to be with Homer Barron, because during this time men had all the power and women where acknowledged as nothing without a man. “”In 1961, President John Kennedy established the President’s Commission on the status of Women and appoints Eleanor Roosevelt as chairwoman. The report issued by the commission in 1963 documents substantial discrimination against women in the workplace and makes specific recommendations for improvement, including fair hiring practices, paid maternity leave, and affordable child care”” (infoplease). It is almost 60 years after this story that women were fighting for a helping hand and were being taken more seriously before. A single woman at this time, which is what Emily surely would be with no Homer Barron, was given little respect and considered useless. It is socially unacceptable for a woman of such high social ranking to remain living a life alone, with no husband and no potential family. This part of the historical setting feeds Emily the fuel to do anything she can to keep a man by her side, dead or alive.
The physical setting is a large ingredient for this recipe of murder. Emily lives in a big old house that has been untouched for years and years. The only witness that has ever stepped foot in her house is her obedient Negro servant. The servant not only takes care of Emily, he also takes care of her secret of killing Homer Barron. With only one other witness to the murder that Emily commits, it is easy for her to never be turned in. Her servant has served her and her late father for years, and it is only part of his duty to serve her with his own trust in not telling her dying secret. He remains faithful to her until her very death when Faulkner states, “”The Negro met the first of the ladies at the front door and let them in, with their hushed, sibilant voices and their quick, curious glances, and then he disappeared. He walked right through the house and out the back and was not seen again”” (221). Emily’s servant remained faithful to her and her secret for her entire life, but when her death was announced and the town came knocking on her door, it was his freedom knocking as well.
Faulkner describes Emily’s house when he says, “”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…only Miss Emily’s house was left…an eyesore among eyesores”” (216). As the generation was changing from the “”old south’s wealth”” to a more modern day, Emily’s flat, static character remained identical to her house; neither changed along with the generation. This physical setting did, indeed, leave her as an “”eyesore”” to her town, for she stands out far beyond everyone else. Due to her differences from society, they leave her alone in her dark, unchanged house to be able to get away with the perfect murder.
Reviewing all of the elements that produce the geographical, historical, and physical settings, readers find that these ingredients compose the perfect recipe to murder. William Faulkner creates the perfect time and place for his flat and static character, Emily to commit the perfect murder. He paints a colorful picture of the dark life of Emily Grierson for readers to see. He creates a story that builds a strong setting for a deliciously cooked murder.