Society’s Impact on Emily The Reason the main character, Emily Grierson, in William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” murdered her lover, Homer Barron, was a combined contribution of the society she lived in. The cousin’s snootiness and high expectations of the Grierson family legacy made it difficult for Emily and Homer to be together as a couple. “The two female cousins were more Grierson than Miss Emily had ever been.” (5) The cousins …showed first 75 words of 930 total…

…showed last 75 words of 930 total…she obtained it by killing Homer and sleeping with him every night. She wanted to keep time still. Emily had a problem with time. “Emily’s small room above the stairs has become that timeless meadow. In it, the living Emily and the dead Homer have remained together not even death could separate them.”(Short Story Criticism 150) Even when her father died she was unwilling to accept his departure. She refused to have him buried.