A Rose for Emily William Faulkner (1897-1962)
Faulker
This story is inspired by the decadence of the peoples of South America. The top player and the central core of the story is undoubtedly Miss Emily, with which Faulkner shows us his vision decaying Southern society. William Faulkner was born in Mississippi, so many of his works contain the same sense that we speak southern, and we can experience reading this story. There are some characters, like Colonel Sartoris, which appear in other stories and novels, playing this so characters and environments that are considered characteristic of the author. I
When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town attended his funeral, the men, with a kind of respectful devotion to a fallen monument, the women, mostly motivated by curiosity to see inside from home, no one had seen in at least ten years, except an old servant who served as cook and gardener.
was a house built as a large framing square and heavy, which had once been white, decorated with domes, capitals, scrolls and balconies built with heavy-century excess seventeen, located where once had been our most distinguished street. But the garages and cotton mills had invaded and destroyed even the memory of the August names of that neighborhood. Just left the house of Miss Emily, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and gasoline pumps (an eyesore among eyesores). And now Miss Emily had gone to meet with representatives of those August name that rested on the shaded cemetery, between the line and anonymous graves of Union soldiers who had fallen in the battle of Jefferson.
While living, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty and an obligation, a sort of hereditary obligation for the city, going back to that day in 1894 when Colonel Sartoris, the mayor - who originated the edict was proclaimed that no black woman could appear in the streets without an apron - he was exempted from paying taxes. The exemption dates from the death of his father and was later given to the perpetuity. As Miss Emily had not accepted alms, Colonel Sartoris invented a story to the effect that Miss Emily's father had loaned money to people with whom the debts were paid. Only a man of the generation and character of Colonel Sartoris could have invented, and only one woman as Miss Emily would have believed.
When representatives of the next generation, with more modern ideas, became mayors and aldermen, this arrangement created a little discontent. Earlier this year he mailed a notice of tax. February came, and there was no response. They wrote a formal letter, asking her to call the sheriff's office when he could. A week later the mayor wrote personally, offering to personally go to your house or send your car to pick her up, and received in reply a note on a paper that had an archaic form, written in a thin, fluid calligraphy in faded ink, said he never left the house. So, without further comments, closed the tax notice.
is called a special meeting of the board of aldermen. They sent a delegation to go and talk to her. That's how we met and knocked on the door, through which no visitor had passed since Miss Emily stopped giving China painting lessons eight or ten years earlier. The old black man received them in a dark entrance from which a staircase ascended to a place even more bleak. In the place smelled of dust and closed, the smell loaded, cold and wet. The black man led them down the hall, which was decorated with heavy leather upholstered furniture. When the black drew the blinds of a window, they saw that the leather was cracked, and when they sat down, a thin layer of dust rose slowly on his thighs, small specks floating detectable in the one ray of sunlight that through the window. In a dull frame, located above the fireplace, there was a pencil portrait of the father of Miss Emily.
All rose as she entered: a small woman, dressed in black thick, with a heavy chain around his neck and fell to her waist and was lost in the belt, which leaning on an ebony cane with gold handle wear. Her skeleton was small and wiry, this could be the reason why, so that any woman could have been just a little volume, she was obese. Looked bloated, like a body that had been totally submerged in stagnant water, and had an extreme pallor. His eyes, buried in the hefty bumps on his face, looked like two small pieces of coal pressed into a lump of dough as his gaze passed from one guest to another as they exposed him why they had gone.
asked not to be seated. Simply stood in the door and listened, quietly until the spokesman finished explaining the situation. Then they could hear the ticking of the clock that hung from his invisible chain of gold hidden beneath the belt.
His voice was dry and cold.
- I have to pay taxes in Jefferson. Colonel Sartoris explained it to me. Maybe some of you may ask someone from City Hall to explain and inform them there what they want.
- But we have done. We are the City authorities, Miss Emily. Did not receive a notice from the sheriff, signed by him?
- I received a paper, yes, "said Miss Emily. - Maybe he considers himself the sheriff ... I have no to pay taxes in Jefferson.
- But there is nothing in the records to prove it, you can check yourself. We have to go to ...
- Go to see Colonel Sartoris. No I have to pay taxes in Jefferson
- But, Miss Emily ...
- Go to see Colonel Sartoris (Colonel Sartoris had at least ten years dead). No I have to pay taxes in Jefferson. Tobe! - Exclaimed, and immediately the black appeared -. Accompanies these gentlemen at the exit.
II This defeated the rulers, as their fathers had won thirty years before the affair with the smell. That was two years after the death of his father and shortly after her fiance - the one we thought would marry her - had left. After the death of his father left very little, after her fiancé disappeared, people hardly saw her. A few women had the temerity to knock on his door, but were not received, and the only sign of life in that house was a black man - a young man back then - that came and went with the market basket.
- As if a man - any man - could keep a clean kitchen, "said the women, why were not surprised when the smell began. It was another kind of connection between gross and crowded world and the significant and powerful Grierson.
A neighbor of Miss Emily went to complain to the mayor, Judge Stevens, who was then eighty years.
- But do you want me to do with this, ma'am? "- Said the mayor.
- Wow! Then send an order telling him to, "she said. - Are not there a law?
- I'm sure it will not be necesesario, "said Justice Stevens .-'s probably just a rat snake or a black that has killed him in the courtyard. I talk to him.
next day he received two complaints, one from a man who was with their protests, but it seemed be unsure of himself.
- really need to do something about it, sir. Would be the last in the world to bother Miss Emily, but we must do something.
That night the board of trustees met: three elderly and younger Caramba, a member of the new generation.
- is quite simple, "said the youngest. - Tell him to clean his house. Give him time to do so, and if it does not ...
- Gee, mister! - "Judge Stevens - you accuse a lady in her face of smelling bad?
So the next night, after the stroke of midnight, four men crossed the lawn and slipped stealthily into the house, like thieves, snooping around the base of the brickwork and openings in the basement, while one of them, carrying a sack on his back, and drew his hand got the sack in a rhythmic motion, as if sowing. Forced the cellar door and sprinkled lime there, and all around the building. When they had finished and returned to cross the garden, the light from a window that had been dark was lighted and, behind her, she could see Miss Emily, his torso still erect like an idol. They slipped quietly through the garden and shadows of acacia trees that lined the street. After a week or two the smell disappeared.
That's when people began to feel compassion for real. The common people, remembering how old lady Wyatt, her great aunt, had finally become completely crazy, he began to believe that Grierson had a little more than they really were. None of the young men was good enough for Miss Emily. We represented the family Grierson imagination for a long time as a table: the background, Miss Emily a slender figure dressed in white, his father as a silhouette in the foreground, behind her, whilst holding a whip, both framed by the entrance to the house. So, when he was thirty-still single, we were not exactly happy, but we experienced a feeling of sweet revenge. Even with a mental illness in the family, Miss Emily had not failed suitors, if he had not turned that way ...
When his father died, it took to get an idea of \u200b\u200bwho had left the house and broke, and in its way, people were happy, at least they could feel sympathy for Miss Emily. When she was alone and poor, became human for the rest of the people. Now, she would learn the old fears and the despair of having a penny more or less.
The day after the death of his father, all the ladies prepared to call home and offer their condolences, as well as help, as is our custom. Miss Emily were received at the door, dressed as usual and no evidence of pain on his face, and said that his father had not died. He remained in this position for three days, although it was called by church ministers and doctors, trying to persuade her to have put the dead body.
said she was not crazy then. We had no choice but to do so. Remember all those men that their father had missed, and we knew that nothing in his pockets, would have had to cling to the same people who would once have despised, as everybody would.
III was sick for a long time. When we returned to see, had cut his hair, which made him appear almost a child, with a vague resemblance to those angels that decorate the windows of the churches had in their expression a kind of mixture between the tragic and serenity .
By then, people had just signed contracts to pave streets and in the summer following the death of his father banging works. The building came with black mules and machinery, and in front of all, a foreman named Homer Barron, a Yankee great, tanned and ready, with a tremendous and a big voice and eyes lighter than his face. The kids used to keep the people in groups to hear ranting to blacks, while blacks were singing while stood and dropped the peaks. In no time, Homer Barron knew all the townspeople. Whenever you hear a lot of people who laughed at the people, sure Homer Barron was among the group. At that time, we began to see him with Miss Emily on Sunday afternoon, strolling in the yellow wheeled carriage or a pair of horses for hire.
At first we were glad to see that Miss Emily may have some interest, because all the ladies said: "Of course a Grierson would not think seriously of a Northerner, a journeyman either." But there were others, older people, saying that even the pain could not make a woman truly forget the noblesse oblige, of course, without calling it noblesse oblige. They just say
- Poor Emily! Should remember their relatives.
had some relatives in Alabama, but years earlier his father had had an argument with them because the state of the old lady Wyatt, the woman who went insane, and there was no any communication between the two families, so had not even been any of them representing the funeral of his father.
And as soon as the old saying, "Poor Emily!", The whispers began. "You think that's true?" He said to one another. "Absolutely! What else could you ...?" And to talk about it put his hands around his mouth, after the windows environment to avoid the fierce sun of Sunday, when they could hear the faint and swift clop-clop-Lick passing horses. Then, after a rumor of silks and satins, the ladies exclaimed: "Poor Emily! "
However, Miss Emily had her head held high, even when we had every reason to feel humiliated. It was as if time would require more than ever the recognition of their dignity as the last of the Grierson; as having the need to pretend that touch of honest simplicity to convey its immunity. In the same way as when you bought the rat poison, arsenic. That happened about a year after they had started to say: "Poor Emily!", And while his two cousins \u200b\u200bwere visiting her home.
- I want some poison - he said to the druggist. He was then about thirty years, although was still a slender woman, though thinner than normal with a cold stare, dark and proud, shining on a face in which the meat was tightened at the temples and the eye sockets, as the expression of someone he was forced to watch the light of a lamppost.
- I want some poison - he insisted.
- Yes, Miss Emily. What kind? Why rats and why? We recommend ...
- I want the best you have. I do not care what kind.
The druggist named him several.
- would kill even an elephant. But what you want is ...
- Arsenic.
- Es ... arsenic? Yes, ma'am. But what you want exactamen ...
- I want arsenic!
The druggist looked her up and down. She stared back, rigid, his face taut as a flag.
- Well, of course! - Said the druggist. - If that's what I want ... But the law requires that say what you will use.
Miss Emily, now head up, kept his eyes fixed on the grocer until he looked away, went and got the arsenic and wrapped it. The black boy brought the messages of the package, the druggist went into the back room and never returned. When he opened the package at home saw that the box under a skull and crossbones, was written: "For rats."
IV
So, the next day, we all began to ask: "Will he go to kill yourself?" And said it would be best. When he had begun to do with Homer Barron, we thought: "You'll marry him." We then said "Maybe, he even suits" because Homer himself had stressed (he liked men, and knew that heavy drinking in the company of younger men of the people in the Elks Club) not man was a matchmaker. Back said: "Poor Emily! "Whispering behind the windows, we saw while walking on a Sunday afternoon in the carriage shining: Miss Emily with her head high and Homer Barron with his hat cocked and a cigar in teeth, harnesses and whips in yellow gloved hands.
Some time later, some of the ladies began to say it was a disgrace to the people and a bad example for young people. The men did not want to intrude, but in the end forced the Baptist minister women (people's social environment was Miss Emily Bishop) to warn her. Never reveal what happened during that interview, but refused to return back to that house. The Sunday following the minister's visit, Miss Emily and Homer Barron returned to walk the streets, and the next day the wife of the Minister wrote to the Alabama family of Miss Emily.
And having some relatives under his roof again, we crossed their arms to see how it develops. At first nothing happened. Then we were sure they were going to marry. We learned that Miss Emily had been in the jewelry and had ordered a men's bathroom set in silver with the initials HB on each piece. Two days later, we also learned that he had bought a complete set of clothes man, including a nightshirt, and said: "We're getting married." We were very happy. We were happy because the two cousins \u200b\u200bwho were staying at the house of Miss Emily Grierson was more than Miss Emily had ever been.
So we were not surprised when Homer Barron (the streets had been finished for some time) went. We were a little disappointed because it was not a public notice, but we thought had gone to prepare for the arrival of Miss Emily, or to give you the opportunity to shake off the premium. By then it was a conspiracy, and we were all allies of Miss Emily to outwit their premiums. Indeed, after a week, the first game. And, as we had expected all three days Homer Barron came to town. A neighbor saw the black man to receive it by the kitchen door when he fell one afternoon.
And that was the last time we saw Homer Barron. And to Miss Emily for some time. The black man came and went with the market basket, but the door remained closed. Sometimes we could see it in a window for a few moments, like the men who spread the lime, but for almost six months did not appear in the streets. Then we realized that this was expected too, as if the character of its father, who had ruined the lives of his mother so many times, had been too virulent and too fierce to die with him.
When we returned to see Miss Emily, had grown fat and her hair was graying. During the following years, the gray color was enhanced progressively until it reached almost a heavy leaden gray when he stopped colored. Until his death, he was still vigorous leaden gray as the hair of a middle-aged man.
All those years the front door remained closed, except for a period of six or seven years, when it should be forty years, during which taught painting, attending the daughters and granddaughters of Colonel Sartoris' contemporaries, with the same regularity and the same spirit in which they were sent to church on Sundays with a twenty-five cents for the collection tray .
Meanwhile, their taxes had been forgiven.
Then, the next generation became the backbone and spirit of the people, and painting students grew up and fell into decline generation, not again send their daughters to the color boxes, brushes and paints tedious cut ladies' journals. The front door closed behind the last of these girls, and remained closed forever. When the people began to use the postal service, Miss Emily alone refused to let him place the metal numbers above the door and hang a mailbox there. Do not listen to them in any way.
Day after day, month after month, we saw the black hair graying and slouching more and more, as he entered and left the house with the market basket. Each December we sent you the receipt of taxes, which would be returned to the post office a week later, in the same envelope and unclaimed. Sometimes we would see in a window on the ground floor (of course, had closed the plant top of the house), like the torso of an idol carved in a niche, looking or not looking at us, we could not say why. In this way, passed from generation to generation: respectable, inescapable, calm and stubborn.
And so he died. Ill in that house full of dust and shadows, with only pussy black man tending it. Even knew she was ill, had abandoned the idea of \u200b\u200btrying to get information to black a long time. Do not talk to anyone, probably not even to Miss Emily, as his voice was rough and tough, as if from disuse.
She died in a Room downstairs, in a solid walnut bed with curtains, his gray head resting on a pillow yellow and moldy with the passage of time and lack of light.
V
The black was the first ladies in the front door, and let them go through their voices and whistling softly to pry their glances around, then disappeared. He walked toward the house, heading towards the back, and was not seen again anymore.
The two cousins \u200b\u200bcame immediately. They arranged the funeral for the next day, and there were the people to look at Miss Emily under piles of flowers they had bought, and the portrait pencil drawing of his father, thinking deeply, placed on the coffin, and the ladies sibilant and macabre. Older men - some with their brushed Confederate uniforms - stood on the porch and the garden, talking of Miss Emily as if she had been one of her contemporaries, perhaps believing that they had courted and danced with her, mistaking time in its mathematical progression, as many seniors do, for whom all the past is not a street that was shaking, but rather like a vast prairie on which the winter has little effect, apart from the new generations the tight junctions of the last decade.
already knew there was a room in that area was going up the stairs, no one had seen in forty years, and whose door would have to be forced. However, they waited until Miss Emily was resting in his grave before opening.
violence to break down the door seemed to fill this room with a powder that invaded everything. A light and pungent sense of mortuary or tomb seemed to lie in every corner of this room, decorated and furnished like a bridal chamber: on the valance curtains of faded rose on the shades of pink on the toilet on the exquisite lamp shaped crystal chandeliers and toilet utensils Boys in oxidized silver, oxidized silver as a monogram with which they were marked was very dark. Between them lay a collar and tie, as if they had just removed, which, when raised, seemed to glow in the dust that is everywhere. On a chair hung a man's suit, carefully folded, under the chair, the pair of shoes and change of socks.
The man lay in bed.
For a long moment we just stand there, peering deep and raw gesture. Apparently the body had lain in a position to embrace, but now the long sleep survived to love that overcomes even the love she had been unfaithful, annihilated. What was left of him, rotted beneath what had once been the nightgown, had become inseparable from the bed where she lay. About him, and on the pillow that was behind him, stood what looked like thick, tenacious coating powder.
Then we realized in the second pillow could hear the crack of a head. One of us lifted something that was on it, and as we approached a little longer, soaking up the dim and dusty dry and pungent invisible in our nostrils, we saw a long strand of gray hair gray. Text translated by
Windumanoth.
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