What was the irony of “A Rose for Emily”?
The irony is the climax, when it’s revealed that Emily had had a sort of “secret lover” all those years. Irony, remember, relies on surprise: “In the opening characterization, many descriptive words foreshadow the ultimate irony at the climatic ending: “her skeleton was small and sparse,” “she looked bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water, and of that pallid hue” (667). We learn that “her voice was dry and cold” and that she did not accept no for an answer (667). Her house, a fading photograph, “smelled of dust and disuse—a closed, dank smell,” and when her guests are seated a “faint dust” rises “sluggishly about their thighs” (667). All of these terms suggest neglect, decay, entropy: each of these elements tie in with the surface layer as well as the deeper themes upon which Faulkner tiers.
