A Rose for Emily is a fascinating story about a shy woman who unassumingly surprises everyone in the end. Although the writer drops several hints through out the story that she is involved in a malicious killing of her lover, most everyone in the story respects and pities her until her death. The narrator builds Miss Emily's character as being a person who demands respect and authority, but leaves no reason as to why she has earned this. This respect is so mysterious that even after we learn that she has murdered her lover and has slept with him after his death, she still seems worthy of pity.
             The story begins with Miss Emily's death that begins to build a sense of compassion for her. Everyone in the town comes to her funeral to pay their respects. Miss Emily is described as being a "fallen monument" and a "tradition." Unmistakably, these ideas are used to build her up so that later in the story we will still value her as a person. The narrator tells us about her going to the drugstore to purchase arsenic seemingly for rats, but alludes to a more devious use. Homer Barron's death is foreshadowed in a dramatic sense. We are told that he was seen by a neighbor entering Miss Emily's house but was never seen again. This fact is quite odd and builds suspicion because earlier in the story we are told that he was quite sociable and tended to be the center of attention. This fact coupled with her purchasing rat poison foreshadows the coming murder of Mr. Barron.
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