Homer's End

Yes, the ending of “A Rose for Emily” was pretty surprising and a little disturbing, especially the part about the strand of gray hair. However, I thought the ending was really well written. It is like the last piece of evidence that pieced a mystery together. My take on the ending was that Miss Emily Grierson had killed Homer Baron on the night he went back to her house. He probably didn’t even plan on marrying her (he said himself that was wasn’t the “marrying type”), but only came back to say good-bye and spend one last night with her. However, Miss Emily could not bear to loose him, because of reputation and love, so she had planned to kill him, so he would stay with her forever, even if he was dead. So Miss Emily had prepared the room like a newly wed’s so she could spend one last night with him. She somehow got him to drink the poison and lay on the bed with her. She might have put the poison in some sort of drink and offered him he drink before they laid down. I think the most disturbing part might be the stand of gray hair. When Homer Baron was still alive, Miss Grierson’s hair is still black, but the strand of hair on the pillow was iron-grey. It hinted that Miss Grierson would still go back and lay in that bed with the dead Homer Baron.