In the short story A Rose for Emily, Faulkner uses the role of male figures in Emily's life to provide important character traits. The two men in her life, her father, Mr. Grierson and her boyfriend Homer Barron lead her to become a shelled up, introverted and mysterious woman. Emily's father is her first and most influential male figure, providing the foundation for her "insane"-type behavior in later years. Homer Barron comes along later and forces Emily to revisit the tyranny of her father and the negative experiences she had with men in her past. The relationship Emily had with her fat…
