William Faulkner's dark sultry tale, A Rose for Emily, relies heavily on foreshadowing to relay its overall theme. Society's tendency to allow special civil liberties to those with wealth or power is a valuable theme presented in this story. Faulkner's old southern town is a societal microcosm that lives oblivious to the odd behaviors and ulterior motives of Miss Emily Grierson. Simultaneously and subconsciously, they manage to maintain the hierarchy of noblesse oblige, because that is all they know. How Emily and her southern aristocratic family socially interact with the town is a fine example of this, and several events foreshadow the impending climax of the story.
             The toilet set and the men's clothes are the first elements of the foreshadowing, which leads to the surprising climax of this story. Furthermore, when Miss Emily went "...to the jeweler's and ordered a man's toilet set in silver, with the letters H. B. on each piece,"(Faulkner) everybody thought that she was getting married to Homer. When she bought "...a complete outfit of men's clothing, including a nightshirt..."(Faulkner) it was definite that they were getting married. After three days away Homer came back. However, that was the last time anyone would see Homer. Furthermore, the toilet set and men's clothes are discovered in the room where Homer's corpse is hidden.
             When Emily's father died, officials had to take the body by force from her home, and for three days, she claimed he was not dead. She bought arsenic at the local drug store, and later had an odd odor coming from her home. In addition, every person in the town knew of her family's mentally unstable history, yet even until the end, they never suspected her of murder. Upon hearing the news of Mr.Grierson's death, women went to console Emily, and were greeted thusly: "She told them her father was not dead. She did th...