Seven beats from our edition of A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner, shuffled. Drag them, or use the arrows, until the story runs straight. No account, no streak to lose.
This one is set for Saturday, 10 October 2026, so you are early. Play today's instead.
::The father’s gripMr. Grierson turns away Emily’s suitors and keeps her to himself; the town pictures her small behind his looming silhouette.Before
::A death deniedWhen her father dies, Emily insists for three days that he is alive, clinging to the only person who ever defined her.Setup
::Homer BarronEmily is seen riding out with Homer, a Northern foreman. The town gossips; her cousins are summoned; pressure mounts to either marry or stop.Rising
::"I want some poison"Emily buys arsenic and will not say why. The druggist writes "for rats" on the box; she stares him down.Turn
::Homer disappearsHomer enters the house one night and is never seen again. Soon a powerful stench spreads, and the town quietly limes the grounds at midnight.Climax
::The long seclusionEmily shuts herself away for decades, emerging rarely; her hair turns the iron-gray of an active, vigorous woman gone still.Falling
::The sealed roomAfter her funeral the town forces the upstairs room and finds Homer’s corpse, and beside it a pillow dented by a head and one long iron-gray hair.End
Solved. That is the shape of the story.
Each beat is labelled with its place in the arc now. The full reading, with themes, symbols and the ending explained, is in the A Rose for Emily edition.