In an interview, Faulkner said that "A Rose for Emily" was a kind of "ghost story." Compare it to other ghost stories you have read.
"A Rose for Emily" reminded me quite a bit of the story of Annie Palmer (who, incidentally, haunts our Band room clock and causes various other types of mischief). Annie, too, got away with murdering her lover--three of them, in fact. Both managed it because they were otherwise relatively alone in the world. Also, they both were the subject of local gossip. Legend has it that Annie still haunts the old plantation, now a tourist site that I visited in Jamaica on the band trip a year-and-a-half ago.
There are some noteworthy differences as well, however. For instance, there is no literal "ghost" in "A Rose for Emily." The story itself is haunting, yes, but neither Emily nor Homer Barron live on as specters. Also, while Annie allegedly killed her husbands out of sheer boredom, Emily poisoned Homer, I suspect, out of a sort of crazed grief. Despite all her best efforts--the monogrammed toilets, the nice clothing--Homer doesn't want to marry her.
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