Many people have problems in life such as Homer Barron from William Faulkner’s short story A Rose for Emily. In A Rose for Emily, William Faulkner portrays Homer Barron as an oblivious yet dedicated man who is considered and outsider due to his origin.

Homer is an oblivious guy who meets his fate upon returning to his lovers house. He leaves his controlling lover and causes her to make it where he can never leave again. His lover goes to the local pharmacy to get some poison and asks for the best they have to make sure that homer doesn’t leave her again. His lover says “I want some poison”(310) Homer returns shortly after she buys the poison and he never left the house after he returned. Homer is oblivious because he knew he had a controlling lover and leaving upset her, which ends in his death.

Homer is a northerner who is considered an outsider. He wears different clothing than most in the south. He meets an outsider of his own who becomes his lover. A townswoman said, ”Of course a Grierson would not think seriously of a northerner, a day laborer”(309). Homer is an outsider because he is a yankee in the south who does not fit in.

Homer is a dedicated worker who came to town as a foreman on a stone laying job. As a foreman Homer is in charge of the operations in the work site. He is a hard worker and who climbed the ladder to become a foreman. By getting the job done in the time given he proves he is a dedicated hard worker.

The problems in life that Homer was challenged with led to his demise. In William Faulkner’s short story A Rose for Emily, Homer Barron is shown to be an oblivious-dedicated man that is an outsider due to his place of birth.