Paloma Cerda Mrs. Koehler ENGL-1301-566 September 20, 2017 In A Rose for Emily written by William Faulkner, the story of Miss Emily is told through a very loose format. Through this narration, there is a long and drawn out suspense built up through little hints left by the reader without fully giving away the dark truth behind Emily and her house. Until the end of the story, the narrators ambiguity cleverly points the reader towards the climax of the story where Emily is discovered to be Homer Barron’s killer. This ambiguous element is important to the quality of this short story as it drives it forward and keeps the reader interested.
5. “A Rose for Emily” is the story of a town’s curiosity regarding Miss Emily Grierson, beginning with her death and ultimately ending with her death and revealing what an odd, haunted life she led. Miss Emily had a very secretive life, with only a servant –who would say nothing when asked– knowing what went about in her old house. There is much discussion of a curious smell coming from Miss Emily’s house, and of a lover deserting her after her father’s death. In the end, it becomes apparent the lover had not deserted Miss Emily but had been killed by Miss Emily, who had bought poison for just such a purpose.
Dilworth discusses the unhealthy relationship the narrator, Faulkner, has with Emily it’s imaginary state, and how the relationship is required for both to exist, in “A Romance to Kill for: Homicidal Complicity in Faulkner’s ‘A Rose for Emily’.” Dilworth explains how the narrator and the townspeople value their southern heritage and beliefs by pressuring Emily to follow their ideas. These values and beliefs control much of the story and explain why Emily commits murder. Emily fell in love with a northerner, against the townspeople’s liking, they pretend to think she ends the relationship, therefore obeying their values. Dilworth mentions that he townspeople wanted to, “preserve the values of the old South embodied in Emily as a representative of idealized southern womanhood” (252).
In the short stories “A Rose for Emily” and “The Story of an Hour,” the authors use literary devices to create vibrant female characters. These literary devices include diction, imagery, language, and sentence structure. “The Story of an Hour,” written by Kate Chopin, opens with a woman, Louise Mallard, who has a heart disease, and her friends must gently break the news to her that her husband has passed away in a railroad accident. She mourns briefly, but then realizes that she can now live for herself, instead of just as someone’s wife. Shockingly, she walks downstairs after fleeing from her friends’ horrible news, and her husband walks in the door.
“A Rose for Emily” is a unique short story that keeps the reader guessing even though its first sentence already reveals the majority of the content. William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” is the epitome of a work that follows an unconventional plot structure and a non-linear timeline, but this method of organization is intentional, as it creates suspense throughout the story. William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” follows an unusual plot structure, which creates an eccentric application of suspense to a short story. Throughout the story, there are no clear indications of standard plot structure in each section, such as intro, climax, and denouement. Instead, there are sections, which are not in chronological order, that describe a particular conflict or event, which in turn creates suspense, as each conflict builds upon each other to make the reader question the overall context and organization of the story.
“A Rose for Emily” tells the tale of a delusional woman who isolates herself from the small, southern community in which she lives in. The town’s people have observed Emily’s actions and decisions throughout her lifetime causing them to pity her. Town gossip makes it clear that Emily was born the daughter of a controlling man and because of her strict beginnings, she never fully learned how to lead a normal life. After her father’s death, Emily’s home morphed from a beautiful and lavished one to a decaying structure. As Emily and her husband are seen less and less in public, the people of Jefferson are left to make their own assumptions about her life and what goes on behind Emily’s closed doors.
I. To begin with, we will analyze section one and learn some background information. In the A Rose for Emily, the narrator is recalling Emily’s funeral by saying “…when Miss Emily Grierson died our whole town went to the funeral…” (Mays 629). The narrator talks about Emily’s house before when she was alive.
“A Rose for Emily” Many great stories have been created about eccentric characters. Great writers, such as Southern Gothic author William Faulkner, know how to use precise language to appeal to their readers and create a very memorable story. One of Faulkner’s most famous tales was one of an isolated and bizarre woman named Emily Grierson. The fictional short story, “A Rose for Emily,” is a major piece of literature depicting Southern culture in the United States. Faulkner effectively used an intriguing setting, vivid and alluring characterization and third-person, limited point of view mysteriously narrating the story to present themes that show conflict that comes from tradition fighting change and progress as it did in the south following the Civil War.
William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” critiques the American South Describing Emily’s vibrant life full of hope and buoyancy, later shrouded into the profound mystery, Faulkner emphasizes her denial to accept the concept of death. William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” takes place in the South during the transitional time period from the racial discrimination to the core political change of racial equality. Starting from the description of her death, “A Rose for Emily” tells the story about the lady who is the last in her generation (Emily Grierson). Being strong, proud and a traditional lady of southern aristocracy, Emily turns into an evil, unpredictable and mysterious old lady after the death of her father. Even though “A Rose for Emily”
Emily Grierson, the formerly wealthy bachelorette from a family of gentry, is portrayed through the second most unreliable lens, with the first being herself. Her actions throughout the story display a mind not all there, with her refusal to admit her fathers death and the murder of her lover Homer Barron. “A Rose For Emily,” a short story written by William Faulkner, is set in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s in a small southern town. It recaps the life of a reclusive Miss Emily whose trials and tribulations are often talked about among the people who live near her. Although all stories about Emily are accounts of gossip from the townspeople, which inherently are unreliable, the narrator builds credibility through various stories and memories
One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century, William Faulkner, in his short story "A Rose for Emily", the theme of class discrimination dominates the whole story. The story takes place in Jefferson, a small southern town where social hierarchy is strictly enforced. This short story about the experiences of Emily, the daughter of a wealthy aristocrat, shows the conflict between the lower and upper classes. The main protagonist Emily fell into depression after the death of her strict father. Another subject of the story is that Emily is closed to the innovations of the changing world and is always despised by his surroundings.
The short story, A Rose for Emily revolves around a single woman named Emily who lives in the South. Emily is never given a rose in the novel. The title, on the other hand, is noteworthy, because young couples often offer each other flowers to communicate their feelings, and the rose symbolizes the concept of love. In this narrative, the author discovered certain symbols that portrayed Emily Grierson's unhappy existence. They are the rose, Emily's hair, the ticking of the watch, the color black, and her father.
Emily's house is a remnant of a bygone period, a reminder of a slowly fading way of life. Faulkner writes, "It was a big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies... Now the paint was cracked and peeling" (Faulkner 199). The house's degradation depicts the decline of traditional Southern values and the fight to cling to the past in the face of an uncertain
William Faulkner is a complex writer who knows how to set a great pace in his stories. He is also a very flexible writer which allows the openness of many topics to write on because of his unconventional style. In his short story, "A Rose for Emily", you can interpret how times are so different from today. Although it was not during slavery times, things were not much more advance than that. The dominance of gender or social roles shown on women, particularly Miss Emily, may be seen as harsh or unfair.
I love William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily.” It contains literary devices that Faulkner uses to make the short story perfect. The three literary devices that Faulkner uses are symbolism, setting and point of view. These three literary devices are what makes it an enjoyable story to read.
