A Rose For Emily And Barn Burning By William C. Faulkner

In the short story A Rose for Emily written by William Faulkner, readers are immersed in the narrative of a supposed town member who describes the impact that the recent death of an old woman has had upon their small community. In the narrative, readers are taken on a journey through the life of Miss Emily, an old, lonely woman who is seemingly frozen in her own timeframe. As the story unfolds, readers learn about the various tragedies Emily encountered in her lifetime such as the sudden death of her controlling father as well as her alienation from other family members that leaves her utterly alone following his death. Audiences also learn about events that happened throughout Emily’s life that both molded her as a person and aided in shaping her reputation around the town. From her controversial relationship with a construction worker named Homer Barron to her suspicious purchase of arsenic at the local drug store, there is no question that Emily lived under the constant scrutiny of her fellow townspeople. After reading the initial sentences, it can be concurred that this story doesn’t simply describe the life of an old, questionably insane woman, but also the story of the age-old battle between old and new. Through symbolism and an artful arrangement of the events described, Faulkner is able to meticulously weave a tale of the clash between newer and older generations’ views and standards.

William Faulkner has written some of the most unique novels and short stories of any author, and, to this day, his stories continue to be enjoyed by many. Both “Barn Burning” and “A Rose for Emily” tell about the life of southern people and their struggles with society, but Faulkner used the dramatic settings of these two stories to create a mood unlike any other and make the audience feel like they too were a part of these southern towns. These two stories have many similarities in there setting, but they also have many differences to that make them unique and interesting.

Barn Burning “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner was written in the ebb of the 1930’s in a decade of social, economic, and cultural decline. This story offers insight into the past years for students to learn of the nation and the South. This story shows the racial segregation that took place in these times between the white landowners and white tenant farmers, the blacks and the whites, and the poor white trash class and the blacks. The Snopes’s family was in the social class of the poor, white tenant farmers. The father, Abner Snopes, had to struggle to provide for his family.

“Barn Burning” is a story which was first published in 1939 and later awarded the O. Henry Memorial Award. It was the best short story of the year. William Faulkner, the author, was a creative and innovative writer whose ability to describe a place makes you feel like you are present and experiencing all happenings that take place in the story. Particularly in this short story, he has managed to create the picture of real-life events in the minds of readers while depicting the main theme: constant struggle between the poor and rich.

Who knew a high school dropout would become one of the most well-known authors still known today? Even though William Faulkner did not finish school (“William Faulkner – Biographical”), he certainly knew how to capture a reader’s attention and drop them into a new world with just a pen. The style in which he writes is unique. With only three semesters of college, he was forced to create from nearly a blank slate; college had not brainwashed him in to a repetitive nature with writing a certain way. He was forced to think outside the box and this makes him stand out from other writers. The building blocks of his stories can be derived from his life. If a reader had a collection of his literature, it would not be hard for them to take a guess at what his personal life was like. Faulkner lived an interesting life and incorporated its aspects into his short stories, two of which, “A Rose for Emily” and “Dry September,” have similar characters, symbolism, and themes. Critics have explored the meanings behind his work and thus given readers a better insight.

If we compare William Faulkner's two short stories, 'A Rose for Emily' and 'Barn Burning', he structures the plots of these two stories differently. However, both of the stories note the effect of a father¡¦s teaching, and in both the protagonists Miss Emily and Sarty make their own decisions about their lives. The stories present major idea through symbolism that includes strong metaphorical meaning. Both stories affect my thinking of life.

Although some have and still may argue that this is an unnecessary confusion created by Faulkner, we must ask ourselves whether or not we would have given this symbolism much importance without Faulkner’s particular way of presenting it. Faulkner effectively draws attention to the differences of the South’s old and new generations and to their particular flaws in “A Rose of Emily” using the switching point of view tactic, which is depicted not only in this short story, but also in “Barn

“Barn Burning” is a story filled with myth. This coming of age story features a boy stuck in a family with a father who can be thought of as Satan, and can be easily seen as connected to myths of Zeus and Cronus. The connection to Zeus is further elaborated when William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” is also considered. These two stories along with a few others provided an amazing view of the south. Many characters or families can be viewed as groups that lived in the south during this time. The story is rich in mythology which includes a boy coming of age facing the challenges of morality, and southern life.

Faulkner continues his southern gothic writing style when the story goes back to an earlier time in Miss Emily’s life. Faulkner

The short stories ‘Greenleaf’ by Flannery O’Connor and ‘A Rose for Emily’ by William Faulkner tell the the story of isolated individuals living in the historical south. In these stories, Faulkner and O’Connor tell of the unique breed of people that the South produces. The authors create seemingly unrelatable stories with outrageous extremes that are almost comical in their absurdity. These Authors also showcase the typical southern ideal of tradition as it manifests itself into the Southern person’s pride in their appearance, religious beliefs and kindness. In addition, O’Connor and Faulkner trifle with the concept of time. Faulkner 's southern town in ‘A Rose for Emily’ seems to be stuck in a sort of limbo as does Ms. Emily, and in

The exact setting for “Barn Burning” is not identified in the story, but may be a town called New Albany. Faulkner lived in a number of larger Mississippi cities, but New Albany was the small town that he was born in. The action of “Barn Burning” centers around “the sharecropper’s cabin, the planter’s mansion, and the town’s general store” (Padgett, par. 2). Faulkner would have been familiar with all of these from his small town upbringing.

Emily 's house represents old southern ideas because it sits on an plantation which as her family were once prominet slave owners. Although both stories involve creepy old structures, the setting in Faulkner 's story is specific to the South.

William Faulkner’s short story, “Barn Burning,” the character Abner Snopes, who is Sarty’s father as well as a main character of the story, stands out the most compared to other characters because of Faulkner’s description with a sense of irony and critic. Faulkner presents multifaceted characteristics in Abner Snopes that makes the readers think beyond the view of the narrator based on logics and circumstances in Abner’s conditions. The setting of ‘‘Barn Burning’’ is the post-Civil War South, the South of Reconstruction, in which a defeated and in many ways humiliated society is trying to hold its own against the Northern victor. It still maintains in private the social hierarchy that characterized the region in its pre-war phase. By knowing the setting of the story, readers can actually understand the social condition at that period of time.

William Faulkner’s use of a setting in a short story, such as “Barn Burning”, effected the entire outcome of the story from start to finish. In “Barn Burning”, a young boy must face his father and face the reality of a harsh world. He must also discover for himself that his father is wrong and learn to grow up the right way in a racial environment. Faulkner’s setting is one of the most important literary elements that help the audience understand the story.

Faulkner uses Emily’s character to represent the Old South in health and death. Her stubborn attitude and her decorum both reflect the characteristics of the Old South. When the men go to her home and confront her about her unpaid taxes and she asks them to leave, she represents that women in the Old South were not argued with and not questioned as not to insult them. The way that the people of the town treat her reflects this even further. The people of the town treat Emily as a monument just as they had seen the Old South. “It was another link between the gross, teeming world and the high and mighty Griersons.” They see her as something to observe and only interfere when she does something they do not like, such as dating a Northerner. Even in death The Old South follows her. “And now Miss Emily had gone to join the representatives of those August names where they lay in the cedar-bemused cemetery among the ranked and anonymous graves of Union and Confederate soldiers who fell at the battle of Jefferson.”