A Rose For Emily- Rhetorical Analysis. William Faulkner

William Faulkner wrote, "A Rose for Emily." In the gothic, short story he contrasted the lives of the people of a small Southern town during the late 1800's, and he compared their ability and inability to change with the time. The old or "Antebellum South" was represented by the characters Miss Emily, Colonel Sartoris, the Board of Aldermen, and the Negro servant. The new or "Modern South" was expressed through the words of the unnamed narrator, the new Board of Aldermen, Homer Barron, and the townspeople. In the shocking story, "A Rose for Emily," Faulkner used symbolism and a unique narrative perspective to describe Miss Emily's inner struggles to accept time and change

Emily kills Homer, a former close friend, because of her past and the values and teachings regarding love that have been instilled upon her by her father and society.

At first talking about the author can be essential to go through the topic. William Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi in 1897. He became Famous from the set of novels that explore the South’s historical legacy, fraught and violent present. His works are usually rooted in his fictional city in the county of Mississippi, Yoknapatawpha. This setting which was the microcosm of the south he imaginarily knew it very well. He could look into as binoculars which he could go through the society and people. He was particularly interested in the moral implications in the history. It - “A ROSE for Emily”- was first published on April 30, 1930. This is the time of the high modernism with the rise of its elements. Faulkner once

In this short story by William Faulkner “A Rose for Emily”. Is set in Jefferson, Mississippi. Miss. Emily Grierson is the main character in this story. Emily was born to a proud, aristocratic family sometime during the civil war.

Some of the townspeople considered this as an inappropriate match for her and said, “That even grief could not cause a real lady to forget oblesse oblige.” Emily could not stand loosing anyone else and murdered Homer. She had missed so many chances of marrying anyone because of her father, so the only resort she had left was to kill homer and hang on to him forever before he would leave her life like everyone else. Once Emily had passed away, the townspeople went inside her house and saw that Homer’s body was there in the bed. Astonishingly they saw “the second pillow (had an) indention of a head… and saw a long strand of iron-gray hair.” Faulkner had described Emily’s hair as iron-gray so it could be assumed that Emily had been lying next to homer all this time.

He is a nomad that came to the town for work. Miss Emily fell in love with Homer, but her love is not returned. Faulkner notes that Homer likes to drink with younger men and very well could be inferring that he is gay Tradition in the south is to find a husband, get married, and have kids. Everyone in the town assumed they had gotten or were going to get married, but Homer was unattainable. He moves from town to town for work and that is how he makes a living. I think it was hard for Emily to grasp that idea and it creates tension between the two. There is evidence for his death being an act of passion, but could have also been caused when Emily realizes that this man is not going to marry her which is why she killed him with Arsenic. His death seems to be thought out and premeditated. She went to the pharmacist, bought arsenic, and when she got home and opened it the poison it said, “For rats”. The word rat can also be used to describe someone that is a scoundrel or shady, so she could be poisoning him because of something that he has done.

Throughout the story, Faulkner used many different symbols to convey the theme. The three that stuck out the most where Emily, the dust, and Emily’s house. Emily was the most important symbol of the story because she was the leading cause of the theme. Miss. Emily could be described as “a small fat woman” that lived in a progressing town filled with people who saw her as a very cold and distant person that lived in the past. Emily didn’t really seem to fit in the structure of the town anymore. Emily was stuck in her old ways that her father had instilled in her from when he was still alive. Miss. Emily was the only person still with an African American working for her. Also, she felt as though she was higher than everyone else because that’s how it was back when her father was

Not only because of his good look, but also because of his fun personality and good sense of humor. Despite his many admirers, he is more interesting in Emily and start building a relationship with her which will eventually make him regret the day he met her. Homer is an outgoing person, who brings joy and fun into Emily’s life. Moreover, even though Homer was a good looking man, he was seen as a poor man in the community, some people dislike him because he is a day laborer and the fact that he was going out with Emily would become a scandal because she was more seen as a respectable, higher social class woman.

Faulkner lets the reader know that Emily is sad by the way he writes the character. She prefers to remain submerged in her own thoughts and actions. Faulkner first introduces sadness into this story when Emily’s father dies. She is overcome with grief and is not able to function or cope. After her father's death, Emily left the house very seldomly.

And of course, what she chooses to do is kill Homer. The townspeople already gossip when she goes to the druggist and she buys poison. In killing Homer, Emily can continue to be pitied instead of being humiliated because she cannot engage in healthy relationship. The townspeople turn a blind eye to the smell, which is referenced several times in Faulkner’s story. It is incomprehensible that no one acted sooner to reveal the gruesome secrets Miss Emily Grierson kept.

The main character Emily Grierson is stuck living in the past within the isolated reality that she has both been forced into and that she herself has created. Everything in her life has changed. Her father is gone, the neighborhood is no longer a grand place, and taxmen are knocking on her door. "She would have to cling to that which had robbed her as people will." (Faulkner 821). Through the revelation of the

Death and transformation are the main theme in Faulkner’s short story, being a sign of the crumbling of the Old South after their military defeat by the North, as Emily’s suggested necrophilia echoes the desire to hang on to the past and its traditions. Through flashbacks and foreshadowing, Faulkner addresses the struggle of traditional versus progress in Jefferson, the south being a region bound by history and tradition, class and social influence. Emily represents to generations before and after her old South nobility. Even the town 's people are having a hard time letting go of old southern societal ideals. Their obsession with Emily and her family is a sign of society 's way of holding on to these old values. The narrator

It is her constant found on a bad digit that gotta Emily into this seat. It is the coagulation in which she lixivium that has this stroke on her conception and sense. We eventually find out in the end that Emily kills Homer. She does this not do this out anger or hatred toward this man. It is the belief on her part, that a man has to play a significant role in her life that drives Emily to do this unbelievable act of violence. In her mind this was not a crazy thing to do. Her intention was to be able to hold on to the male figure that she needed in her life.

William Faulkner is one of the most famous American Prose writher. He came from a wealthy family. Faulkner grew up in Oxford, Mississippi. He temporarily worked for a book store in New York. He is famous for his novels set in the American South. He writes a lot of novels about reality and social issues that most American writers left in the dark. Faulkner has been awarded many Nobel Prizes, but in 1949 Faulkner was awarded a Nobel Prize in Literature. The committee consider him one of the most important writers of American letters (Bio.com). “A Rose for Emily” is one of him major works. The setting in “A Rose for Emily” has three main effects on the plot: traditions in the south, gothic aspects of death, and Emily’s refusal to adapt to change, leaving her an unsatisfied and lonely life.

Born in Oxford, Mississippi in 1897, Faulkner was certainly subjected to the South in its transformative state. This transformation, as a result of the civil war, would concern moving past the South’s old way and moving forward and rebuilding in order to improve the state. In, “A Rose for Emily”, Faulkner explores the theme of Old South versus a new South through the main character of the short story, Emily. This exploration is not quite so upfront and obvious, seeing as the story focuses on Emily’s mental state, as well as a back story to Emily’s gothic relationship with the dead Homer Baron. Beyond that, Emily can be thought of as a manifestation or a symbol of the Old South. More specifically, she can be thought of as a sort of canvas in which Faulkner packs in all the tradition, values and customs of the Old South. Firstly, she keeps up with old traditions of the South and rejects any modern innovation. For example, she gets into the tradition of china