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Critical Analysis : A Rose For Emily

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Critical Analysis Essay- A Rose for Emily In the story “A Rose for Emily” we look into the depths of the demented mind of Miss Emily Grierson. Born and raised during the mid-1800’s in the fictional city of Jefferson, Mississippi in the fictional county of Yoknapatawha. The story begins in its present time of approximately 1934 A.D. at her funeral and courses back through her life to the many points of tragedy she endured. As you finish this story the first time, you might consider it as a dark thriller with the plot of horrendous murder and possibly the heinous act of necrophilia. That would be true, but after reading it again, you can also pick up a few pieces of the story you hadn’t noticed. For myself, I found an interesting …show more content…

For instance, he describes in detail situations that the other member of the community experienced, like when the Board of Aldermen sent a deputation to her home or when the drug store clerk sold her the poison. These scenes were described with perfect first-person perspective. On the other hand, these scenes also say a great deal about the narrator as well. One suggestion is that he’s omnipotent. Being god-like might be a stretch for his character, but seeing as there is no real county of Yoknapatawha, in this fictional world, anything can happen. In fact, there is always a single person in every story who is omnipotent, and that is the creator himself, the author. Faulkner could be placing himself in his own story as a town member to give a first person perspective to his story. Another possible case is that this narrator is not a single individual, but the entire town itself: “Who is the narrator? Not a single person because Faulkner uses a first- person plural point of view, "we"; that "we" is townspeople, but only such as are in position to watch Miss Emily constantly for fifty or sixty years; they are anonymous townspeople, for neither names nor sexes nor occupations are given” (Sullivan, 160). This would explain the mass amount of detailed information from the characters’

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