Influence Of Setting In William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

Littered throughout the story is evidence that the murder took place. When Emily takes up with Homer Barron, a man whom the narrator makes clear was not the marrying kind; rumors start to fly about the two at a time when it was not considered proper for a man and woman to live together. The town, her relatives, and the Baptist minister disapproved of the relationship, and Emily was in danger of loosing Homer. A year after the relationship begins, and the pressures to either marry

The day after her father's death, the women of the town went to give their condolences to Miss. Emily. To their surprise, Miss. Emily was "dressed as usual" and had "no trace of grief on her face (Perrine's 285)." Emily told the women that her father was not dead. Finally after three days of trying to hold on to her father, "she broke down, and they buried her father quickly (Perrine's 285)." The town's people tired to justify Miss. Emily's actions, by saying that she had nothing left, and was clinging to the one thing that had robbed her for so long they convinced themselves that she was not crazy.

"A Rose for Emily" is a wonderful short story written by William Faulkner. It begins with at the end of Miss Emily’s life and told from an unknown person who most probably would be the voice of the town. Emily Grierson is a protagonist in this story and the life of her used as an allegory about the changes of a South town in Jefferson after the civil war, early 1900's. Beginning from the title, William Faulkner uses symbolism such as house, Miss Emily as a “monument “, her hair, Homer Barron, and even Emily’s “rose” to expresses the passing of time and the changes. The central theme of the story is decay in the town, the house, and in Miss Emily herself. It shows the way in which we all grow old and decay and there is nothing permanent

In the end, with her death, which is where the story begins, Miss Emily is the talk of the town. Not because people truly mourn her, but because people are curious about the life she had lived in secret, in her big house, for all those years. People pitied her, it was as had been left alone in the world and seemed to have wished it that way.

In "A Rose for Emily," William Faulkner's use of setting and characterization foreshadows and builds up to the climax of the story. His use of metaphors prepares the reader for the bittersweet ending. A theme of respectability and the loss of, is threaded throughout the story. Appropriately, the story begins with death, flashes back to the past and hints towards the demise of a woman and the traditions of the past she personifies. Faulkner has carefully crafted a multi-layered masterpiece, and he uses setting, characterization, and theme to move it along.

Uniquely, the story, narrated from a third person limited point of view, begins at the end; the death of Miss Emily Grierson. “When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house…” (143) From the beginning, you get a sense of the opinions of the town regarding Emily because the townspeople are the narrators. Though there are significant differences in the town's views of Emily depending on the generation and gender of the current narrator, the reader must consider them all because they help develop the reader’s thoughts and emotions towards Emily. Adding to the mystery is the fact that Emily’s life being reiterated by narrators whose identities remain anonymous.

“A Rose for Emily” is one of the Faulkner 's works which is highly read and praised by readers. One one level, it is a "ghost story," as Faulkner once called it, but on another it is a portrayal of the tensions between the North and South and within the South, as the aristocracy and limitations on women began to crumble. “A Rose for Emily" can be accepted as a narrative astory. The narrator, who is very familiar with the setting, Jefferson, Mississippi, tells the story of southern female protagonist Emily Grierson. The story begins with a

Faulkner uses the smell of Miss Emily’s home throughout the story to foreshadow Homers atrocious fate. For thirty years, Miss Emily has kept Homers body in the bedroom upstairs that was shut off from everyone else. Because of this, it gave her

In “A Rose For Emily”, by William Faulkner, plot plays an important role in how

In "A rose for miss Emily" and in "Dry September" the townspeople prove to be meddlesome as well as uncaring and insensitive. The people use Miss Emily and Miss Emily as tools of gossip and keep up a facade of

Emily had depression and was dealing with it in her own way by closing herself off. Looks could be very deceiving and in this case, Emily surprised the town when she died. The townspeople realized that there was more to her than they thought and were quick to judge.

“A Rose For Emily” is a perfect example of a typical Southern Gothic short story, consisting of the common elements of grotesque, unusual, and dark mentally unstable characters. “A Rose for Emily”, by William Faulkner, represents the themes of death, murder and lost love. The hints of “Gothic Literature” can be found in Faulkner's description of Emily, her home, the poison she purchased, and the ending of the story.

Inversely, another element of fiction that is going to be analyzed is the character presentation. There are many characters involved in the story, and Faulkner is presenting information about all of them, in most of the cases he also describes the appearance of them as well; '… a Yankee-a big, dark, ready man with… team of bays from the livery stable';(434). The information that I received can be interconnected and form a point of view for each one of the persons involved. The protagonist in the story is Miss Emily, for whom I have many information. She is aristocratic and once belonged to the distinguished and prestigious people of Jefferson. We have many backup information about her concerning her past, especially the role of her father towards Emily. Moreover there is a man involved in the story also, whose name is Homer Barron, and is the man that Emily falls in love with, and consequently he disappears. Some of the town people are presented in the story also. Throughout the story we see that there are many descriptions about the people and especially for Miss Emily, as mentioned before. This helps us understand the various stages that she is going through and how her behavior is affected. We see that as the years pass Emily is becoming more and more enigmatic until she reaches the point where she is

Emily Rose was the town’s nutcase. The town’s people always had some gossip to spread about her, but never knew the real Emily. She was a mysterious woman who only exposed herself to the few who were worthy, but was a hot commodity in the town. In “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, the characters, plot and setting strengthen the eeriness yet comical short story.

The town ignores Emily’s actions and circumstances in the story, and through their complacency, the town adds to the terror of the story. Rather than confronting Emily, the townfolk “sprinkled lime [in the cellar]” to counteract the smell of decay following her sweetheart’s disappearance (Faulkner, 474). Even with the evidence of the smell of decay, the town sticks to the belief that her sweetheart abandoned her, not considering the possibility that he has died – whether naturally or at Emily’s hand. Emily asks for poison, citing arsenic as what she wants, and rather than pushing the issue of intention, the druggist states Emily is using it “for rats” (Faulkner, 476). The druggist does not press the issue because of Emily’s status in the town, however he also shows complacency in her actions, as he knows what arsenic can do if used maliciously. When Homer Barron enters Emily’s house and does not leave, the town does not suggest any ill