Short Story By Patricia Grace And A Rose For Emily By William Faulkner

In the short stories A Rose for Emily and The Story of an Hour, Emily Grierson and Louise Mallard are both similar women, in similar time periods but they both are in entirely different situations. This essay will take these two specific characters and compare and contrast them in multiple, detailed ways.

Short story fiction is a story that is shorter than a novel, has a few characters, and is about an imaginary event or person. Because short fiction is short the writer must capture and hold the reader’s attention within the first paragraph, which requires a mastery of literary technique. Some of the most helpful tools to use in literature are literary devices. Literary devices are any element, subject, or concept that is present through an entire body of literature. If these devices didn 't exist, literature would be very hard to understand. They define the nature of a story, and they bring the text to life. Literary devices enhance the meaning of literature by establishing the theme, mood, and plot. Devices, such as situational irony, symbolism, and setting, are all helpful when reading short stories.

Is there any case in which a murderer would be justified in killing? What if the murderer suffered from a severe form of mental illness? In William Faulkner chilling short story called A Rose for Emily, we see a character who murders her lover, but was it her fault? Emily had been mentally unstable for a long time and her family had a long history of suffering from mental illnesses as well, but at the end of the day there is no justification for murder. Some of the most notorious serial killers and murderers have suffered from one form or another of mental illness. People like Ed Gein, John Wayne Gacy, and Jeffrey Dahmer all suffered from some form of mental illness ("Dangerous Minds: Mental Illnesses of Infamous Criminals"). Although there is an understanding on how a person with mental illness is more susceptible to commit violent crimes, it is still wrong. In a study it was found that “no significant difference in the rates of violence among people with mental illness and other people living in the same neighborhood” (Publications). Emily killed Homer due to lack of morality caused by a combination of terrible parenting and a system that put her above the law. The relationship she had with her father was a distinct one, he pushed her into a little bottle and never let her out. She wasn’t allowed to be a person, but instead a trapped soul yearning for attention and love. The town in which she lived, held her on this pedestal that separated her from the rest of the

In “A Rose for Emily”, Charles Faulkner used a series of flashbacks and foreshadowing to tell Miss Emily’s story. Miss Emily is an interesting character, to say the least. In such a short story of her life, as told from the prospective of a townsperson, who had been nearly eighty as Miss Emily had been, in order to tell the story from their own perspective. Faulkner set up the story in Mississippi, in a world he knew of in his own lifetime. Inspired by a southern outlook that had been touched by the Civil War memory, the touch of what we would now look at as racism, gives the southern aroma of the period. It sets up Miss Emily’s southern belle status and social standing she had been born into, loner or not.

On September 25, 1897, William Cuthbert Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi. He stands as one of the most preeminent American writers of the twentieth century. His literary reputation included poetry, novels, short stories, and screenplays. Faulkner won two Pulitzer Prizes for Fiction and the Nobel Prize in Literature. “A Rose for Emily” is a short fascinating story written by William Faulkner and it was his first short story published in a national magazine. The story involved an old woman named Emily Grierson, the daughter of a rich man that was considered a hero in the town where they lived. The story takes place in the fictional Town of Jefferson, Mississippi during and after the civil war between the Northerners and Southerners. Emily’s childhood was never easy; her father was always overprotective with her even when she was a grown woman. Charmaine Mosby an English Professor of Western Kentucky University in his work analysis of “A Rose for Emily” writes, “Miss Emily Grierson had been cut off from most social contact and all courtship by her father.” This was the principal reason why Emily Grierson was always a lonely soul.

“If a story is in you, it has to come out” (Faulkner). This is a statement made by William Faulkner, the author of “A Rose for Emily”, and it represents the purpose of writing “A Rose for Emily”. His story, “A Rose for Emily” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe both tell stories of murders, either about the murderer, or from the murderer’s point of view. “A Rose for Emily” tells the story of Miss Emily Grierson, an elderly woman that has recently passed away. She was rarely seen, but was with a man named Homer Barron a few years before her death. The town assumed Homer would marry Emily, but he suddenly disappears soon after being seen with her. After Emily’s death, the town searches her house and finds Homer dead in a locked

George Saunders once said, “When you read a short story, you come out a little more aware and a little more in love with the world around you” (Quote). This quote is absolutely relatable because short stories are filled with wisdom and advice that one can typically compare their own life circumstances to. Short stories can have multiple life lessons hidden within the text, requiring the reader to dig deeper and reread the story until the messages are clear. While reading them, it is important to try and identify the point of view, plot, character, setting, and theme within the piece. This will help you relate to the story on an exceptional level, and will give you insight on what the author is trying to convey. With all of these elements in mind, you will be able to relate to the story on a more personal level, and will ultimately get more out of it.

The short story, as with other literary forms, is not defined by its actual parameters. Subject and theme may be as varied as those within full-length novels, just as the author's individual style plays an inevitable role in shaping the work. That said, there is a common element uniting short stories; they usually create impact due to the brevity itself, which authors typically rely on to make a more direct impression. Condensed, the form offers more overt power, and this is evident in how William Faulkner and Edgar Allan Poe employ it to achieve distinctly Gothic effects. “A Rose for Emily” and “The Cask of Amontillado” are very different stories set in very different worlds, and the tone of the narration in each is equally

The Use of Symbolism in “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner

In the short story “A Rose for Emily”, William Faulkner escorts the reader through the peculiar life of the main character Miss Emily Grierson. The gloomy tone of the story is set by the author beginning his tale with the funeral of Miss Emily. During course of the story, we are taken through different times in Miss Emily’s life and how she was lost in time, with the town around her moving forward. Through the use of southern gothic writing style, narrator point of view, and foreshadowing, Faulkner aids the reader in creating a visualization of Miss Emily and the town in which she lives while also giving an insight into her sanity.

There are many components involved when analyzing a short story such as, main characters, point of view, plot, theme, and setting. Sometimes the answer is in black and white and other times it takes critical thinking to come up with a response. Some short stories have an important real life lesson while others are simply easy to relate to. Symbolism also plays a role in short stories by giving an event, object, or words being said a deeper meaning than the surface that brings importance to the story. “The Fat Girl” by Andre Dubus, “The Red Convertible” by Louise Erdrich, and “An Ounce of Cure” by Alice Munro are stories that contain most of the components of analyzing short stories.

Two of the greatest short stories written back in late 19th and early 20th centuries are still read by many people. The two stories are “A Rose for Emily” written by William Faulkner and Guy De Maupassant’s “The Necklace”. Faulkner’s book is about a woman named Emily Grierson’s life and her horrible secret she hides. The other book is about a materialistic woman named Mathilde Loisel loses a fake necklace and find out to be a fake one after ten years later. Although these stories are written about fifty years apart and written from two different countries, these two stories have many similarities and differences. “A Rose for Emily” and “The Necklace” are juxtaposed with the main characters, usage of symbolism on the title, and the tone

A short fiction is a brief but completely expressed story with a strong theme. These, among other types of fictional literature, use literary devices to help authors get their points-of-view across while continuing to keep the audience interested. These devices offer the reader a better understanding of the English language through feelings of emotion and appeal. Similarly they breathe life into a detached one-dimensional interpretation of language. They add elements of intensity and passion, allowing the audience to think deeply and thoroughly as to the how and why of a story.

Though different from a novel by means of length and lack of extensive character development, short stories contain few of the same “capabi[lities]” (Bedford, 474-475) that a novel possess including the means to cover different genres. Novels can be extremely long in length unlike short stories in which average anywhere from 500-20,000 words; though the length does vary based on author and the development of characters throughout (Bedford, 474-475). Therefore, character development is a substantial factor when it comes to distinguishing between a novel and a short story. Since Novels are extensive in size they allow for a more complex character development over the course of chapters, where in a short story the characters are provided with or given quite rapidly the “essential aspects” (Bedford, 474-475) need for the plot development and the reader. Short Stories allows for fast pace reading without losing the experience and thrill that comes with reading a full-sized

The short story is a concise form of narrative prose that is usually simpler and more direct compared to longer works of fiction such as novels. Therefore, because of their short length, short stories rely on many forms of literary devices to convey the idea of a uniform theme seen throughout the script. This theme is illustrated by using characteristics that are developed throughout the story such as, plot, setting and characters. The three main components are developed throughout the story in order to guide the reader to the underlying theme, which is necessary as a short story lacking a theme also lacks meaning or purpose.