William Faulkner 's A Rose For Emily

Rather than stating the true meaning of his works, William Faulkner generally uses symbolism to portray the depth of his tales. Throughout the story “A Rose For Emily,” time is a continuous theme that is portrayed through symbols. The past, present, and future are represented by different people, places, and things. One of which such symbols, the main character herself, represents the essence of the past through her father, her house, and her lover.

In the short story, "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner, a woman whose father passed away is set in her ways and has a caretaker named Tobe, which is the only person in her life taking care of her. Her name is Emily Grierson. The Grierson family was at one time a very wealthy family; the entire town seemed to look up to them. Due to poverty problems, some of the Grierson family moved away leaving Emily and her father behind in the town. Although Emily would be considered a traditionalist, hoping for the south to retain its old ways, William Faulkner criticizes her stagnation, and in her death, leaves readers with hope for a new South.

The narrator takes ownership of the town, but never truly identifies his or her true relationship to it. The references of “our town”, and “our most select street” (Faulkner 299), are in direct contrast to the descriptive term “an eyesore among eyesores” (Faulkner 299). This how the narrator views everything associated with Miss Emily. This where I believe I can start to see the significance behind the narrative voice in this story. It’s important to note the relevance in the narrators use of pronouns when leading into descriptive terms referencing the towns feelings towards Miss Emily. We, our, and they, were all indications of the townspeople distancing themselves from Miss Emily. In Helen Nebeker’s work, “Emily 's Rose of Love: Thematic Implications of Point of View in Faulkner 's ‘A Rose for Emily’”, she makes a particular reference of this:

Good Evening and welcome to tonight’s discussion. This evening our topic will be whether or not personal freedom exists in the 21st century for all citizens of the United States, and if not, is peaceful or violent action the most effective change agent. Tonight’s lineup includes the following:

My overall impression of A Rose for Emily is that the story was very eccentric and kind of heart-breaking. The story was eccentric to me because I did not expect that out of Miss Emily. I knew she was weird from the beginning because she hid her father’s corpse for three days. What person in their right mind would do that? Definitely not I and I do not think a lot of people would either unless you have a mental disability. Emily held onto what she admired the most and looked up to. Emily looked up to her father, who sheltered her and held her hostage his whole life. He believed no one was good enough for his daughter and did not want anyone to take his daughter away from him. This is where the story becomes heart-breaking for me. Miss Emily could have had a lot of potential and her father took it all away from her. He sheltered her for his own sake and Emily did not know any better. Emily believed everything he told her since she was not allowed outside the house and did not know the basics of reality. When her father passed away, Emily stayed to herself for awhile and then she met Homer Barron. Homer was a Yankee and the foreman of the construction company. Everyone liked Homer in Jefferson including Miss Emily. When Homer left to go back up North, Miss Emily felt abandoned again. First she was abandoned by her father and now by her love, Homer. She felt she had to do something, so she got arsenic poison which is very harmful and she kills Homer. She killed Homer because he

“A Rose for Emily” is a tragic story written by William Faulkner. It opens up describing a funeral arrangement made for Miss Emily Grierson. Nobody had been to Miss Emily’s house in ten years besides her servant. The story then jumps to thirty years earlier, in which we find out the mystery behind what happened with Miss troubled Emily Grierson and her relationship with a man named Homer. Faulkner’s use of suspense in this story keeps the readers on their edge.

Love, Loss and Longing—three traits that many would agree Emily Grierson, the main character from William Faulkner’s “A Rose For Emily”, experiences inexorably. At first glance, one might be confident in one’s understanding of the story at face-value, claiming it to be a thrilling mystery with a mysterious ending. Another may try to analyze contextual evidence to answer some of the many unanswered questions this story proposes. Why does Emily sleep with the corpse of her late husband? Why does she kill him in the first place? Yet, I will not attempt to do so, at least not directly. I will instead turn to the perspective from which this story is told: that of the townspeople. The ways which they describe Emily will lead to tangential yet important realizations that they share more with the outlandish characters they describe than they realize, illuminating basic human tendencies that we all share along the way.

“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner was published in 1930. This short story is set in an old southern town. I believe that this and several other combinations of events are what made the main character Miss Emily go insane. Miss Emily was an old school southern woman trapped in a modernizing society. She tried desperately to keep to her old ways, but the changes that happened around her were inevitable. This made me feel like something was going to go wrong very early in the story. It became very apparent to me that Emily did not deal well with change. Throughout the story, I felt sorry for her, because I do not deal well with change either. I find it hard and stressful to deal with. Thus I can see how her changing environment directly impacted Miss Emily’s life. When Emily met the love of her life she slowly became obsessed with him. This was until one day he betrayed her by spreading rumors about her that weren 't true. As the town grew more and more people heard these rumors and began to think less of Miss Emily. This along with her sheltered and isolated childhood could have been what drove Miss Emily to become a murder later on in her life.

William Faulkner does an exceptional job at incorporating several different themes brought out in his story “A Rose for Emily” into his writing style. The unique style of Faulkner's writing throughout this short-story perfectly fits the quote “Style is to forget all styles.” (Renard, 2012). Meaning that the writing in A Rose for Emily contains multiple writing styles gelled together which perfectly reflects the twisted story being told about Miss Emily Grierson. Through the implication of several popular writing styles, William Faulkner sets the uncomfortable tone early and throughout his short-story enabling readers to better understand as well as enjoy the mysterious story of Miss

William Faulkner is one amazing writing ,who is known for his many short stories .However, many has wondered what has influenced him in writing these stories . Like his well known, most famous short story “A Rose for Emily”, which has always been compared to “Barn Burning”, one of Faulkner’s other short story. It only make sense to compare them two together because these two stories has may similarities , whether it may be in setting , characters or style they favor each other . Nevertheless they also have many differences too, which make them even more interesting and unique. This paper is going to explore all those aspects including Faulkner’s past, to get a clear idea of how different yet similar these two stories are.

The style of narration used to tell the short story “A Rose for Emily”, has an important role in how the readers might come to view Miss Emily as having had a prominent position in the town (Curry 3). “A Rose for Emily”, is told by an unnamed narrator and it also indicates there is more than one person telling the story, possibly a group of people living in the town who had grown up watching Miss Emily over the years. Faulkner stands firmly within the constructs, yet by calling attention to this vantage point and its inadequacies, by deploying a bisexual narration into the text, and by presenting Emily’s house both as intimate space for the character as well as impregnable barrier to its own author/creator, Faulkner dismantles the structure of classic realist fiction. Both narrator

A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner is a unique piece of literature. It has a plot which seems somewhat bland, and it is not particularly exciting. However, the ending is quite suprising, and for me it made the story worth reading. I think there are some interesting aspects of this story if you look at it from a feminist point of view. The feminist movement has attempted to elevate the status of the woman to a level equal with men. Feminists have fought for the right of women to be free from the old social restraints which have been in place for so long. A feminist believes a woman should be strong and independent. In some ways the main character, Emily, is this kind of woman, but for the most part she is

By using the third person pronouns such as “they” and “them,” as well as general descriptive pronouns like “people,” the unidentified narrator disconnects his/herself from other town members and situations in which they encounter Miss Emily or gossip about her. The narrator is all knowing, most likely by means of gossip in the town. Because numerous ideas and opinions of Emily are provided by the narrator, the story reads as though it is impartial in its reflection of Miss Emily’s story. The narrator provides interactions or opinions regarding Miss Emily from the newer generation, the Board of Alderman, “the old people,” the “four men” who sprinkle lime, “the ladies,” “the men,” “the very old men,” and a general “people” somehow without including his/herself among any of these groups. The mysterious narrator is not a member of the newer a generation or the Board of Alderman; he/she is neither man nor woman and neither young nor old. The narrator is merely a spectator of the town, and in many portions of the story, he/she separates his/herself from the rest of the town. The narrator says that the “people” felt “really sorry” for Emily after her father died, and believed that her family “held themselves a little too high for what they really were.” By using “they” and “people” in descriptions, the narrator is carefully separating others’ feelings towards Emily from his/her own. Beyond feelings, the narrator also indicates that the “people” were

In Faulkner’s, “A Rose for Emily”, Emily lives in a world of her own making. This is because townspeople in Jefferson holds Miss Emily in such high regards. To them, she symbolizes the customs of the old south, or what the town Jefferson once was. For Emily and also for the townspeople time is relative, the past is an ever-present realm in Jefferson. For this reason people wish to respect Emily and preserve her customs; even if it means intruding into her personal life, or turning the cheek towards her suspicious actions. In the story Falkner introduces the importance of preserving the traditions of an old Southern town. This is done through his choice in literary elements: such as setting, motif, point of view, symbolism, and metaphor.

William Faulkner's A Rose for Emily is set in the small southern town of Jefferson during the early decades of the twentieth century . At this time, vast and cardinal changes were being made by the upcoming new south to conceal and move from the horrid truths that were a part of the town's history. In lieu of this, Jefferson was at a turning point in which they were having difficulty coming to terms with these changes . Integrating Faulkner's use of character and symbols with other sources,  it will be supported that despite of the attempts made to carry Miss Emily and others who expressed denial and fear of modernity, change is an inevitable reality that was unable to be escaped.        The author uses Miss