...William Faulkner’s short story, “A Rose for Emily”, is an example of how a small town’s inhabitants can shape the character of one woman based on gossip. The narrator, comprised primarily of the many voices of the town’s people with little input from Miss Emily, draw their own conclusions about her, a women who was a sort of living relic in the town that was progressing into modern times without her. Since the many voices of the town’s people comprise the narrator, their speculations shape Miss Emily’s character, her reasons for being a recluse and their reasons for avoiding confronting her. While Miss Emily is the main focus of Faulkner’s short story, no insight into her personal feelings or thoughts are ever revealed. The depth of her character is left up to the assumptions of the town’s people. She is always talked about at a distance which leaves her character flat. Even when the issue of taxes arises and the sheriff sends two men to talk to Miss Emily she is described in a morbid way; “her skeleton was small and spare…she looked bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water…with that pallid hue.”(Faulkner 788). Just with physical description alone the town’s people can manipulate Miss Emily into an uninviting women. Miss Emily’s reclusive behavior doesn’t sit well with the inhabitants of the town. They’re in the habit of socializing and being a part of each other’s personal lives. In contrast, Miss Emily does not share in the lives of the town’s...
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...Literary Analysis of “A Rose for Emily” In the story “A Rose for Emily,” by William Faulkner, Emily Grierson is well known for her sorrowful background due to the loss of her governing father and status of isolation. In addition to Faulkner’s one-of-a-kind narration, he constructs a complex chronology that allows the reader to gradually become aware of facts, motivations, events, and emotions. Though Faulkner’s technique in “A Rose for Emily” may initially be a bit confusing, it reminds the reader this story is not one that can necessarily be told with simplicity, for there can be many answers to one question and many questions to one remark. One may think that the townspeople could easily be considered the antagonist, and while this may be true, Faulkner provides perspectives of all characters allowing the readers to perhaps question if there could be more than one. The townspeople made Miss Emily the talk of the town, making sure she was constantly being secluded. They eventually stopped sending their children to her China painting lessons, and pressured her to the point where she killed her lover in order to feel she had not lost her dignity. Essentially, they played a significant role in the death of Homer Barron, ruining their relationship with talk of disapproval. The townspeople could have possibly been well informed of their action, which can lead the to fact that it was not chosen to investigate Homer’s disappearance or prosecute Emily for that matter. The town antagonizes...
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...Meghann Eident February 11 2014 Eng Comp 102-04 Prof. Veninger Narration Analysis of “A Rose For Emily” In reading and analyzing “ A Rose For Emily” by William Faulkner, I’ve come to better see the uses and art of narration. Narration can be used to manipulate any story. In “A Rose For Emily” Faulkner uses third person narration to tell the story through a unknown character’s point of view. Although the thought that telling a story in third person might take away from some of the compassion and feelings we have for our main character, Emily, we find that instead it makes us more inclined to side with Emily and view her with complete empathy. Faulkner makes sure that his narrator pushes us slowly to this train of thought. Faulkner’s mysterious narrator in “A Rose For Emily” makes this story very unbiased, telling the story with no side to stand on. When he/she talks about Emily and the towns people whom lived there, he tells the ideas and gossip of the townspeople with out claiming it as his own thoughts. This makes the reader less likely to gather that information as truth. In the opening paragraph of “A Rose For Emily” we find a prime example of the narrator criticizing the publics scrutiny and distasteful brown nosing towards Emily’s death and personal belongings. “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,” (Faulkner) here the text describes the women...
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...A Rose for Emily Summary Analysis A Rose for Emily was indeed an s story that has great emotional moments to it that I felt made the story stand out then the rest. The first thing I will discuss is the characters of the story the role they played for the author. I will also give a description of Emily from her younger days until her age of 74. Then reason why everyone felt so sad for Emily and what made the feelings change. Then I will discuss the event at which they discovered a dead body in the house. Lastly will be my final thoughts of the story. This story is a key story that displays deep emotions of those around you. In this story are they’re several different characters that played a key part to collaborate each other. The first character will be the main one Miss Emily Grierson she starts out young then she works her way to death in the end at the age of 74. She was a beautiful woman during her youthful days all the man flocked to her but as she gets older very few did because she gotten fat. Also people accrued she had aggressive order that filled the area. She was very stubborn and very much a southern bell. Our next character was Colonel Sartorius he was the town’s mayor he always very light with Miss Emily due to the fact her father loan the town money prior to his passing. There was also alderman which was pretty much the town counsel. There was also a Negro the servant of Miss Emily. There was two cousins she had that was from Alabama. There was a druggist...
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...scenarios in which mysterious secrets, extreme isolation, grotesque images, and characters’ duress combine to create a dark and horrid image for its bold readers” (Renaldo 2). Generally presenting the same themes and tropes, Gothic literature discusses madness, isolation, disease, nightmares, and death. Although in some stories, it also explores unmentionable topics such as murder, suicide, and incest. William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” is a story of a spinster woman who has killed her lover and lain for years beside his decaying body. The story deals with a murder caused by possessive love, and it elucidates the face of death which results in repulsion and compassion. “A Rose for Emily” represents Southern Gothic literature through descriptions of Emily, her house, necrophilia, and the theme of death. To begin with, the narrator portrays Emily Grierson as a once prominent member of the community. However, after the death of her father, she is pitied and often irritating, demanding to live life on her own terms. In the beginning of the story, the author describes her as looking “bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water, and of that pallid hue. Her eyes, lost in the fatty ridges of her face, [look] like two small pieces of coal pressed into a lump of dough” (Faulkner 53). Being isolated from the outside world since her father died and Homer Barron, her lover, went missing, Emily becomes a muted and mysterious figure. She begins to enforce her own sense of law...
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...about Literature COM1102 10 October 2015 "A ROSE FOR EMILY" Visual vs. Reading William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" is a short gothic horror story that has also been adapted into a short film. Both story and film have been largely debated, with a plethora of opinions. Faulkner’s lack of normal chronology and situation-triggered memories generates a story that has many interpretations among its readers, but surprises everyone at the end. When asked about the title of his story, Faulkner said," [The title] was an allegorical title; the meaning was, here was a woman who had had a tragedy, an irrevocable tragedy and nothing could be done about it, and I pitied her and this was a salute . . . to a woman you would hand a rose." (Faulkner, William 1966 ;) He gave a humble explanation, for such a complex story. The film portrays the story straight forward, and leaves nothing left to the imagination. 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 the city of 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...
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...Gabriel Roncal Dr. Reginald Abbott ENGL 1102-265 28 February 2013 The Southern Book of no changes: An Analysis of William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” “Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” From Lao Tzu One of the five classics of Taoism, the I Ching or Book of Changes, states that the world and life are always changing, and that only the superior man is meant to overcome these special circumstances. In A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner, the main character Miss Emily Grierson isolates herself from reality and makes the decision of defying the human necessity to adapt. In this way, Faulkner uses this story to illustrate the audience about the incapacity of the South to accept change after the Civil War. Once the North beat the South, many southerners did not accept the fact that their lives had changed. They clung to the past and rejected the new vision of America. Emily’s personality represents this last try to stand firm to the old traditions of the South. In the beginning of the story, the reader can observe that even her property is a holdout: "But garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of the neighborhood; only now Miss Emily's house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and gasoline pump-a eyesore among eyesores" (Faulkner, 91)....
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...A Look at “A Rose for Emily” “A Rose for Emily” is a short story by William Faulkner. It is the story of an old southern woman called Emily who lives only with her servant in an old mansion after her father dies; she never goes out and is rarely seen by the townspeople. Nobody in the town knows that she’s keeping a macabre secret inside her room. I chose this story in particular because I’m a huge fan of The Zombies and music from the sixties in general. In The Zombies’ album Odessey and Oracle, there is a short retelling of the story and that is the only version of the story I have ever heard before reading the actual story in class recently. The story is divided in five parts. In the first part of the story, the narrator recalls the time of Emily’s death and how the whole town attends her funeral in her old dilapidated home. We are told how the previous mayor, a man in his eighties, has retracted Emily’s taxes after her father’s death. When the new younger generation town leaders take over they try to make her pay taxes but she gets her way and successfully gets rid of these officials. In the second part, the narrator describes how thirty years earlier, Emily’s house started to smell horrible. The younger officials sprinkle lime along the foundation to appease the townspeople who are complaining of the odor. The narrator gives us a clue about Emily’s state of mind by telling us the Emily’s great aunt had succumbed to mental illness. Even though Emily has denied that her father...
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...for Emily” by William Faulkner an earnest and forthright tone is present due to several archetypes, numerology, and types of characters presented by the author. However, a few seem to be clearer when establishing the tone of the story. Emily is seen as a vampire archetype due to her corrupt values and dual nature. Numerology is found in order to institute the intense and direct tones. Also, Emily and her father as seen as parallel characters because of their similarities, in return are making the tone even more clear to the reader. Many examples of numerology can be found in this story to help establish the earnest and forthright tone. The number thirty appears several times throughout the story. “So she vanquished them, horse and foot, just as she had vanquished their fathers thirty years before the smell” (Faulkner 30). Thirty as a number can represent dedication to a task after physical or mental maturity. With Emily’s father gone and her having full responsibility for herself, she feels she can do almost anything. Even murder her lover, Homer, in order for him to stay in her life forever. She has an intense and sincere state of mind. The number thirty can also represent the sacrificial blood of Jesus, due to Judas betrayal of Judas for thirty coins. Emily remained single even until she was thirty years old, “So when she got to be thirty and was still single, we were not pleased exactly, but vindicated” (Faulkner 31). Yes, it appeared she was single, but really Miss Emily...
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...decay is brought in and developed. The text is an extract from a William Faulkner's short story: A Rose for Emily. Divided in five sections, this extract is the end of the text, compounded of the section III, IV and V. Published in 1930, the story takes place in the fictional city of Jefferson, Mississippi and it is introduced by a mysterious, unnamed narrator who is sometimes grouped with the townspeople and sometimes completely exterior. A Rose for Emily is usually read as a gothic fiction because of the forbidding and eery atmosphere, the heroine's tragic destiny and the focus on morbid ambience. We are in the context of the Reconstruction, after the Civil War. Townsmen are trying to build a new society, modernizing transport and communication. In parallel, this is a story of a mysterious women, Emily Grierson struggling against the time, the society, the tragedy of life and hiding a terrible secret. In this analysis, we will ask about the way to treat the gothic fiction chosen by William Faulkner trough the themes of time and decay. First of all, we will study the obvious confrontation between past and present and the unconventional approach of Faulkner to manipulate time. Secondly, we will analyze the weight and the power of death and how the theme is presented and interpreted. In a third part, we will deal with the tragedy, the pursuit of happiness of Emily, her interpretation of death and love in her unstable mind. In the extract, the author treats the concept of...
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...Freud and Faulkner A psychoanalytic Reading of “A Rose for Emily” Abstract Undoubtedly Sigmund Freud is the father of psychoanalysis. He was an influential thinker of the early twentieth century who elaborated the theory that the mind is a complex energy-system and the structural investigation of which is the proper province of psychology. Freud articulated and refined the concepts of the unconscious, infantile sexuality and repression and he proposed tripartite account of the mind ‘s structure, all as part of a radically new conceptual and therapeutic frame of reference for the understanding of human psychological development and the treatment of abnormal mental conditions. Freudian approach can be analyzed well in The short story “A Rose for Emily” which is one of the great stories by an American novelist William Faulkner. In this essay I ‘m going to analyze this short story and the characteristics of its protagonist ( Emily Grierson) from Freudian and psychoanalytic criticism. Introduction Miss Emily Grierson, the main character in William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily,” is certainly strange by any average reader’s standards and a character analysis of Emily could go in any number of directions. It is nearly impossible not to examine her in a psychoanalytical and Freudian criticism specially about: Phallic stage, Oedipus Complex and the role of Id, Ego and Superego. The Phallic Stage According...
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...English Comp II, Thematic Analysis 12 July 2014 Religion & Murder in 19th Century American Fiction The recurring theme in “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe and “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is religion. “The Black Cat” is about a man who is at a crossroads between the religion he knows and the new scientific theories of the day. “A Rose for Emily” is about a woman caught between her Episcopalian beliefs and the Baptist beliefs of the community she lives in. Both stories use isolation and murder to illustrate the main character’s struggle with religion. However, while Faulkner’s Emily is dealing with outside isolation of her beliefs, Poe’s narrative is an internal struggle with religion versus scientific theory. According to Laura J. Getty, author of "Faulkner's A rose for Emily," “A Rose for Emily” immediately addresses the recurring theme of religion by referencing the carved rose on the confessional booth Emily visits. The Episcopalian Emily visits a confessional while her Baptist neighbors do not (Getty 232). Faulkner further refers to religion by explaining “When we saw her again her hair was cut short, making her look like a girl, with a vague resemblance to the angels in colored church windows—sort of tragic and serene” (par 29). Emily’s struggle with the townspeople’s Baptist beliefs and her Episcopalian background maintain the religious theme. The ladies of the town coerce the Baptist minister to intervene by calling on Emily when she shows a romantic...
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...William Faulkner’s short story ‘A Rose for Emily “is considered one of his most celebrated brief stories. William Faulkner grew up in the South and being a Southern writer he focuses southern tradition on his writing. Emily is the primary character on this story. The tale divides into 5 segments, and in each segment the author focuses Emily’s eccentric, bizarre, stubborn and aggressive behavior. During her childhood her father shaped her life and was isolated her from the outside world. Soon after her father’s death she encountered with Homer Barron in such a relationship tragically which was not accepted by her towns people. Since then she became more lonely and isolated. She turned into residing in the past even for many years although the...
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...A Rose for Emily Summary How It All Goes Down You might want to look at our discussion of the novel's setting before you enter here, or at least know it's there to help if you get tangled up in this story's crazy chronology. Also keep in mind that the narrator of this story represents several generations of men and women from the town. The story begins at the huge funeral for Miss Emily Grierson. Nobody has been to her house in ten years, except for her servant. Her house is old, but was once the best house around. The town had a special relationship with Miss Emily ever since it decided to stop billing her for taxes in 1894. But, the "newer generation" wasn't happy with this arrangement, and so they paid a visit to Miss Emily and tried to get her to pay the debt. She refused to acknowledge that the old arrangement might not work any more, and flatly refused to pay. Thirty years before, the tax collecting townspeople had a strange encounter with Miss Emily about a bad smell at her place. This was about two years after her father died, and a short time after her lover disappeared from her life. Anyhow, the stink got stronger and complaints were made, but the authorities didn't want to confront Emily about the problem. So, they sprinkled lime around the house and the smell was eventually gone. Everybody felt sorry for Emily when her father died. He left her with the house, but no money. When he died, Emily refused to admit it for three whole days. The town didn't think...
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...Name Professor English 1B 03 March 2014 Faulkner’s Use of Southern Gothic and Mississippi Faulkner might have well been named as one of the most influential American writers of the South while some critics despised his work. William Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi, on September 25, 1897 (“William Faulkner Bio”). His love for poetry early on helped shape his writing style. Faulkner became an accomplished writer producing novels, short stories, poetry, and even dabbled in screen work media. As a Novel Prize laureate, he spent most of his life in Lafayette County, Mississippi. Many of his fictional stories take place in Yoknapatawpha County, a place he created based on the setting in Lafayette. As a native of Mississippi, the American South’s culture had a big influence on him. His inspiration for writing came from his grandfather (Cruz). He not only loved his grandfather but wanted to be just like him. His passion for literature sent him on a journey to the University of Mississippi. While attending school, he worked for The Scream writing comic strips. (Cruz). Faulkner traveled a lot with his father while he was younger. Like most, he had strong Southern values and pride. He seemed to have a different stance on equality and the issues of inequality taking place. Faulkner encouraged equality amongst the citizens. His literature uses several situations where people of race, gender, or class are discriminated against (Cruz). Faulkner’s ability to write seemed...
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