Roosevelt Campbell
Professor Finnegan
English 111 (009)
10 December 2012

In the short story, “A rose for Emily”, William Faulkner opens the scene at Ms. Emily Greison, the main characters funeral. Faulkner takes the readers back to the past events leading up to her death. Throughout the short story many references were made about time, this allowed readers to gain a little insight on the era in which the story took place and also an idea about the characters roles and so forth. The constant reference to the changes in time also suggests that there would be a dramatic change in Ms. Emily Greison’s attitude towards the other characters and her own character.
In the beginning of the story, also the end of Ms. Emily’s life her characteristics are defined as cold and distant, throughout the story readers also see that Ms. Emily remains cold and distant. The narrator refers to this in his opening statement says, “When Ms. Emily Greison died the whole town went to her funeral-“. At first this suggest that the character was favorable amongst her peers but then it is quickly justified when the narrator says “The men through a sort of respectful affection and the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house.” This justification shows the lack of empathy town’s people had for the character, and the distant relationship Ms. Emily had with the town’s people. Without saying too much, readers can infer that Ms. Emily was not favorable amongst her peers and that she was so closed off that nobody had seen the inside of her house for quite some time. As the story continues the narrator takes readers back to two years prior what seems to be a dramatic change in Ms. Emily’s life. The town’s-people suggest that Ms. Emily is being courted by a gentleman named Homer Barron and because of that change; she will also change in character. In scene III, the narrator states, “We were glad that Ms. Emily would have interest”. The wistfulness in the narrators tone suggest that if Mr. Barron courts Ms. Emily that the outcome may be positive. Unfortunately that change in Ms. Emily character never comes; she remains just as cold and distant until her dying days.
Her attitude towards the characters in the short story also remains the same despite the change around her. At the end of Scene I and beginning of Scene II, readers see the first interaction between Ms. Emily and the town’s people. The narrator says “So she vanquished them, horse and foot just as she vanquished their fathers thirty years before about the smell”. Readers can see the author’s reference to time, there had been two generations that Ms. Emily lived through yet her demeanor and attitude towards the town’s people remains the same between the two generations. Again the narrator references time. In scene IV, the narrator says “The daughter and granddaughters of Colonel Sartories contemporaries were sent to her with the same regularity” and he continued on by saying, “The newer generation became the backbone of the town……the paint pupils fell away and did not send their children”. In this example, the contrast between regularities within the two generations where in the older generation, girls went study art versus the newer generation that didn’t, suggest the changes in times periods. Through these examples readers can see that the period in which Ms. Emily lives has evolved and changed but also leaves readers to believe that maybe Ms. Emily has also changed with the times.
The narrator gives insight to Ms. Emily’s life through the town’s people’s eyes. The readers can feel the anticipation the town’s people have when they constantly await and gossip for a change in Ms. Emily, whether in her character or her attitude towards the towns’ people. The author uses time as a theme to help capture the anticipation for change. He takes you through different time periods in Ms. Emily’s life and readers can see the change around her, not just in time periods but in regularities, as well. For example painting-a regular activity which was once popular amongst young daughters of the town’s people is an activity that over time diminished, but through all the changes in and around the story, Ms. Emily character remains the same. In the end it is inferred that Ms. Emily killed Mr. Homer Barron. This act infers that Ms. Emily is just as cold and distant in the beginning as she was in the end.
Overall the author’s constant reference to time in this story symbolizes Ms. Emily Grieson’s inability to change or rather regard for change, despite what the town’s people wanted. The author tells the story though town’s-person eyes because he wants the readers feel the same anticipation the town’s people feel. He builds an illusion through a time scheme method to suggest that maybe the main character was different once upon a time. Surprisingly enough his message to readers show that though there are changes around Ms. Emily, a person who is set in their ways no matter how hard you wish and want and wait, that doesn’t mean the change will come.