The short story by William Faulkner, “A Rose for Emily”, is a short tale about a woman named Emily and what is known of her. The question I pose to answer is: Who is our speaker? Who is this “we”? What is the purpose of this “we”? The “we” refers to the townspeople with no apparent ties to Emily’s story. More importantly, the “we” refers to an individual aiming to make this claim. The story’s speaker is but one individual making a claim for some sort of union of individuals. From this stance, it becomes most apparent with what the word “we” entails, and what this “we” does to the point of view. Whichever way you go about it, undeniably there is always an “I” within the “we”. In order to even begin to know who our “we” is, we would need to …show more content…
“When Miss Emily died, our whole town went to her funeral” (Page 516, The Norton Introduction to Literature). Notice that just in the same way that the “we” encloses an “I”, this works the same in the usage of “our”. How does this set up guilt in the story? It is literally phrased “our whole town” to add an emphasis on the state of possession over the area. The phrase wasn’t “her whole town” or “the whole town”. The phrase was “our whole town”. There is a sense of responsibility included in the usage of “our”. When you take possession of something you claim responsibility for it. Using this especially in the situation of a funeral sets up the grounds for the speaker’s guilt. This is important to note when aiming to find out the purpose behind the general usage of “we” in narrating the story. By using “we” as an approach to tell a story about death and implied murder, the individual “I” behind the “we” can relieve themselves from the sense of guilt that accompanies the tale. In order to defend one’s self in the case of a guilty situation, it’s not uncommon for people to claim they weren’t the only person involved in the incident. At least then if they were to be held accountable they wouldn’t be alone in their accountability. Approaching the narration this way shows that the “I” believes that the other townspeople involved feel similarly by speaking in a collective …show more content…
Having someone die in your own town, especially in such the way that Homer Barron is implied to have died, is similar in respect to having someone die in your own house. Your town and your house are both locations you might feel fit the entitlement of “home”. The ability to separate themselves with “we” gives the speaker a chance to escape the idea that they are largely a part of the story themselves. On frequent occasions the “we” is actually actively involved in their own tale. The most important instance of this is at the end of the story. “For a long time we just stood there, looking down at the profound and fleshless grin” (Page 522, The Norton Introduction to Literature). It is here that we notice just how actively involved in the story the “we” is. The “we” play the important role of both finding Homer Barron’s body and granting us conclusions to Homer Barron’s disappearance. However, the narrator’s usage of “we” actively works to separate themselves from playing a big role in the story. This ties back to the concept of guilt. If the narrator can feel separation from the story itself, then the narrator can feel minimal pangs of guilt in response to their own lack of involvement that resulted in this kind of
In “A Rose for Emily,” written by William Faulkner during a time where old traditions seem as important to Emily Grierson than anything in the world. She is a lady that holds on to her beliefs strongly from the old South. She could not embrace change from the new generation of newcomers into the new South in which she lives until the day of her death. She has to live her life in isolation and hidden in darkness from a world she never could understand. Miss Grierson is not allowing anyone into this
In William Faulkner’s story, “A Rose for Emily”, Faulkner uses symbolism as a literary element to keep the reader interested in his writing. There are many characters and materials that Faulkner placed throughout the story with hidden meaning. When he describes dust being in a scene, the reader may scan over it, not giving the element much thought. The dust, however, does hold a significant message. Dust was present in Ms. Emily’s home all throughout the story. Ms. Emily spent most of her time in
“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is a southern gothic story first published in 1930. The story of Emily Grierson’s life parallels the struggle the South faced when breaking away from its antebellum past into modernity. The story is narrated collectively by the citizens of Jefferson—a seemingly average small southern town. The narrator tells the story of Emily Grierson—the town reclusive eccentric who died before accepting the changes brought forth from the post-civil war south. Emily Grierson
A Rose for Emily Characterization refers to the techniques a writer uses to develop characters. In the story A Rose for Emily William Faulkner uses characterization to reveal the character of Miss Emily. He expresses the content of her character through physical description, through her actions, words, and feelings, through a narrator's direct comments about the character's nature, and through the actions, words, and feelings, of other characters. Faulkner best uses characterization to examine the
Everybody Would Hand a Rose In his short story, “A Rose for Emily” William Faulkner gives us a picture of female identity from a male point of view, showing compassion and forgiveness for his central character. Intriguingly, the writer uses the word “rose” in the title even though a rose does not exist in any part of his story; it has highly symbolic implications. Usually, the rose symbolizes love but in this case, it expresses a sympathetic attitude of society towards Emily. In reference to this
peace, physiology, medicine and economic sciences. Author William Faulkner is just one recipient of the prize for literature. He received his award in 1950, and while doing so, delivered a speech that will forever live among the most compelling examples of oration in history. Faulkner’s speech centered on the idea of what literature had become at the time, and what he felt it needed to be. The reception of this price immediately listed Faulkner as one of the most important individuals in literature
imageries people associate with both, and will not go away overnight or in a century, possibly not even in a millennium. These typical obligations have become preserved by literature throughout history. One such narrative is “A Rose for Emily”, written by William Faulkner in 1930. There are remarks that have meanings beyond being merely a word with a definition. These symbols and keywords based on gender roles are throughout the story. Of the many hidden in the story, the most important symbols and
“A Rose for Emily,” by William Faulkner, the reader recognizes the harsh reality of a woman’s inability to open up to a new and ever changing world. Emily Grierson is a lonely, mysterious woman, who lives with her father in a large, post civil war era home. Emily’s father was a controlling man and sent away each man that tried to court Emily. All Emily inherited after her father’s death was the house. However the town thought she had the right to “cling to that which had robbed her.”(Faulkner 311)
A Rose for Emily 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
The short story “A Rose for Emily” is a gloomy piece written by William Faulkner. Faulkner successfully uses a reminiscent tone to illustrate how Emily’s popularity or status in societythe legacy of the Grierson family name, kept the town of Jefferson onlookers blinded from the truth that Emily Griersonshe tragically murdered her lover, Homer Barron. This story is a far cry from today’s reality, because the fact is that in today’s society when people’s lives are in the spotlight, as Emily’s is, onlookers
In the story “ A Rose for Emily”, by William Faulkner the narrator introduces the reader to Emily Grierson, a sheltered southern woman who while alive struggled immensely with her sanity and the evolving world around her. Emily's father, a very prestigious man is the cause of Emily's senseless behavior. He kept her secluded from the rest of the town “We remembered all the young men her father had driven away...” (Page 3.) If Emily had been allowed to date and socialize with people her own age
In William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily," we see how past events affect the life of the main character Miss Emily, especially her inability to accept change. Throughout the story Miss Emily goes to extreme measures to protect her social status. Miss Emily lives in the past to shield herself from a future that holds no promises and no guarantees. William Faulkner illustrates Miss Emily's inability to accept change through the physical, social and historical settings, all of which are intimately
of development (in the case of Emily, we will examine her development in the Oral stage through the Phallic stage (these stages cover from birth to about five years old)). Through classical psychoanalysis, we can pick up clues from the text to piece together Emily's childhood and link the problems in her early development (specifically her relationship with her mother) with her severe neuoris. At the end of Part II we are told about the death of Emily's father. Emily refuses to acknowledge the death
A Rose For Emily is a short story that was written in 1930, by William Faulkner. It is considered to be among the greatest piece of literature that has been interpreted many times. This is a story about the life and death of the protagonist Emily Grierson. The story is arrayed in five sections. First, it starts with the death of the protagonist, and her encounter with the tax officials when they came to inquire bout her tax payment. Next, is her father’s death followed by Emily going to a local store
William Faulkner’s Southern background plays a constituent part of the creation of his story “A Rose for Emily”. With his creative mind Faulkner created a county in Mississippi called Yoknapatawpha. Like the southern town he was born and raised in, Faulkner peopled this story with both African American and Caucasian people of the late 1800’s. Faulkner’s idea of writing this story was to focus on the events causing destruction and suffering in one’s inner and outer situations. Many of Faulkner’s people