...horrifying truth of Miss Emily's murder of Homer Barron for the final section of the story, and introducing Emily's necrophilia in the story's closing sentence, speaks volumes about Faulkner's abilities in his craft. He has successfully arranged the events of a disturbed woman's life to present them in order of interest and excitement rather than in traditional chronological order. This use of plot enables Faulkner to write a great ghost story, because a ghost story needs to end on this kind of high note. Faulkner creates a plot line that resembles the upper line of a crescendo, a graph of emotional tension that starts at the lowest of points and travels steadily upward to the highest of human horrors.
Faulkner’s writing style is not the typical writing style that authors often use. Stated by Houghton, “...Some of his novels ' narrative techniques are also present in the stories and include extended descriptions and details, actions in one scene that then recall a past or future scene, and complex sentence structure”. His gender has no influence whatsoever in his writing, his purpose is to mirror the complexity of the characters and issues within the short stories. “A Rose for Emily” is one of his many stories in which he establishes the depth of the settings and characters. He compliments an object and a character together. In “A Rose for Emily” Miss Emily has passed away and the whole town is aware of the tragedy, as a narrator Faulkner uses is complementing style to show that the house in which she lived in and her are inseparable and now that she is gone so is the house. He describes both the house and Emily, “And so she died. Fell ill in the house filled with dust and shadows”(Faulkner#PT4) and Miss Emily, “She died in one of the downstairs rooms, in a heavy walnut bed with a curtain, her gray head propped on a pillow yellow and moldy with age and lack of
In A Rose for Emily, Faulkner tells the story in A third-person pov from the perspective of A narrator who is a long-time citizen of the town. The town, described as a wealthy area inhabited by chivalrous/Aristocratic men and ...
...olism, and conflicts in William Faulkner’s “ A Rose for Emily” the theme that one must change within time and let go of the past is introduced. Faulkner uses these literary tools to illustrate that refusal to change can lead to deterioration of self. Miss Emily, in this case, resisted changes in extreme ways ultimately her reluctance to changes brought horrific consequences to herself and her loved one. “ A Rose for Emily” teaches moral lesson that life is filled with instabilities. People, places and things change all the time. If we keep holding on to the past, it will only cause us more pain. We might lose many things from the process of letting go. However, by letting go of the old life, we can gain a better future. Sometimes one must forget what is gone, appreciate things that are still remaining, and looking forward for something better that will come along.
Growing up in Mississippi in the late Nineteenth Century and the early part of the Twentieth Century, young William Faulkner witnessed first hand the struggles his beloved South endured through their slow progression of rebuilding. These experiences helped to develop Faulkner’s writing style. “Faulkner deals almost exclusively with the Southern scene (with) the Civil War … always behind his work” (Warren 1310. His works however are not so much historical in nature but more like folk lore. This way Faulkner is not constrained to keep details accurate, instead he manipulate the story to share his on views leading the reader to conclude morals or lessons from his experience. Faulkner writes often and “sympathetically of the older order of the antebellum society. It was a society that valued honor, (and) was capable of heroic action” (Brooks 145) both traits Faulkner admired. These sympathetic views are revealed in the story “A Rose for Emily” with Miss Emily becoming a monument for the Antebellum South.
Faulkner wrote many beautiful pieces of literature, including Intruder in the Dust, As I Lay Dying, Sanctuary, Pylon, and many other works famous for their originality. One of his most popular novels is A Rose for Emily, which was inspired by his independent mother, one can assume that Emily’s character is based on Maud Faulkner. (“123”). Before Faulkner, writers had a basic structure with hardly any detail and emotion weaved into their writings. Taking after his great-grandfather’s footsteps, William struggled passionately to become a writer in his early years. His first novel published was Soldier’s Play, which was published in 1926. Soldier’s Play is a book about a group of soldiers, beautifully described in the opening scene, overflowing with detail. The novel is simply a dialogue between drunk characters, but Faulkner has a way of painting mental images with his words. “Faulkner has vey skillfully imitated the way the human brain processes images and puts them into words. As readers, we are really placed inside the various character’s heads.” (“Schmoop”). Along with his mother, Faulkner used previously succe...
Faulkner, William. "A Rose for Emily." The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. Shorter 5th ed. Ed. R.V.Cassill. New York: W.W. Norton & Comp., 1995.
It can be observed that Emily, the protagonist of the story, never truly held herself to the same standards as her community. Also, that her community only tolerated her behavior because of who her father was to the town. (FAulkner) In the case of A Rose for Emily, the society rejects the individual, and even further isolates her a little more with every rebellious or questionable action she takes. In the story, Faulkner chooses to write Emily’s actions in a scattered way so that we don’t get the complete picture until the end of the story. This allows us to be able to see her in the way her town did. From Faulkner’s writing style, it can also be observed that the town isolated her and as a result of the isolation, rejected her from their
One of the only notable features in the book is when the townspeople observed a head on the second pillow in Ms. Emily's bed: "Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, and leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair." This demonstrates how a dead body has been living with Ms. Emily for a very long time. Clearly, the author wishes to show how insane Ms. Emily is for laying next to a dead body for a long time. In this instance, the author expresses how much of a strange person Ms. Emily is for living with a dead
Faulkner, William. "A Rose for Emily.” Literature: Reading, Reacting, and Writing Compact 7th Edition. Boston: Waldsmorth, 2010. 209-215
William Faulkner duly uses a unique writing style that consists of long sentences that are appropriate for the setting of “A Rose for Emily.” The long, convoluted sentences Faulkner uses in his story are meant to slow down the pace of the reader. Faulkner's long sentences contrast with the short phrases and sentences he cleverly places throughout the story in order to communicate important events. In “A Rose for Emily,” author William Faulkner uses many long sentences to describe the setting of the story, yet uses short sentences or phrases for dramatic events to have a psychological effect on the reader.
William Faulkner takes us back in time with his Gothic short story known as, “A Rose for Emily.” Almost every sentence gives a new piece of evidence to lead the reader to the overall theme of death, isolation, and trying to maintain traditions. The reader can conclude the theme through William Faulkner’s use of literary devices such as his choice of characters, the setting, the diction, the tone, and the plot line.
William Faulkner's use of setting and description foreshadows and builds up to the view of the story “Arose for Emily”. Faulkner uses symbols that will prepares the reader for the touching ending. A great way to keep the readers on their toes. Make them think before the story state what will happen next. Death and being lost is the main theme of the story. Everything in the story can be seen as a symbol of death from the house to the rose at the end of the story. Death and flash back is what can be seen clearly in this story. She couldn’t let go of her past and tried to hang on to it throughout the story. Faulkner has carefully created a complicated work of art, also he uses setting, description, and theme to move it along.
Faulkner uses the modern short story form and A Rose for Emily can be put into the category of an "epiphanic" short story as described by Thomas M.Leitch . This is because the story comes to a "climatic revelation" without having a specific plot line with "purposive agents." Faulkner also writes close to the form of the short story as you can definitely read it in one sitting and he concentrates on a brief time span. This allows him to provide us with a deeper look at Emily and the society that surrounded her in a microcosm of what Faulkner witnessed happening to many Southern aristocrats. We know Emily is an aristocrat because of her behaviour towards the issue of tax, as she believes she is above paying because she is a "Grierson.
William Faulkner, the author of A Rose for Emily, uses language, symbols, setting, and time to elaborate Emily's resistance to change and the conflict between the past and the present. In addition, Faulkner uses these elements to illustrate the power of death, which prevailes even when Emily refuses to acknowledge it. Even though the events do not appear chronologically in the story, the author's use of words helps the reader organize the scenes in order to make sense. Furthermore, the author's description of Emily, her house, and the people who lived around her makes it easy for the reader to understand secrets that are hidden in the story. The use of imagery and figurative language also help the reader to understand the extended meaning that is conveyed by the author, and create visual images in the mind.