The Life of Emily Grierson in A Rose for Emily

382 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Symbolism in faulkners a rose for emily

The Life of Emily Grierson in A Rose for Emily

What story does the image of a strand of iron-gray hair resting on a pillow invoke? Many people could imagine a horrible ghost story or a beautiful tale of old age. Yet, through the eyes of William Faulkner, he imagined a tortured necrophiliac. The story's amazing twists and turns take the reader on a terrific joy ride through the life of Emily Grierson. A Rose for Emily, I think, helps to portray a more grim, vile aspect of life. Most people do not realize that life includes these gruesome parts. This story included many different structures and details of literature. I will discuss these differences and the interesting pieces throughout this literary work.

The plot structure of A Rose for Emily is different from most of the stories that one reads. Most stories start from the beginning of the tale and go through a certain period of time. They normally end in a resolution. A Rose for Emily begins at the end of the story and tells the plot through various flashbacks. Instead of following the normal plot structure (the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and the resolution), it includes these throughout the tale in a precariously different order.

Faulkner also uses a different technique in choosing a narrator for A Rose for Emily. Instead of having one person or the main character tell the story, he uses a collective "we". It represents all the townspeople and their version of the story. I think this brings an air of mystery throughout the story because no one knows who's actually telling the story.

The ending of A Rose for Emily was very surprising. Faulkner led you through Emily's life shadowed from what she really was. In the end he throws you two shocking aspects that Emily murdered Homer Barron and that she has been sleeping beside him since she killed him. Faulkner slowly brings us to this conclusion by keeping an air of mystery and suspense within the literature. The reader begins to like and sympathize with Emily until the horrible realization of her true character. If he had not have done this, the story would not have been as grand and effective.

A Rose for Emily seemed to be a strange title for the story.

Show More
Related

  • A Rose for Emily and A Clean Well Lighted Place

    495 Words  | 1 Pages

    A Rose For Emily is a story of a southern women and the secret she has kept for 40 years. A Clean, Well-Lighted Place takes place in a café in a Spanish country. There are three characters in this story, two which are waiters, and an old drunk man. This story is very mysterious just as A Rose for Emily. Both stories are told in an omniscient point of view.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast A Rose For Emily And The Rocking Horse Winner

    1020 Words  | 3 Pages

    “A Rose for Emily” begins with the foreshadowing of Emilys funeral. The story then takes the reader to explain what had occurred over the years leading to Emily’s death. Emily Grierson had become the last member of an aristocratic southern family who had been raisd by her widowed father. Growing up< Emilys

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast A Rose For Emily Short Story

    1393 Words  | 3 Pages

    Therefore, in an attempt to keep that perfect mix, some crucial elements get dropped off to the side similar to an outdated phone. In the case of A Rose for Emily, the director takes the liberty to redo the way the story is presented by putting the series of events in the correct chronological order. Although it does make the story easier to follow, people lose the sense of confusion they had obtained when reading the story. That sense of confusion is important to the experience and was done for a reason. In the book, people are more focused trying to keep up on what is going on and where they are on the time line that they miss the subtle clues about Emily’s true mental

    Read More

  • Faulkner's Rose For Emily is a Portrait Of The Post War South

    1943 Words  | 4 Pages

    William Faulkner’s "A Rose for Emily" is perhaps his most famous and most anthologized short story. From the moment it was first published in 1930, this story has been analyzed and criticized by both published critics and the causal reader. The well known Literary critic and author Harold Bloom suggest that the story is so captivating because of Faulkner’s use of literary techniques such as "sophisticated structure, with compelling characterization, and plot" (14). Through his creative ability to use such techniques he is able to weave an intriguing story full of symbolism, contrasts, and moral worth. The story is brief, yet it covers almost seventy five years in the life of a spinster named Emily Grierson. Faulkner develops the character Miss Emily and the events in her life to not only tell a rich and shocking story, but to also portray his view on the South’s plight after the Civil War. Miss Emily becomes the canvas in which he paints the customs and traditions of the Old South or antebellum era. The story “A Rose For Emily” becomes symbolic of the plight of the South as it struggles to face change with Miss Emily becoming the tragic heroin of the Old South.

    Read More

  • "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner

    1366 Words  | 3 Pages

    “A Rose for Emily” is written in the first person plural, allow the citizens of the town to recount the story. This point of view has been debated by scholars due to its collective language of “we”, which set Emily apart from the town’s citizens. Helen E. Nebeker writes in her literary criticism, “Emily’s Rose of Love: Thematic Implication of Point of View in Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”: “The thesis of this paper simply stated, is that forty years of critical study of Faulkner’s short story, “A Rose for Emily”, has failed to come to...

    Read More

  • A Rose for Emily: Factors the Impacted Miss Emily's Behavior

    555 Words  | 2 Pages

    "A Rose for Emily" is a fictional short story written by 1949 Nobel Prize winner William Faulkner. Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" is about an aristocratic woman who lived a very secretive and unusual life. Miss Emily had always been very sheltered by her father. He was the only man in her life and after his death, her behavior became even more unnatural. However her father's death cannot be seen as the only cause of Miss Emily's insanity. Miss Emily's behavior was also influenced by her own expectations of herself, the townspeople's lack of authority over her, and her neighbor's infatuation with her.

    Read More

  • Final paper rough draft

    774 Words  | 2 Pages

    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 ...

    Read More

  • Character Analysis of Emily Grierson in A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner

    554 Words  | 2 Pages

    Emily Grierson, referred to as Miss Emily throughout the story, is the main character of 'A Rose for Emily,' written by William Faulkner. Emily is born to a proud, aristocratic family sometime during the Civil War; Miss Emily used to live with her father and servants, in a big decorated house. The Grierson Family considers themselves superior than other people of the town. According to Miss Emily's father none of the young boys were suitable for Miss Emily. Due to this attitude of Miss Emily's father, Miss Emily was not able to develop any real relationship with anyone else, but it was like her world revolved around her father.

    Read More

  • Isolation In William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

    948 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Narrative Worth in A Rose for Emily

    1314 Words  | 3 Pages

    As Faulkner begins “A Rose for Emily” with death of Emily, he both immediately and intentionally obscures the chronology of the short story to create a level of distance between the reader and the story and to capture the reader’s attention. Typically, the reader builds a relationship with each character in the story because the reader goes on a journey with the character. In “A Rose for Emily”, Faulkner “weaves together the events of Emily’s life” is no particular order disrupting the journey for the reader (Burg, Boyle and Lang 378). Instead, Faulkner creates a mandatory alternate route for the reader. He “sends the reader on a dizzying voyage by referring to specific moments in time that have no central referent, and thus the weaves the past into the present, the present into the past. “Since the reader is denied this connection with the characters, the na...

    Read More

  • Examples Of Sympathy In A Rose For Emily

    1102 Words  | 3 Pages

    In William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily”, we never hear the mention of a rose. The rose is a symbol of sympathy and pity that we feel towards her. Emily reflected the rose. She wanted to blossom and bloom but she was held down and lock up from the real world. Emily was the daughter of a rich man, a town hero. Her father, although he was looked up to by the town, was demanding and controlling. He turned down every man that he didn’t feel was worthy of his daughter. He set her up for a life that she could not escape. She became used to this lifestyle and it became who she was. When her father passed,

    Read More

  • Analysis of A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner

    947 Words  | 2 Pages

    All in all, the story of “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner represents a chilling and twisted story of a woman who used every option, even murder, to keep her state of happiness. Faulkner cleverly uses symbols, characters, and theme to fully illustrate the twisted mind of Emily Grierson and the communities never ending struggle between incorporating modern rules and keeping traditional values.

    Read More

  • Literary Elements in A Rose For Emily

    1692 Words  | 4 Pages

    Through the use of setting, characterization and theme Faulkner was able to create quite a mysterious and memorable story. "A Rose for Emily" is more than just a story though; her death represents the passing of a more genteel way of life. That is much more saddening than the unforgettable scene of Homer's decaying body. The loss of respect and politeness is has a much greater impact on society than a construction worker who by trade is always trying to change things. Generation after generation Miss Emily happily escaped modernism by locking herself in her house – the past.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of A Rose For Emily, By William Faulkner

    731 Words  | 2 Pages

    William Faulkner is the author of many famous titles. Interestingly enough, Faulkner never finished high school. He gained his skilled writing from reading many books and an interest in writing early in his life. In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Faulkner noted that it is the writer 's duty, “To help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. One of his most famous texts that he wrote was A Rose for Emily. This story takes place from around 1875 to 1920, chronicling the life and death of Emily Grierson. In the short story, Emily’s father dies. The death seems to have a grave effect on her. Later, she then becomes acquainted with Homer Barron. All of the townspeople believe that Emily will marry Homer, but one day Homer walked into Emily’s house, and was never seen again. Emily, who has refused to pay her taxes since her father 's death, secludes herself from society and is later found dead in her house at age 74. William Faulkner, in his story, A Rose for Emily, Faulkner fulfills his own criteria for writing.

    Read More

  • Conflicts in A Rose For Emily" By William Faulkner

    1351 Words  | 3 Pages

    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 to buy poison for an unknown reason that the author conceals. The fourth section talks of Emily and Homer Baron’s story of aging and isolation. Finally, Faulkner talks of Emily’s death and funeral, and the shocking discoveries that follow it.

    Read More

More about The Life of Emily Grierson in A Rose for Emily

Open Document