The Storyteller's Poem In 'A Rose For Emily'

In the story “A Rose for Emily,” The reader learns about Emily in an interesting way. Emily is painted as an aristocratic woman who feels she is above the law, though people seem sympathetic to her. The storyteller wants us to know Emily in a certain way. The storyteller wants us to feel compassion for Emily due to the fact she grew up with a very controlling father. The narrator goes back and forth between sympathy and slight criticism. She was driven to mental illness and a life of seclusion. Love and companionship is all she really desired. The rose symbolizes the telling of her story and the ending of an era. She is the last Grierson to die. The storyteller wants her story to be a legacy. The story is then told and handed down through the generations.

In ‘A Rose for Emily,’ the narrator comes across as the voice of the town’s people. I imagine the narrator is a person who felt he knew Emily well. You can picture the respect the narrator has for her. The narrator appears to be a man. I can sense this through his references. “The men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see

They appear to know Emily well, but I feel they knew only what she wanted them to know. They remember details that are significant and appear to cause Emily’s mental illness. They mention the fact that she would teach the children art. They stopped going as newer generations were not forced to go and learn from her. This was a factor in her becoming secluded. They are offended by her entitlement, but appear to understand it. They remember her father being controlling. After his death they thought of her as more human. She was alone and had become poor. I picture Emily as a lonely lady without any sense of direction. She was never able to establish a true and lasting relationship while alive. In death she will get that peace she has been looking for her whole