Analytical Analysis Of Faulkner's 'A Rose For Emily'

In Rodgers analysis of “A Rose for Emily” he states that this is “the classical detective story,” and he is right; Faulkner’s short story always has you guessing. The story has the reader guessing who is the narrator, is it a group of people or one individual who is always watching Miss Emily and just who is Miss Emily in this story. Rodgers compares Faulkner’s writing style to that of Edgar Allen Poe. Rodgers says, “It is commonly known that Faulkner learned much about genre-writing from his fellow southerner,” he is referring to Poe and that much of Faulkner’s writing has derived from the genre that was popularized by Poe. Although at first glance “A Rose for Emily” does not seem like a detective story, when analyzed it shows its true colors. Throughout the story there are many questions that the reader asks, such as who is the narrator? The narrator is always referred to as “we”, which makes the reader think that a group of people is following Miss Emily around and are the ones narrating the story. Which at the begging of the story has the reader thinking from whose point of view is this story from. For a detective story it is important to always keep the reader guessing what is going to happen next and that is exactly what Faulkner does in this story. Faulkner broke up “A Rose for Emily” into five parts and within the
Then in part three Miss Emily buys arsenic and nobody knows why she just asked for poison. In the fourth part Homer Barron just disappears and is not seen again. In the fifth and final part of the story the reader finally has the ah-ha moment and the mysteries begin to connect. The reader can connect why there was a bad smell coming from the house, the reason why Miss Emily bought arsenic, and the sudden disappearance of Homer Barron with the ending in part