The tone and attitude of Faulkner's short piece illustrates the desire to know but the fear of what could be found. The citizens of Jefferson want to know the happenings of the reclusive MissEmily Grierson simply because she does not roam and gossip as they do since the absence of her husband. Although they have the need to pry into her private life, they are scared to face her directly simply because few people have even tried. The theme of curiosity is cognizant with these actions and the tone with which they are portrayed.
The theme is also carried throughout the story with the diction that William Faulkner chooses to use. He carefully crafts his work to present a want to expose the hidden life of the old woman. He gives her an awful appearance, a rude personality, and an unreasonable dissent to loneliness. His diction also proves the prying habits of others. Observers of Miss Emily always assume about her condition of life. The observers themselves represent the story in which the way it was depicted.
Curiosity and also a little bit of innocence is used very significantly with the point of view of a citizen that characterize the point of view of the entire community of Jefferson. "A Rose for Emily" is told by one person, but the 'we' used throughout the plot signifies the communal viewpoint that is shared. The eyes through which the story emerges is nothing more than the perspective of a spectator retelling the stories passed down about Miss Emily. The design of the story is based solely on the wonders of people and their curiosity of others.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
In conclusion of William Faulkner's short story "A Rose For Emily," he explains emily as an archaic woman because she does not understand why the new generation begins to take over. William Faulkner also describes Emily as a women of pride given to her by her late father. Lastly Emily portrays bizarre because she killed her husband and kept him all to…
- 63 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
7. The various gothic elements that Faulkner uses in “A Rose for Emily” forward the plot by having the reader constantly question what’s going to occur next and by establishing a mysterious and eerie…
- 400 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
In the story, Faulkner cleverly exposes the problems in the South after the Civil War through the story of the life of Emily Grierson. Faulkner deliberately reverses the order of timeline so that readers easily leave out details of the story; however, this “complicatedly disjunctive time scheme” makes the story more interesting by making the readers string all incidents in the story which seem almost unrelated to each other to find out the content of the story (Dilworth 252). Revolving around the life of Emily, Faulkner’s story reveals the isolation of Emily, her desire to be happy, and the decline of the South. Living in the period of switching from the old to the new, Emily has become a typical victim of that society. Through the tragedy of Emily’s life, Faulkner also highlights the importance of the interaction between the old and the new so that one does not completely brush off the values of the past nor is lost in the new, modern…
- 1072 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
In the story “A Rose for Emily,” Faulkner uses characterization to portray Emily’s mental decline throughout her life. By being kept away from the real world by her father, to being free to venture out after his death to having to keep a murder a secret. Faulkner best characterized Miss Emily as snobby, crazy and secretive.…
- 357 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
“A Rose for Emily” is a mysterious and unusual short story. William Faulkner creates a character, Miss Emily Grierson, who is so significant to the town that she is referred to as a “fallen monument” after her death. Miss Emily is an eccentric character, and although she physically changes, her character nor her personality do. Miss Emily is a static character, with internal conflicts, and has odd relationships with her boyfriend and husband. For instance, Miss Emily kept her late father's body and refused to give him up, showing an inability to let go. She keeps his body because she also does not want to be isolated, even though she avoids interaction by staying in her home. Miss Emily's isolation is external with society and also resonates…
- 190 Words
- 1 Page
Good Essays -
In A Rose for Emily, William Faulkner writes a pathetic woman, Miss Emily, to show the true lives of the rich and his frustration with society. Faulkner’s goal of Miss Emily’s alienation shows wealthy people’s lives aren’t perfect and how grief can impact people. To show this goal, the author uses the theme of truth vs. reality. For example, “Being left alone and a pauper, she had become humanized”(2), shows that the town people initially thinking that she is better than everyone else; however after she loses her dad, she becomes more ordinary. Even though the town people think of Emily as an eccentric and haughty Southern belle, they envy her; she’s wealthy and the town people are not. However, since Emily isolates herself from her peers, the town people never see her.…
- 505 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
On the outside, Emily Grierson may seem to lack motive, but she faces conflicts throughout the story that could have driven her to murder. First of all, she has lived with her father in her childhood home for decades. Through subtle hints and imagery, the reader learns that Emily’s life with her father was far from happy. Faulkner…
- 1207 Words
- 5 Pages
Better Essays -
The short story “A rose for Emily” published in 1930 by William Faulkner focuses on the life of Emily Grierson, a woman who is from a rich family and, now has to deal with her loneliness after her father’s death. Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” is a complex and dark story that keeps readers guessing and intrigued by Faulkner’s abundant use of literally elements. Faulkner’s use of symbolism in the story is used to enhance the plot and create meaning. The point of view by the use of the unnamed narrator in “A Rose for Emily” makes readers question the identity of the speaker. "A Rose for Emily" recalls the terms of Southern gothic literature that sets the tone of the story as gloomy and grotesque.…
- 811 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
The narrator begins introducing the fact that Emily has passed away, but there is still a lot of speculation about her mysterious life "When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old man-servant—a combined gardener and cook—had seen in at least ten years"(Faulkner, 1). Faulkner chooses to reveal Emily through the eyes of whom regards her to be the most important character in the story. According to Ruth Sullivan "A Rose for Emily" is first-person narration, hence subject to the questions one usually puts in understanding such a story. For instance, who is the narrator and what is his relationship to the main action? Why did the author choose this particular narrator for this particular story? (Sullivan, 159). From the introduction in the story, it is possible to make the assumption that the narrator might be one of Emily's neighbors who somehow has witnessed every single event as narrated in the story. Despite this assumption it is not clear whether he/she is a close neighbor or a complete outsider as he/she remains in anonymity during the whole…
- 913 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
As we read William Faulkner’s story “A Rose for Emily” we are introduced to the main character or the protagonist Miss Emily Grierson and the fact she had just died. As the story is read it gives clues as to Miss Emily’s mental problems. The reader gains light of her background and sees her mental instability after her father dies. They learn Miss Emily has withdrawn into her own world of delusion and fantasy.…
- 403 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
William Faulkner's A Rose for Emily is about a poor and unfortunate woman, named Emily, who leads a very personal and lonely life. The theme and story revolves around the secret life of Emily Grierson. The story takes place in the South and reflects the attitudes and lifestyle of the old South.…
- 1002 Words
- 5 Pages
Powerful Essays -
In the short story “A rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, it starts off with the unknown narrator explaining Miss Emily’s funeral and why the townspeople actually attended. From this the reader learns what type of character Miss Emily is. She does not like change and cannot handle denial. Her family’s name and the way she was bought up by her father is the explanation for this. Throughout the story the reader realizes how respected her family was and what lengths Miss Emily is willing to go to keep the man she loves by her side. The allegory in a rose for Emily would be the townspeople and Miss Emily. Miss Emily is stuck in the past and the town treats her as if nothing has changed. Miss Emily being so isolated in her home shows her unwillingness to accept that the South is changing even when the influences of the North are taking over. The new generation with their new ideas tried to change the ways of Miss Emily but failed. When they demanded taxes, she refused to pay, and she won. This is symbolic of Miss Emily’s efforts to keep the South’s culture alive. The conflict in this short story is internal. Miss Emily cannot understand the idea of death. When Miss Emily’s father dies she refuses to believe it. She also suffers a lot when denied because as soon as she thought her boyfriend, Homer Barron, would leave her she bought poison, the arsenic, and he disappeared. She killed him to make sure that he would never leave. The arsenic was a symbol of getting rid of something. It is used to “kill anything up to an elephant” (4) and for Miss Emily is was used to end Homer Barron’s life. Homer Barron is a FOIL character because he is constantly around Miss Emily giving her the impression that he wants to be with her and because of that Miss Emily falls in love with him. Miss Emily is an indirect character because we cannot understand her. For example, she wants to be by herself which is why she is never seen outside her house but she longs for a partner in life and when…
- 770 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
The short story A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner gives a reader a portrayal of how Emily Grierson, the main character of the story, it first gives the reader an impression of her character. Uses symbolism as a way to represent the intangible qualities of the characters. These two traits help out give the story a lot of life in the end.…
- 476 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
By seeing everything that the narrator sees, we get to see all the happenings throughout the story, but this view isn't always objective. The narrator's bias and opinions bleed through the narration. "In the process of telling it, he implies his own and his society's cultural values, which influence attitudes and behavior toward Miss Emily in a way that implicates him and the townspeople in her fate"(Dilworth). By his talking about how the town pities Miss Emily it makes you feel pity for her also. The narrator plays a sort of antagonist in the story with his opinions of Miss Emily. If you believe everything the narrator tells you in the story it allows him to skew the story in any way in which he seems fit. By making you listen to the narrator's thoughts Faulkner makes you listen to his own thoughts. For example, the following line, "Then we said, "She will persuade him yet," because Homer himself had remarked--he liked men, and it was known that he drank with the younger men in the Elks' Club--that he was not a marrying man"(Faulkner) is interpreted quite different from an objective line such as "Homer…
- 591 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Emily, a fixture in the community, gives into death slowly. Faulkner compares her to a drowned woman, a bloated and pale figure left too long in the water. Emily tries to exert power over death by denying the fact of death itself. Her bizarre relationship to the dead bodies of the men she has loved, is revealed first when her father dies. Emily clings to the controlling paternal figure whose denial and control became the only love that she knew.…
- 529 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays