Rose for Emily
Dr. Holly Elliot
Freshman Comp 2
14 February 2013 A Ripe Rose When reading the first paragraph of, “We all said, ‘she will kill herself’ “: The Narrator / Detective in Williams Faulkner’s “A Rose For Emily” by Lawrence R. Rodgers, I automatically knew that his essay was going to be about the depiction of the genre in the story A Rose For Emily which he clarified as being “a classical expression of American Gothicism.” (413). And “the classical detective story”. While reading this essay I could tell that Rodgers was very confident that Faulkner learned much of his genre writing from the famous author Edgar Allan Poe by stating “he capitalized on Poe’s legacy in novels such as Intruder in the Dust (1948) and Knights Gambit (1949)”
Rodgers helps the readers understand how a story is established as a classical detective story by referencing John Cawelti’s test for establishing whether a text follows the classical detective formula. Rodgers states the three conditions that must be met “1) the story must have a mystery that needs solving; 2) there must be concealed facts that a detective has to explore; and 3) these facts must become clear in the end (132).” (414) By referencing this evidence it is clear to me that A Rose for Emily follows these rules and therefore is declared a detective story.
After Rodgers stated the conditions of a classical detective story he went on to talk about the understating and pattern the story by saying “its pattern of action is ordered around the basic elements of the popular genre…” (414). By stating this information it helped the audience understand the action in which the order of these scenes take place.
During my reading of A Rose for Emily I was confused on who the detective was until Rodger’s said, “Faulkner provides a kind of detective, but with an inventive twist.” (415). And it states that the narrator is the detective. In the story A Rose For Emily it takes a long time for
Freshman Comp 2
14 February 2013 A Ripe Rose When reading the first paragraph of, “We all said, ‘she will kill herself’ “: The Narrator / Detective in Williams Faulkner’s “A Rose For Emily” by Lawrence R. Rodgers, I automatically knew that his essay was going to be about the depiction of the genre in the story A Rose For Emily which he clarified as being “a classical expression of American Gothicism.” (413). And “the classical detective story”. While reading this essay I could tell that Rodgers was very confident that Faulkner learned much of his genre writing from the famous author Edgar Allan Poe by stating “he capitalized on Poe’s legacy in novels such as Intruder in the Dust (1948) and Knights Gambit (1949)”
Rodgers helps the readers understand how a story is established as a classical detective story by referencing John Cawelti’s test for establishing whether a text follows the classical detective formula. Rodgers states the three conditions that must be met “1) the story must have a mystery that needs solving; 2) there must be concealed facts that a detective has to explore; and 3) these facts must become clear in the end (132).” (414) By referencing this evidence it is clear to me that A Rose for Emily follows these rules and therefore is declared a detective story.
After Rodgers stated the conditions of a classical detective story he went on to talk about the understating and pattern the story by saying “its pattern of action is ordered around the basic elements of the popular genre…” (414). By stating this information it helped the audience understand the action in which the order of these scenes take place.
During my reading of A Rose for Emily I was confused on who the detective was until Rodger’s said, “Faulkner provides a kind of detective, but with an inventive twist.” (415). And it states that the narrator is the detective. In the story A Rose For Emily it takes a long time for
Cited: Rodgers, Lawerence R. ""we All Said, 'she Will Kill Herself '": The Narrator / Detective in William Faulkners "A Rose For Emily"" The Norton Introduction To Literature Shorter Tenth Edition. 10th ed. Vol. Shorter. Newyork, London: W.w Norton &, 2010. 413-19. Print. Edition.