What Is The Chronology In A Rose For Emily

This week’s assignment required the reading of several short stories, to decide which I felt was the best. After completing the reading portion of the assignment, I my favorite of the works sampled was A Rose For Emily, by William Faulkner. This story revolves around the life and death of Emily, a mysterious woman whom the town seems to hold in regards (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012). Even though they hold her in high regards, the citizens of this small southern town are curious and spread gossip about several aspects of Emily’s life. They refuse to address certain issues, either out of fear or respect. Her actions, combined with the reactions of the town, captured my attention and had me guessing what would happen next. A Rose for Emily by William
Chronology is in what order events are revealed. What really captured my attention is the foreshadowing that is revealed throughout the story. Foreshadowing is a technique in which an author hints about things to come later in the story (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012). Faulkner does this in multiple ways throughout this story. It seems that much of this foreshadowing points the the inevitable discovery of Homer Barron’s remains. One instance in the narrator explains that shortly after Ms. Emily’s sweetheart left her, there was an awful smell. It smelled so bad that a judge was contacted regarding what to do. Instead of confronting Ms. Emily, men snuck into her yard and spread lime to cover up the smell. At this point, in the story, I knew that her sweetheart was dead. Further into the story, more foreshadowing occurs when Ms. Emily purchases Arsenic, but refuses to identify her purpose for the poison. This nce again sparked my interest, and I thought of her sweetheart, who had now been identified as Homer Barron. The story goes on to explain the last time anyone saw Homer Barron, he was going into Ms. Emily’s house. Then, I feel that Faulkner sneaks in more foreshadowing by immediately writing, “Now and then we would see her at a window for a moment, as the men did that night when they sprinkled the lime” (p.149). Why mention the lime in the same paragraph as the last time Homer Barron was seen if they had nothing in common. The last bit of foreshadowing that leads to the discovery of Homer Barron’s remains was when the Negro met the first visitors after Ms. Emily’s death. He immediately left out of the back door. This made me curious. If he were around Ms. Emily’s entire life, he had to feel some sort of connection. On the other hand, he the remain of Homer Barron would soon be discovered; therefore, he left before anyone discovered