What Is The Mood Of A Rose For Emily

William Faulkner’s ‘A Rose for Emily’ illustrates a gothic fiction that depicts the distress and love story of Miss Emily as narrated in the point of view of the residents of Jefferson County. I must admit that Faulkner knew exactly how to evoke an atmosphere of dismay supported by dark images, murder, mysterious life of Emily, and the gossips of the Jefferson residents. The central theme in the story is isolation where the entire society and change seem to have neglected Emily, who readers can understand that is either refusing to embrace change or holding onto the past. One may wonder how Faulkner managed to pull the gothic fiction in a manner that captivates readers' attention while maintaining an objective first person narrator point of
view.
First, the tone and attitude throughout ‘A Rose for Emily’ tells it all.
Faulkner creates the entire community as the narrator in the story – referring to themselves as "we". Apparently, the tone is confessional due to the manner in which the "we" tell Miss Emily's story. Residents of Jefferson tell the story in various emotional perspectives. The narrator referred to Emily as, "Poor Emily," in section III (454). Again in section II (453), the readers see the narrator saying, "that is when people had begun to feel sorry for her." In the two instances, we see the sympathetic tone of the community towards Emily. Additionally, Faulkner manages to make readers angry when by portraying the Jefferson community as doing too little to improve the condition of Miss Emily despite observing the odds. For instance, Miss Emily never interacted with most of the townspeople, yet they readers get information about Miss Emily through their rumor mills. It is as if the entire town conspired against the Miss Emily. Annoyingly, the townspeople seem to wish death for Miss Emily. In section IV, they say, "the next day we all said, she will kill herself; and we said it would be the best thing," (Section IV, 454). I think the confessional tone and gossipy attitude throughout the story confirm that cared less for Miss Emily except for the rumors Griersons generated in daily conversation of the
townspeople.
Second, Faulkner creates Miss Emily as a mysterious character by portraying her home as death zone or rather a horrific place.
In that way, Faulkner succeeds into creating an inquisitive attitude among the townspeople such that they would question or pessimistically view happenings surrounding Miss Emily. Sadness and depression are all over in the story because several people in Miss Emily's life dies to start with her father, supposed lover Homer Barron, and finally Emily herself. When Emily meets her lover Homer Barron, the townspeople know he is gay, yet they conceal the crucial information from Emily. Instead, they become sad for her for being happy with the wrong choice of the person. The townspeople wonder why Miss Emily would keep the same servant, Tobe for her entire life. When the strange smell comes from Miss Emily's house, people fear to confront her about it. As a matter of fact, Judge Stevens dismisses the case against Emily by say, "will you accuse a lady to her face of smelling bad?"(Section II, 453) Readers can view the Jefferson society as fearful through Judge Steven's sentiments. I think Faulkner succeeded in making ‘A Rose for Emily’ story a fiction by contrasting the society and Miss Emily. It is unusual for a person to live the number of years Emily lived, fail to pay taxes, have one servant, and people around her disappear, but the society just gossips instead of taking
actions.
Lastly, Faulkner uses flashback and foreshadowing – a style that creates suspense and holds the plot of the story. For an average reader, A Rose for Emily is not your typical story because it has scrambled chronology spread in five sections. I would say Faulkner starts with the story climax – Emily's death, but the middle sections are a recollection of townspeople gossips that flashback on her life. Part of section IV and V returns the reader to the where the story began – section I. I think Faulkner creates the biggest suspense right at the beginning of the story, which he cleverly uses to capture readers’ attention:
“When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one saves an old manservant – combined gardener and cook – had seen at least ten years,” (Section I, 451).
It is no doubt that the first paragraph induces a lot of questions in the reader's mind and sets a precedence for the townspeople’s inquisitive attitude and confessional tone that is spread through the entire story. Readers can start wondering: Who is Miss Emily? Why is her death such as spectacular occurrence rather sad to the townspeople? Why did she maintain one servant? Why would men show their respect and consider her a fallen monument? And why had no entered her home for at least ten years? Faulkner answered these questions in the thrilling and depressed fiction of A Rose for Emily.