Eulogy For Emily

In A Rose for Emily written by William Faulkner, the story of Miss Emily is told through a very loose format. Through this narration, there is a long and drawn out suspense built up through little hints left by the reader without fully giving away the dark truth behind Emily and her house. Until the end of the story, the narrators ambiguity cleverly points the reader towards the climax of the story where Emily is discovered to be Homer Barron’s killer. This ambiguous element is important to the quality of this short story as it drives it forward and keeps the reader interested.

After reading A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner, many people initially wonder why Miss Emily would murder Homer Barron. When reviewing the events of the story, it becomes apparent that she displayed symptoms, manifestations of her mental state in her behavior, of being socially inept and thus capable of this heinous crime. These symptoms are unsurprising, as her father represses her, withholding her from the public. Emily accordingly displays symptoms of this repression by evading authorities and the townspeople. Faulkner is trying to get the reader to go back and review this problem-the cause of Homer’s murder- by identifying the signs that this crime occurred and Emily’s symptoms of mental instability. Ultimately, the author seems to hope

Furthermore, the short story is written in a first person point of view by the community of Jefferson, which develops the irony that leaves not only Jefferson, but the reader in ‘awe.’ The community of Jefferson is left with a plethora of questions of Miss Emily’s mysterious lifestyle. Correspondingly, the community of Jefferson becomes very obsessed with Miss Emily. “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…” (Faulkner) Likewise, the reader and the community of Jefferson becomes obsessed, and develops a craving for answers about the main protagonist, Miss

The protagonist in “The Tell-Tale Heart” is the narrator, he is “very dreadfully nervous”, paranoid, and mentally ill. He cannot cognizes whether what he sees is real or unreal. He seems to be lonely and friendless. Also, he is a murderer. In spite of the fact that the narrator loves the old man, he kills him because he afraid of his blue “evil eye”. Similarly, the protagonist in “A Rose for Emily” is Emily Grierson. The house that she lives in drives her mind to inhabit it in dusty and dark. Miss Emily is a mysterious character. The impression that Miss Emily gives us about her is that she is a “necrophiliac”. Necrophilia means a sexual attraction to dead bodies. She is mentally disturbed, and driven to her act by insanity. Miss Emily kills her victim, Barron, to keep him around because she truly loves him and she does not want to let go. Both protagonists have a distorted perception of

One way that Faulkner furthers the theme of isolation throughout the short story is through the interactions Emily has with the people of the town. At the beginning of the story, Faulkner paints a sad story about the life of Miss Emily Grierson. Faulkner stated, “When Miss Emily died, our whole town went to her funeral… the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old manservant---a combined gardener and cook had seen in at least ten years” (1.730). This quote is significant because it illustrates that Miss Emily was isolated from her community for quite some time. This opening scene paints a picture of unwavering loneliness experienced by Miss Emily. She did not have a

“A Rose for Emily” is a unique short story that keeps the reader guessing even though its first sentence already reveals the majority of the content. William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” is the epitome of a work that follows an unconventional plot structure and a non-linear timeline, but this method of organization is intentional, as it creates suspense throughout the story. William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” follows an unusual plot structure, which creates an eccentric application of suspense to a short story.

In “A Rose for Emily,” Faulkner portrays the main character as a mysterious icon of the small town of Jefferson, Mississippi. As the story states, Emily’s father is an admirable figure in the city of Jefferson. After his passing, the townspeople show the same respect for Emily, as well. In many situations, the people within the town notice Miss Emily’s odd behavior, but they choose to maintain peace with her instead of helping her when she clearly needs it the most. However, this need to preserve the respectful image of Miss Emily ultimately leads to her emotional breakdown of isolation and

Because her family was prominent in the town of Jefferson, Emily Grierson was watched her entire life and wondered about by everyone. The townspeople had a lot to do with Emily’s changing mental condition because they constantly gossiped about everything that happened in her life. It generally

In William Faulkner’s short story, A Rose for Emily, Emily Grierson, a prominent member of her small town, dies alone in her home. Upon her death, curious townsfolk entered her home trying to learn her secrets. It was thought she was crazy. Emily Grierson was not crazy; she was isolated by her father, which led to her odd social tendencies and unique interactions with others. A Rose for Emily is a short story based in a small town. The narrator focuses a lot on Emily Grierson after her death. The narrator said multiple times they believed she wasn’t crazy. However, their actions proved to show the opposite.

Faulkner uses the decaying effect of time on Miss Emily’s character which drives her to insanity. Miss Emily comes from an old wealthy line of family in the deep south. Faulkner story is highly symbolic, enhancing miss Emily’s values and character. “Miss Emily is described as a fallen monument to the chivalric American South”(Allmon). Faulkner uses the setting of the story to show the emotional state of Emily. The female-male relationship between Emily and her father is strict, oppressive, and controlling; Their relationship has a major impact on Emily’s character Throughout the short story. Her father is made out to be a father

presents various symbols that connect to characters and themes. Similarly, so does the metafiction story of Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried.” Actually, without symbolism in these two stories, the meaning of the story would be lost to the reader.

Telling the story in an irregular order, Faulkner develops a sense of suspense by adding details to the mysterious Miss Emily. “Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care: a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town” (451). The reader learns that Miss Emily had been seen as an eccentric woman that the people of the town had to take care of and overlook, ultimately overlooking her as a suspect in Homer Barron’s disappearance. Miss Emily often disappears into her house for months and years at a time,

    Everyone is different in a away.  This statement also applies to characters in a story.  The main character in “A Rose for Emily” is Emily Grierson. She is a “Small, fat women in black” who lives in the big house, only one left, in which used to be the most select neighborhood (Faulkner 78).  Miss Emily’s father passed away and, her first sweetheart deserted her.  Nea is the main character in “Saving Sourdi”.  She is a bony, hard working, fourteen year old girl who loves her older sister, Sourdi, very much.  Miss Emily and Nae share their stubbornness and determination while also showing their differences.

Both Emily and Robert are prematurely judged by the narrators in both stories, and the assumptions are so far fetched from the reality. Miss. Emily is perceived to be a lonely old woman, whom nobody ever spoke with. Since they never talk with her or learn anything about what is going on in her life, the townspeople begin to gossip to make up for this. They knew her father had driven away any man from becoming close to her, and they just thought to themselves, “ poor Emily” (32). The townspeople never consider her to be a crazy woman, not even when she claimed her father wasn't dead, and kept the body in her house. They all make up excuses for Emily because they felt sympathy for her, and they kept on just saying poor Emily. The narrator in The Cathedral did not want anything to do with Robert because he was a blind man. He thought they would not have anything to bond over anything, and all he knew about him was what his wife told him. The narrator assumes he has a long cane, dark sunglasses, and is a quiet man whom he would

In his short story, “A Rose for Emily,” William Faulkner intends to convey a message to his audience about the unwillingness in human nature to accept change and more specifically the secretive tendencies of aristocrats in the South during the early 20th century. In order to do this, Faulkner sets up a story in which he isolates and old aristocratic woman, Miss Emily, from her fellow townspeople and proceeds to juxtapose her lifestyle with theirs. In doing this he demonstrates her stubborn refusal to change along with the town, but also Among several literary devices the author employs to achieve this contrast, Faulkner sets up his narrator as a seemingly reliable, impartial and knowledgeable member of the community in which Miss Emily lives by using a first person plural, partially omniscient point of view. The narrator is present for all of the scenes that take place in the story, but does not play any role in the events, and speaks for the town as a whole.