A Rose For Emily Town Analysis

“A rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is a short story about the life of Emily Grierson. The story, as told by the townsfolk, tells the present and past of Emily’s life and how unfortunate events affected her decisions and lifestyle. Faulkner utilizes the townspeople to narrate “A Rose for Emily” To portrait how the town covered Emily’s deeds and thus protected the town’s reputation.

The townspeople are the narrator of “A Rose for Emily,” Along the story they are sometimes represented as a single entity that seeks to justify Emily’s actions. The townspeople present thoughts and dialogues in unison, “we did not say she was crazy then…and we knew with nothing left; she would have to cling to that which had robbed her, as people will” (Faulkner 456) Faulkner utilizes the word “we” plenty during the story to emphasize the townspeople as narrators. The use of “we” helps establish the narrator as a unity which helps to indicate that the Town works together to maintain Emily’s reputation. Faulkner emphasizes the importance of status and heritage as something characteristic of the old south; the town considered Emily’s reputation valuable enough to ignore her crimes. This portraits the strong traditional believes that were commonly shared in old southern towns.

The town has covered Emily since her youth; the duty they share remains even as time passes. The townspeople thought of Emily as a “tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation” (Faulkner 454). Protecting Emily’s

The townspeople covered Emily’s actions, as her name was part of the town’s tradition. Conserving reputation is a characteristic of old southern towns which is where the story takes place. The town considered Emily’s reputation more important than the law thus ignoring and covering her crimes. The townspeople were fully knowledgeable of Emily’s