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Theme Of Mystery In William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

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The element of mystery in William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” plays an important role in the outcome of events and adds additional depth to the story. Faulkner is able to add this mystery to the work through using an out of order chronology and making the narrator be the people of the town. Faulkner relies heavily upon the use of flashbacks and slowly revealing to the reader the events that occur in an order that leaves the reader having to piece together information as opposed to just being given information. In the case of Emily buying arsenic, the reader is unsure of the reason why, but due to Faulkner earlier describing the townspeople complaining of a smell a significant time after she bought the poison, the reader can assume that there

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