Laura Getty A Rose For Emily

In the story, there is no mention of an actual rose, yet the story title is “A Rose for Emily.” Another symbol is the rose. In the article, “Symbolism,” the author states he or she believes that the title reflects what Faulkner thinks

An important aspect in “A Rose for Emily” is the narrator's gender is left a mystery; this allows the reader to openly interpret the story from a different aspect, more specifically, through the mind of a feminist. Emily is subtly portrayed as an admirable woman who defies society's expectations of gender roles. Faulkner's use of the nosy women and the respectful men at the funeral, without further inquiry, may seem like it is in favor of a patriarchal society. However, Faulkner's main goal was to encourage the reader to understand that a woman, Emily, was capable of controlling her own behavior without society's influence.

The rose in the title is not the only symbol in the story, though. There are others, which play equally important roles in the narrative, as their task is to let readers get to know the protagonist from the only possible point of view: the external one. This issue will be discussed in more details in the remaining chapters of this work; however it needs to be mentioned that throughout the entire story, readers never come to know Miss Emily Grierson’s thoughts and feelings. They rather come to certain conclusions about her, thanks to the subtle clues which the implied author leaves for them to discover.

A Rose for Emily begins off telling us that Miss Emily has now died and people have come to her funeral. We see how the men have come out of respectful affection yet the women have come because of their curiosity, since no one has seen her in years

William Faulkner wrote A Rose for Emily to entertain his audience. It is a mysterious read which keeps the reader interested and wanting to know more. Throughout the text Faulkner hints about the misfortunes that surround Emily. The biggest problem that was seemed to be low key addressed is to not judge what you think a person may have or go through because you could be wrong or you could be entirely right. The biggest misfortune that happens to Emily, is that she dies and then the writer gives background and flashes back to what Miss Emily’s life through a third person view to show how the townspeople assumed about Miss Emily’s life. (insert resource #2 thesis part)

One of the themes of “A Rose for Emily” is the sustained struggle between the past and present. Miss Emily is a traditional woman she steadily stayed the same despite the changes around her in the community. Emily believed in the importance of hereditary, which she learned significantly from her father.

William Faulkner has done a wonderful work in his essay “A Rose for Emily.” Faulkner uses symbols, settings, character development, and other literary devices to express the life of Emily and the behavior of the people of Jefferson town towards her. By reading the essay, the audience cannot really figure out who the narrator is. It seems like the narrator can be the town’s collective voice. The fact that the narrator uses collective pronoun we supports the theory that the narrator is describing the life of “Miss Emily” on behalf of the townspeople. Faulkner has used the flashback device in his essay to make it more interesting. The story begins with the portrayal of Emily’s funeral and it moves to her past and at the end the readers realize that the funeral is a flashback as well. The story starts with the death of Miss Emily when he was seventy-four years old and it takes us back when she is a young and attractive girl.

Emily’s character to look like a character we can sympathize for like the unnamed woman in The

When asked about the meaning behind the title , A Rose for Emily, Faulkner never literally stated an answer. However Emily’s peculiar inability to let things go after they are dead suggests a possible reason for the title. It is not unheard of for one to preserve a rose in a closed book. Similarly, Emily preserved the body of Homer Barron in her house for years after his death. Homer was Emily’s rose. He was the happiness and hope that Emily had closed herself off from for such a long part of her life, of course she would want to keep that as long as she could.

Even though the rose is distinctly only in the title, it emerges as allegorical and symbolic throughout the story. Getty states, “The "Rose" of the title extends far beyond any one flower or literary allusion in its implications for the story's structure. The "Rose" represents secrecy: the confidential relationship between the author and his character, with all of the privileged information withheld” (Getty 230). The view of the warmth of love and fondness is to be thought when

The story “A Rose for Emily,” is about a woman who is talked about by everyone in the town. Emily, the main character of

The story "A Rose for Emily" is one of first William Faulkner’s publications. The action of this story takes place in a time filled with social and political turmoil, when Southern came into a historical lethargy, and when its glow start faded. The elements presented in "A Rose for Emily" make reference to that time and are a tribute to Mss. Emily Graiser. A dominant tone is shown by a footprint of the past and loneliness to which was added symbolism and melancholia. The author showed us through his words issue of life, love and death, a sensitivity which gets us closer of characters' life and struggles.

Prompted by its ambiguity, when William Faulkner was asked to explain the symbolic nature of the rose, he responded by stating that it was “Just a ‘Rose for Emily’ – That’s all” (Towner & Carothers, p. 67). This implies that the rose is merely a gesture of kindness to a pitiable character and nothing more. For those not comfortable with Faulkner’s response, perhaps the only other clue lies in the final page where a secret room reveals “faded rose colored” curtains and “rose shaded lights” (Faulkner, p.674). It may be that Faulkner used the rose to tie the beginning of the story with its end. While the rose in the title may or may not be symbolic, what it actually represents appears to be left open to interpretation.

The narrator serves a variety of purpose in “A Rose for Emily”. As previously stated, the narrator forces the reader down the alternate route and, by disrupting the timeline, creates

The short story A Rose for Emily is the tale about Emily Grierson and the time leading to her death. Emily was raised by her father to have a sense of class and expectation to be treated as such. Emily grew up in an era where black women were not allowed to be on the street without aprons, this was set into motion by her father. Her house was on one of the nicer streets in the town and was kept well. Emily was raised by her controlling father who never thought any suitor for his girl was good enough. He had made arrangements when Emily was a child that he should never have to pay taxes. This was indicative of the power her family once reveled in.