Essays on A Rose For Emily

Summary of a Scholarly Article

Introduction
This paper by Helen Nebeker criticizes the short story by William Faulkner, ‘A Rose for Emily’. It mentions how the story fails to associate with the main problem of the narration and the focus of the story. Additionally, the failure in fully exploring the importance of the narration obscures the essential points in the story, above all is the importance of the underlying horror in the real theme of Faulkner. He has managed to keep the theme successfully hidden over the years with his deliberate ambiguity of the anonymous narrator. The truth behind the episode of Miss Emily Continue reading...

A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner

A Rose for Emily is one of the most popular, but tragic short stories written by William Faulkner. He managed to convey multiple important themes within the work of a rather small size. A rose for Emily is full of symbols that may be interpreted in different ways, which makes the story extremely interesting for analysis. The plot reminds one of the gothic novels, where all the events are gloomy and dark but still maintain the spirit of romanticism.
The story begins with a death of Miss Emily, most important and well-known person the whole town. Faulkner describes the Continue reading...

In “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, the writer tells a story about discernment and personal change. The narrator sees himself as being superior than his wife’s friend because he is blind. He refuses to see himself as someone having a deficiency but gets a rude awakening when he experiences and realize that the blind man could actually see far greater things being blind, than someone who has physical sight. In “A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner, the narrator makes the reader feel horrified by what Ms. Emily did, but uses intrigue to weave the plot and make the Continue reading...

William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily is a brilliant short story; not only because of its captivating storyline but also because of the way the author presents this storyline. The story has an intricately complex chronology whereby the author shifts, structures and manipulates time in his presentation of the characters inner lives and motivation. A lot of information about the characters is presented through constant visits to memory as well as through flashbacks. The other conspicuous literary device utilized by the author is the narrative point of view. The three stylistic devices mentioned; non-linear time sequence, memory and Continue reading...

Analysis of “A Rose for Emily”

“A Rose for Emily,” written by William Faulkner is a story written in flashback by an unknown limited third person narrator. Its main character is Emily Grierson whose selfish, possessive father was one of the last generations of the “Old South.” By the time of his death all he had was his pride, and his house, his daughter was left improvised, he knew that he had nothing to leave to her yet; he drove away all her suitors. Miss Emily was in quite a shock when he died and refuses to even admit that he is dead. Miss Emily Continue reading...

When it comes to the theme of acceptance, two pieces of literature, A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner, and Cathedral by Raymond Carver come to mind. One is set up in the Post-Civil-War-Southern-Town of the United States, while the other takes place more in a contemporary setting. In A Rose for Emily, it opens up with the death of an elderly woman that comes from a pre-Civil War family of wealthy aristocrats and in Cathedral, it opens up with the narrator telling the reader in a relaxed tone that a blind friend of his wife’s has decided Continue reading...

Thesis Statement: A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner shows how a serious issue like keeping the dead bodies stored can be indicated in a hilarious and mystic way.// reconstruct the thesis statement after an introductory paragraph. The writer has not left any stone unturned to make the story worth reading again and again with an amazing use of literary devices, remarkable phrasing and subtle humor in spite of its morbid theme
First para: Elaborate the literary essence- choice of words, phrases and literary devices. A Rose for Emily has been written in very beautifully and seems interesting enough Continue reading...

Section 1: Bibliographic Data - Works Cited

Faulkner, William. A Rose for Emily. Columbus, Ohio: Merrill, 1970. Print.Section 2: Summary
In “A Rose for Emily,” lonely spinster Emily Grierson kills her discreet and distant lover Homer Barron, a murder that is revealed only long after the fact to the town in which she lives, shocking its residents. The reasons are never explicitly mentioned in the story, but the isolated environment of the town, the townsfolk's poor and judgmental treatment of Emily, and Homer's own ambivalence toward his relationship with Emily all drive her to kill. The story is told through the collective consciousness of the town, Continue reading...

Classic English literature: William Faulkner «A Rose for Emily»

«A Rose for Emily» is considered to be perhaps the most famous short story by William Faulkner. The story describes the life of Miss Emily, the old lady, whose presence became strongly associated with the life in a small imaginary town of Jefferson. «A Rose for Emily» is written in a so-called «stream of consciousness» technique – Faulkner’s distinctive feature.
The theme of decay is vividly illustrated in the short story. The decay of a town in the global meaning corresponds to the decay of the personality. The town of Jefferson was situated in the Southern part of the Continue reading...

Analysis of A Rose For Emily

In A Rose For Emily, William Faulkner created a unassuming protagonist that, by the end of the story, is revealed to be anything but a sweet and gentle old Southern lady. It is a story of the macabre and, ultimately, a story of sadness and insanity. The story also shows how desperation and unrequited love are transformed in Miss Emily into the ultimate form of obsession. A common theme running throughout A Rose For Emily is that of decay tucked neatly into the highly ordered but friendly veneer of Southern culture. This culture was itself by this point in Continue reading...

In Falkner’s “A Rose for Emily”, the narrative voice is a separate observer to the happenings in Miss Emily’s life. This is depicted through its limited omniscience, its ever-changing viewpoint and its lack of reliability. The narrative voice in this story is intelligent and unique, and seems to serve to demonstrate a distanced and unreliable knowledge of Emily.
The interesting narrator of "A Rose for Emily" is more correctly termed "first people" rather than "first person" narrative. Generally mentioning itself as "we," the narrator at times speaks for the men of Jefferson, at times for the women, Continue reading...

William Faulkner is considered to be one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century, through his implementation of the Southern gothic in his novels and short stories, through exploring the great Southern heritage, especially in his works whose action takes place in his imaginary Yoknapatawpha county, which was based on a place where he spent most of his childhood, called the Lafayette county. Faulkner was influenced greatly by his family origin and it shows in his imaginary setting in a most prolific manner, despite his drinking problems and extramarital affairs.
The birth of William Cuthbert Falkner, it was Continue reading...

INTRODUCTION

In “A Rose for Emily,” Emily Grierson is a lonely spinster, living on the fringes of the small town of Jackson, whose inhabitants constantly judge her for her loneliness. As a result, she begins to become somewhat eccentric, exacting her own brand of reality in her own home. After clearly becoming infatuated with a new man in town who spends a lot of time with her, the townspeople continue to gossip and scrutinize her every action, which become increasingly strange as time passes. Finally unlocking Emily’s home after her death, the town is faced with a brutal, Continue reading...

Introduction

William Faulkner’s “A rose for Emily”, is a great tale that revolves around a very serious note of life and reminds about the controversial impact of social traditions and the lack of positive change with respect to time. It is very interesting to see the way things got more and more complex for Emily however there was not much that the traditions offered and a change was not welcomed. In this paper we will study and find out if “A rose for Emily successfully highlights the need to Change traditions, with time, if required, as Continue reading...

In William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” we follow the spinster Emily as she progresses through her life in Jefferson. However, the way this tale is told is rather unique, as instead of following a single narrator (Emily or someone else in her life), the audience is given a first-person collective narration, many people throughout the town offering their opinion on the goings-on in Emily’s house. The use of the collective first-person narrative is Faulkner’s way of building up a notoriety and legend to Emily, so that when the grisly truth is discovered at the very Continue reading...

A Rose For Emily is a short story that was written in 1930, by William Faulkner. It is considered to be among the greatest pieces of literature that has been interpreted many times. Faulkner writes a story about the life and death of the protagonist, Emily Grierson. The story is arrayed in five sections. First, it starts with the death of the protagonist, and her encounter with the tax officials when they came to inquire about her tax payment. Next, is her father’s death followed by Emily going to a local store to buy poison for an unknown Continue reading...

In “A Rose for Emily,” Emily Grierson is a lonely spinster, living on the fringes of the small town of Jackson, whose inhabitants constantly judge her for her loneliness. As a result, she begins to become somewhat eccentric, exacting her own brand of reality in her own home. After clearly becoming infatuated with a new man in town who spends a lot of time with her, the townspeople continue to gossip and scrutinize her every action, which become increasingly strange as time passes. Finally unlocking Emily’s home after her death, the town is faced with a brutal, horrifying Continue reading...

The Gothic genre of literature is a fascinating one, ostensibly drawing upon the fears of its era (mostly Victorian England) to tell tales of the grotesque and the supernatural. These tales in particular often focus on unconventional protagonists, the role of gender in relationships, and the violence that comes from crime, isolation, and alienation. There are many subgenres of Gothic fiction, one of the most prominent being Southern Gothic – Gothic tales that take place entirely in the American South. While both genres enjoy similar styles and concerns, their overall themes and applications deal with anxieties specific to their period; Continue reading...

In “A Rose for Emily,” lonely spinster Emily Grierson kills her discreet and distant lover Homer Barron, a murder that is revealed only long after the fact to the town in which she lives, shocking its residents. The reasons are never explicitly mentioned in the story, but the isolated environment of the town, the townsfolk's poor and judgmental treatment of Emily, and Homer's own ambivalence toward his relationship with Emily all drive her to kill. Death is a persistent symbol throughout the story - tracing the steps back throughout the town to determine just what led to Emily's death. Continue reading...

In “A Rose for Emily,” lonely spinster Emily Grierson kills her discreet and distant lover Homer Barron, a murder that is revealed only long after the fact to the town in which she lives, shocking its residents. The reasons are never explicitly mentioned in the story, but the isolated environment of the town, the townsfolk's poor and judgmental treatment of Emily, and Homer's own ambivalence toward his relationship with Emily all drive her to kill. Death is a persistent symbol throughout the story - tracing the steps back throughout the town to determine just what led to Emily's death. Continue reading...

A Rose for Emily is a story by William Faulkner. Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi, on 25 September 1897. He was the first of four sons to Murry Cuthbert and Maud Faulkner, and was named after his great-grandfather, William Clark Falkner. He never completed high school, but was able to enroll in University for a special catering program, to serve the war veterans. He stands out to be the most unsurpassed American writers of the twentieth century. Faulkner has written novels, poems, screenplays and short stories. Faulkner wrote his first novel, Soldier’s Play, in 1925. In Continue reading...

English

A rose for Emily is the story of a young woman called Emily. She lives with her father and he plays a very big part in her life. For example she will not get married to her man unless her father approves. When he dies she gets engaged to a man that society considers a lesser man. She later murders him under mysterious circumstances. Sweat is the story of a woman called Dalia. She is married to a man called Sykes. He is very abusive and beats Dalia up. She gets fed up and plans to leave him. He Continue reading...

The most notable development in literary studies has been the evolution and proliferation of several critical vantage points/positions vis-à-vis which literary texts are analysed, evaluated and interpreted. Stylistic analysis is one such novel and fascinating approach to unravel the complexities of a text. Such an analysis uses an integrative model, by subjecting the ‘words on the page’ (language) to a close scrutiny in order to explore the text (literature) and decipher hidden values/meanings for a richer and enhanced understanding. The aim of this paper is to dissect Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” and view it under the Continue reading...

Although they written during roughly the same time period and are both based on Southern culture, William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” and Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path” are very different in many ways, from the tone of the stories to the narrative style used. One of the best ways to look at these differences is by comparing the principal characters in the stories. Miss Emily and Phoenix Jackson are both, in different ways, tragic figures. However, a careful examination of these two women reveals that, while the tragedy of Miss Emily is built on despair, that Continue reading...

In Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” the story is told through the collective consciousness of the town, acting as a narrator that constantly switches between events and events. Gossip is the means by which the combined information about Emily is disseminated throughout the town; this adds an air of mystery to the woman, as everyone wonders about her relationship with Homer. By the time the townspeople happen upon Homer’s body, they certainly learn that, but in the meantime, all they can do is speculate. Faulkner expresses this speculation and fascination with Emily’s activities by having the Continue reading...

William Faulkner wrote many short stories that are well recognized for their themes. Faulkner used the theme of depression in some of his short stories. These stories include “A Rose for Emily”, “That Evening Sun”, and “Barn Burning”. The theme of depression in these three stories is expressed by the characters in the stories. “A Rose for Emily” is a story about a woman called Emily who experiences depression when her father and lover die. “That Evening Sun” is a story of a black woman called Nancy who is pregnant with a white man’s child and is afraid Continue reading...

‘Instructor’s name’

A Woman Bound by Gender Roles – the Feminist Voices in Short fiction
Today we live in the so called post-feminist generation, yet, it can be said that, in today’s society, it is easier being a man than a woman. Even today, women are discriminated against in certain jobs, forced to obey obsolete religious doctrines, refused basic rights in many societies, and are generally expected to put their families first, sometimes at the cost of their individuality. If things are this bad today, then they were much worse in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Historically, literature has always Continue reading...

Zijiao (2291) says that A Rose for Emily is among William Faulkner’s famous short stories. The story illustrates the happening in Jefferson, Mississippi where there is a woman involved in a tragedy. Faulkner evokes dark images of murder, gloom, and terror in the story of Emily (William and Commins 1). The story has old process in deterioration, a murder victim, corpse, and necrophilia. Emily is a loner who kills Homer and embraces the victim without the knowledge of the community. The community has admiration towards Emily without the realization that the woman has housed a rotting corpse for Continue reading...

The passage of time brings change in the lives of people; births, marriages, deaths, and many other events in between. Change can be looked forward to or feared, and whether or not life’s changes are good or bad, most people adapt readily to turning points in their lives. However, this adaptability is an ability that Emily Grierson in William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” does not possess, or if she does adapt it is in an unwholesome manner. Many literary critics agree with S. W. M. Johnson’s interpretation of the story that Emily represents “a refusal Continue reading...

Analysis of “A Rose for Emily”

Abstract
This paper is an analysis of the character in “A Rose for Emily.” It shows how her father, a selfish man deprived her of a better life and how she faces adversity.

Even though Mr. Grierson is penniless, no suitor is good enough for his daughter, after he dies, his daughter Emily holds on to the only two things left from her pass, her name andher aristocratic arrogance.
Emily lives a sheltered life while her father is alive, she is totally dependent upon him, and she is not even allowed friends. She is not prepared to face the Continue reading...

William Faulkner wore many hats; he was a lawyer, a Politian, a soldier, and a writer. Each of his career impacted society, as a writer he was winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in Literature. When Faulkner wrote “A Rose for Emily:” one of his more popular short stories, he was definitely thinking of Emily Dickenson and Charles Dickens; he even borrowed the name “Emily.” Emily is part Emily Dickenson and Dickens’ Miss Havisham—reclusive and delusional.

Faulkner rivets this story by combining the lives of two strange women to make one interesting reading; even the name of the Continue reading...

A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner is mostly read and regarded as a study in abnormal psychology. It is also seen as a gothic horror. In fact, Faulkner even described it himself as a “ghost story.” In the story, Emily Grierson lived in an upscale neighborhood where she is regarded as eccentric, traditional and outdated. Her object of affection is Homer Barron, a charming new comer in town, who had fallen victim to Emily’s plan to prevent him from leaving her side forever.
In relating Faulkner’s character Emily to the author with Freud’s psychoanalysis, it Continue reading...

In Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” the story is told through the collective consciousness of the town, acting as a narrator that constantly switches between events and events. Gossip is the means by which the combined information about Emily is disseminated throughout the town; this adds an air of mystery to the woman, as everyone wonders about her relationship with Homer. By the time the townspeople happen upon Homer’s body, they certainly learn that, but in the meantime, all they can do is speculate. Faulkner expresses this speculation and fascination with Emily’s activities by having the Continue reading...

William Faulkner’s short story, “A Rose for Emily,” concerns the life and death of an upper class white woman in a small Southern town. Emily Grierson is a woman who has lived her life in defiance of the world around her. She refuses to pay her taxes. She says arrogantly, “I have no taxes in Jefferson.” However, alongside Grierson’s fierce independence is the role that people of color play in the story. This essay argues that race provides the main, dominant white character to negotiate power and this power is always mediated through people of color. In Continue reading...

‘Instructor’s Name’

Short fictions have various elements such as plot, theme, imagery, dialogues, setting and characters, each used in a specific way to express the views of the author, about the society in which he/she or the characters of their story is a part of. Using these elements an author drives home his/her point of view on worldly affairs. This essay is an attempt to explore the theme of loneliness and love, as portrayed in William Faulkner’s most anthologized short story ‘A Rose for Emily’.
‘A Rose for Emily’ is the most famous, at the same time, most shocking of Continue reading...

There are numerous dynamics that affect and directs themes, events and characters of a story. Time and change also affect stories in a substantial manner. The same has been described prominently in stories, “A rose for Emily” and “A&P”. Both these stories were written decades ago, and readers get a glimpse of the time and change of both these literary works. William Faulkner wrote, “A Rose for Emily” in 1930 while “A&P” was written by John Updike in the year 1961. This paper intends to discuss how time and change affect both these stories along with discussing other related Continue reading...

Section

The women protagonists in "the story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin, "The Chrysanthemums" by John Steinbeck and "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner are deeply repressed. In “The Story of an Hour”, Mrs. Mallard received the inaccurate shocking news of her husband - Brently Mallard’s death in a railroad accident (Chopin, 213). In the second story "The Chrysanthemums" Elisa, a young married woman who works in an isolated farm is proud of her skills in growing flowers. Her attempts to communicate with the outside world end up in disappointment through the mockery subjected to her by Continue reading...

The current discourse aims to compare the literary elements in the short stories entitled “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and “Sweat” by Zola Neale Hurston; such as the characters, symbols, and settings. Both stories evidently evolved in a rural town; where Emily allegedly lived in Mississippi County, Yoknapatawpha; while Delia lived in Florida; both settings were historically known to be backdrops for racial discrimination.
In terms of characters, the short stories evolved around the main characters, Emily Grierson and Delia Jones, both emanating distinct traits of strength and resilience in battling challenges in their lives. Emily could Continue reading...

Old, empty mansions evoke feelings of loneliness, isolation and even fear. What used to be happy homes for a large number of people have become empty nests. They fearsome or “haunted” as they are dream homes at the same time. They are thus frequent settings for gothic tales and horror movies.
Such old houses were the settings of two short stories: A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner and The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The two short stories are about two women who degenerated into complete breakdown while living isolated in huge, dream mansions.
In A Rose Continue reading...

‘Instructor’s Name’

‘Subject’
A Rose for Emily
‘A rose or Emily’ by William Faulkner, is one of the most critically acclaimed and widely debated short stories in modern literature. It is a story, of an aristocratic lady of the rural south, which happens during the early years of the twentieth century. In a sequence of flash backs the narrator conveys how the very uptight and mighty Emily Grierson lived a secluded life after her father’s death and how in the end when she dies, the townspeople find out that she in fact had killed her boyfriend, and was living with Continue reading...