(A critical comparison of A Rose for Emily and Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech)
Shakespeare put it beautifully in Hamlet when he put the words into Polonius’s mouth, “To thine own self be true.” It truly is a noble sentiment and a worthy goal. Each person on the planet earth is confronted daily by decisions that challenge his or her commitment to his or her own self. This is evident in many art forms. Painters, musicians, and writers take pieces of themselves and put it into what they draw, record, or type. While no two works are the same, there is commonly an overarching legislation of the works, a universal set of rules that all must fall under. This is especially apparent in writing, even more so when those rules are articulated. …show more content…
“Perhaps it's the measure of Faulkner's originality,” muses Robert McCrum, “that his work seems so incomparably more contemporary than his great contemporaries.” Indeed, Faulkner’s work is original. One of the closest works that comes to mind is actually Yellow Wallpaper. Although Emily doesn’t appear to be quite as insane as her counterpart created by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, who says, for example, “But here I can creep smoothly on the floor, and my shoulder just fits in that long smooch around the wall, so I cannot lose my way,” she does seem to be pretty crazy and inspires compassion in that …show more content…
Throughout the tale, the author seems rather indifferent to the goings-on. He keeps the same, flat tone throughout. I may be wrong, but I don’t believe that I saw a single exclamation mark in the entire story, just periods and the occasional question mark. His apparent apathy towards the story allows for the reader to experience the plot with the same degree of apathy. There is nothing structurally or mechanically wrong with the style, only that it presents the facts in a cold, unfeeling light. The heart, which he professes to speak about, is not cold nor unfeeling. His style and tone in this case contradict his words in Nobel Prize Acceptance