In William Faulkner’s short story, “A Rose for Emily” his writing led me to assume at first that the main character, Emily Grierson was a woman of importance. I assumed she was resistant to change and appeared to live in the past. This seemed evident to me when she is approached about back taxes she owes and is asked whether or not she received a notice from the sheriff. By her reply “Perhaps he considers himself the sheriff….I have no taxes in Jefferson” (DiYanni, R. pp. 80) I was led to believe she did not recognize the next generation sheriff.
As the story progresses, the reader learns much about the main character. Mostly based on how the townspeople think of her and gossip about her. They whisper about her and seem to pity her. Yet when a neighbor complains that Miss Emily’s house smells bad, they take care of this in the middle of the night by sprinkling lime in her cellar and all the outbuildings. This led me to assume they perhaps feared facing her to approach this subject and chose to do it in secret.
As I continued reading, I began forming a theory when Miss Emily visited the drugstore and asked for poison. At that point, readers have been made aware she had a suitor. When she stated to the druggist “I want some poison” my assumption of the outcome of the story changed, especially when she requested arsenic. I began to think perhaps she would not allow her suitor to leave and would poison him to keep him with her. By the end of the piece, I then believed my suspicions were true, when they found a corpse upstairs on the bed. Then when they observed the indentation in the other pillow and noted a “long strand of iron-gray hair” (DiYanni, pp. 84), I understood Mr. Faulkner’s ending to the story.
Since I am a Criminal Justice major, I was not negatively disposed to anything related to this story. However I did relate it to the actions of the infamous serial killer Ted Bundy. He was a necrophiliac and by virtue of the fact it... [continues]
As the story progresses, the reader learns much about the main character. Mostly based on how the townspeople think of her and gossip about her. They whisper about her and seem to pity her. Yet when a neighbor complains that Miss Emily’s house smells bad, they take care of this in the middle of the night by sprinkling lime in her cellar and all the outbuildings. This led me to assume they perhaps feared facing her to approach this subject and chose to do it in secret.
As I continued reading, I began forming a theory when Miss Emily visited the drugstore and asked for poison. At that point, readers have been made aware she had a suitor. When she stated to the druggist “I want some poison” my assumption of the outcome of the story changed, especially when she requested arsenic. I began to think perhaps she would not allow her suitor to leave and would poison him to keep him with her. By the end of the piece, I then believed my suspicions were true, when they found a corpse upstairs on the bed. Then when they observed the indentation in the other pillow and noted a “long strand of iron-gray hair” (DiYanni, pp. 84), I understood Mr. Faulkner’s ending to the story.
Since I am a Criminal Justice major, I was not negatively disposed to anything related to this story. However I did relate it to the actions of the infamous serial killer Ted Bundy. He was a necrophiliac and by virtue of the fact it... [continues]
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