William Faulkner’s Sympathetic Sequence of Events

In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, William Faulkner declared that, “It is the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing” (Faulkner, 2006). In other words, Faulkner believes that a conflict within oneself makes the best writing. Therefore, Faulkner created Emily Grierson’s character in “A Rose for Emily” after this model quote.   In William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” the sequence of events makes the readers feel sympathetic for Miss Emily. Readers feel sympathetic for Miss Emily because she passed away. Readers start to feel remorseful for Miss Emily because her controlling father dies. Readers then begin to feel sorry for Emily because she had no friends. Readers also feel sorry because her lover Homer Barron leaves her and goes back up North. Nevertheless, many people would disagree that the sequence of events makes the reader’s feel sympathy towards Miss Emily. Instead, they may feel as if Emily deserved what happened to her or that these events happen to everyone. I agree that Emily did deserve what happened to her. However, it is absolutely impossible to avoid Faulkner’s sympathetic choice of words throughout the story.
At the beginning of “A Rose for Emily,” the readers are introduced to Miss Emily Grierson at her funeral. Faulkner created sympathy for Emily by making her an outcast from the rest of the town. Emily’s two female cousins from Alabama came immediately to settle unfinished business. The day after their arrival, the funeral was held. The only reason the townspeople wanted to attend her funeral was to either see the inside of her home or because they felt obligated to attend. The townspeople gazed upon Miss Emily under a multitude of bought flowers. This most likely where Faulkner got the idea for the rose in the title (Getty, 2005). If the townspeople had actually cared about Miss Emily, they would not have bough flowers to put on her grave. Instead, they would have hand-picked flowers for her.... [continues]

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