"A Rose For Emily" - William Faulkner
True Love and the Mentally Insane
In “A Rose For Emily” by William Faulkner, published in 1931, he exposes the mentally instable and disturbed mind of Emily Grierson. The story describes a woman living in the American Deep South, in a town named Jefferson, between the 1850’s and 1920’s, when the class structure was very stratified/racially segregated. Faulkner portrays the story in five sections that are out of chronological order, making the story more interesting and compelling as the reader. Through the use of ironic and interesting symbols and themes, the southern gothic fiction literature and movement, along with the captivating characterization, William Faulkner is able to give the reader a first hand experience in considering the different components of what true love are and reveal how troubled and alienated Emily Grierson is.
To get a more in depth idea of what happens in the story, it is important to summarize the main events that will be expanded on later. Faulkner tells the story in first person plural, trying to represent the feelings of the townspeople. The first section begins “When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town wen tot her funeral” (516), and incorporates a flashback describing how Emily does not have to pay taxes in Jefferson, since her father, who has passed away, did not have to. We then move to a different point in time that explains a rancid smell coming from Emily’s house. Next, Emily’s lover Homer is introduced and Emily purchasing arsenic (poison) at the drug store. Because the townspeople are worried about Emily, they send a letter to her cousins because they believe Emily and Homer’s relationship is “a bad example to the young people” (520). There is a passage of time in this second to last section and ends with Emily’s death. The fifth, and final, section describes what happens after Emily dies. “Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it and
In “A Rose For Emily” by William Faulkner, published in 1931, he exposes the mentally instable and disturbed mind of Emily Grierson. The story describes a woman living in the American Deep South, in a town named Jefferson, between the 1850’s and 1920’s, when the class structure was very stratified/racially segregated. Faulkner portrays the story in five sections that are out of chronological order, making the story more interesting and compelling as the reader. Through the use of ironic and interesting symbols and themes, the southern gothic fiction literature and movement, along with the captivating characterization, William Faulkner is able to give the reader a first hand experience in considering the different components of what true love are and reveal how troubled and alienated Emily Grierson is.
To get a more in depth idea of what happens in the story, it is important to summarize the main events that will be expanded on later. Faulkner tells the story in first person plural, trying to represent the feelings of the townspeople. The first section begins “When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town wen tot her funeral” (516), and incorporates a flashback describing how Emily does not have to pay taxes in Jefferson, since her father, who has passed away, did not have to. We then move to a different point in time that explains a rancid smell coming from Emily’s house. Next, Emily’s lover Homer is introduced and Emily purchasing arsenic (poison) at the drug store. Because the townspeople are worried about Emily, they send a letter to her cousins because they believe Emily and Homer’s relationship is “a bad example to the young people” (520). There is a passage of time in this second to last section and ends with Emily’s death. The fifth, and final, section describes what happens after Emily dies. “Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it and