Short Story Analysis Essay on "A Rose For Emily" by William Faulkner

Paper Type:  Literature review
Pages:  5
Wordcount:  1166 Words
Date:  2022-06-23

Introduction

The short story "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner is a narrator's perception of love, suspense, and terror. The author's tone shows violence, terror, and gloomy. Using the narrator's point of view the story is able to give the audience the changes and agony of the life of the protagonist - Emily. The judgmental perception of the people in the town because of her physical appearance denied her the chance for fair judgment and treatment without necessarily understanding her emotional wellbeing. Therefore, the narrator develops the plot and the characters to build on the interests of Miss Emily for the audience to understand the agony of misjudgment and the unfair treatment she received from the townspeople.

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The Perception of Love, Suspense, and Terror: Analyzing "A Rose for Emily"

The development of Homer Barron was important to show his role in revealing the character of the protagonist - Miss Emily - to the audience of the text. Faulkner develops the theme of gossip and jealousy to show how the changes in Emily's life provoked gossip among the townspeople. When on Sunday afternoon Miss Emily and Homer are seen driving around the town the whole town gets talking (Faulkner 519). They start murmuring "She will marry him...She will persuade him yet" (520). Unlike any other man-woman relationship the thought of the people seeing Emily with Homer everyone is provoked to think of her bad intentions because she had stayed for so long without getting married. However, true to the people's speculations Emily ends up killing Homer and hiding him in the house and the speculations continue that she killed him because he was homosexual (520). Form this encounter the narrator wants to expose the audience to the successful intricate complexity of the chronological narration.

The Narrator's Tone and Character Development: Understanding the Supporting Characters

Examining the tone of the narrator who goes unidentified throughout the entire plot helps the audience to identify with the intentions of the narrator's development of the characters in the purported perception used to develop the representation of the supporting characters in the story. The narration starts with the townspeople attending Miss Emily's funeral but refers to the protagonist as the 'affectionate fallen monument' to show sarcasm because the townspeople had all her lifetime perceived her as an outcast but now that they flock in for her funnel they are here for gossip, unlike the narrator's perception. The narrator's insinuation of affection of Miss Emily after her horribly murdering her love and sleeping with his dead body does not necessarily symbolic acts of affection. Therefore the audience is left to wonder why the narrator perceives that Miss Emily as the protagonist of the story as an essential element of the story development. The narrator's sympathy for Miss Emily shows the non-judgmental perception that is not condemning her despite her unacceptable conduct. The narrator admires the protagonist because of her high held esteem that places her ahead of all the rest of the townspeople. Her high bearing places in the admiration of the entire town evoking gossip from the people around her. According to the narrator's perception of where the entire town has Emily as the talking stock showed compassion and admirations.

Obsession and Desperation: Analyzing Miss Emily's Love Life

Miss Emily's obsession with the love for Homer and other men who came into her life signifies the narrator's sympathy and regard for the character. The narrator is trying to show the audience the level of desperation and helplessness that the kind of life she leads prompted her to act coldly and want to get anything she desires because of the many things that were compromised in her early life especially with her father. The narrator shows the sympathy for the protagonist trying to recount on her misfortunes on the number of young suitors that his father drove away when they tried to woo her for marriage making her end up unmarried all her life. The narrator seems to be celebrating the death of Emily's father because he was a stabling block hindering her happiness in life. The narrator illustrates the frustration life threw at Miss Emily validating her wickedness to cling to the rotting body of Homer. The narrator uses this character of the protagonist because to show how the society is quick to judge a person when they do not try to understand his or her intentions in doing the things they do. Although the narrator is representative of the townspeople the position held towards the things Emily does are interchangeably condemned and appreciated at the same time. The judgmental element of doing some things makes the narrator feel like she was stooping very low. Yet, unlike the entire town, the narrator somehow seem to appreciate and be proud of the things she faces and the courage to confront the dignity and disasters in her life. Through the narrator's eyes, the readers are exposed to an insightful perception of Emily without being judgmental. Using the narrator's position the audience is able to understand the title of the text because of the narrator's proposition of the deceased.

Conclusion

Conclusively, the short story "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner is narrated in the proposition of the narrator whose perception of the thought and point of view the story is able to give the audience the changes and agony of the life of the protagonist - Miss Emily. The judgmental perception of the people in the town because of her physical appearance denied her the chance for fair judgment and treatment without necessarily understanding her emotional wellbeing.

Works Cited

Burg, Jennifer, Boyle, Ann & Leng, Sheau-Dong. Using Constraint Logic Programming to Analyze the Chronology in "A Rose for Emily"

Faulkner, William A Rose for Emily, Retrieved from http://xroads.virginia.edu/~drbr/wf_rose.html

Kennedy, X.J. Literature An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. 2016, p. 32.

Annotated Bibliography

Burg, Jennifer, Boyle, Ann & Leng, Sheau-Dong. Using Constraint Logic Programming to Analyze the Chronology in "A Rose for Emily" the text in this article helped to understand the insight of the narrator's position in the story to unveil the position held by the narrator. Using the text in the article helps to back up the understanding of the analysis of the narration by opening the author's perception of character development and the different themes.

Faulkner, William A Rose for Emily, Retrieved from http://xroads.virginia.edu/~drbr/wf_rose.html. The short story forms the primary source of the assignment with the story forming the main resources for the analysis. Using the story improved understanding on the author's proposition on the development of the characters and the themes of the story.

Kennedy, X.J. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. 2016, p. 32. Kennedy provides an interesting contribution to literature analysis of fiction, narration, poetry, and drama. Using this article helped increase the analytical understanding of the text by William Faulkner because of the information givers in-depth understanding of the proposed perception of the author when communicating with the audience. Reading the text its helps influence logical understanding of the work and the position held by the narrator in relation to the text.

Cite this page

Short Story Analysis Essay on "A Rose For Emily" by William Faulkner. (2022, Jun 23). Retrieved from https://proessays.net/essays/short-story-analysis-essay-on-a-rose-for-emily-by-william-faulkner

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