MODULE 4: Literature of America

UNIT 2: A Rose for Emily

Name: Juan Justin Doctor-Gonzales_____________________ Date: November 14, 2021

Year/Course/Section: 3 BS International Relations-A Score: ____________________
Professor: Princess Fairuz Kale Kalantongan-Mangoba

"A Rose for Emily" was written by an American author named William Faulkner.
This was first published on April 30, 1930, in an issue of The Forum and it was
Faulkner's first short story published in a national magazine. After reading the
short story, please answer the following questions for comprehension check.

Exercise 1. Answer the following questions.

1. Characterize Emily.

Based on my understanding, Emily is a woman who has grown

increasingly reliant on others, particularly her father. She has spent her
entire life in the same house, most likely with the same butler, and with her
father as her only companion. She is described as a woman who keeps to
herself throughout her entire life. Her father's influence is most harmful and
her first boyfriend turns out to be an unfit partner. At some point, I can say
that Emily is obsess with Homer since she poisons and kills him because she
sees murder as the only way to keep her partner with her permanently.
Emily treats him as if he were still alive, as evidenced by her maintaining his
clothes in the room, his engraved wedding trinkets on the dresser, and a
piece of her hair found on his body at the end of the story.

2. How did the community regard Miss Emily? Do they like or dislike her?
Why do you say so?

The community regarded Emily as a mysterious woman who changes

from a sweet and hopeful young girl to a cloistered and secretive old
woman. She is an object of pity for the people because they viewed her as a
woman who is devastated and lonely after her father's death. It appears to
me that the people like and hate her at some point because they keep on
saying “poor Emily” as a sign that they believe she has fallen from her
privileged social standing. Moreover, the community believes that Emily
defies their social standards especially when she chooses to spend time with
a guy from the North who is a day laborer. On the other hand, there are
people who hate Emily because she declines her mails, refuses to pay her
taxes, and she is irresponsible when it comes to her community obligations.
 Also, the community hates her since she is afraid of embracing change and
she regularly clings from the past, making her life miserable and too hard to
deal with.

3. What do you think the house of Miss Emily and Miss Emily herself
symbolize? Explain.

After reading the story, I can really attest that Emily’s house
symbolizes mental illness, alienation, tragedy, and death. Her house is a
portal to the living past and the locked upstairs bedroom serves as her
macabre trophy chamber where she keeps the man whom she is highly
obsess with. The people are fascinated by the house and much as they are
by its owner. They cast their own macabre dreams and interpretations onto
the collapsing structure and enigmatic person inside. Emily's death gives
them a chance to enter the house and confirm their wildest imaginings and
sensationalistic theories about what happened inside. Moreover, the house
is in some ways an extension of Emily: it bares its “stubborn and coquettish
decay” to the town’s residents. It is a testament to the endurance and
preservation of tradition but now seems out of place among the industrial
and commercial buildings that surround it.

4. Why is the story titled "A Rose for Emily"?

Based on my own assessment, “A Rose for Emily” is the title of the

story because Emily’s life is becoming more challenging as time passes by
and it was portrayed in the story that she undergone a great tragedy. For
this reason, the rose is probably a flower at Emily's funeral. The rose is also
generally viewed as a symbol love and friendship. Moreover, she lived a life
full of loneliness because of her father’s death and the bitter experiences she
had with her partner. Thus, the rose from the title symbolizes the absent
love and it represents the flowers that Emily never received when she was
alive. Finally, the rose, on the other hand, is a thorny bloom that can
penetrate the flesh if not handled carefully. Emily, like a prickly rose,
maintains a safe distance from others. Her snobbish demeanor and her
secluded lifestyle prevent other people from getting close to her. She, too, is
hazardous, much like a rose. She murders Homer, the only person who gets
even somewhat near to her. Emily's blood is the same color as a rose's red
petals.
Exercise 2: If you were given a chance to rewrite the story, what ending do you
like? Re-organize the story by writing your own ending.

If I would be given a chance to rewrite the ending of the story, it would be like
this…

During the funeral of Emily, two elderly men showed up and they claimed
to have been associated with Emily more than three decades ago. The two men
were Trevor Scott and James Holmes, the owners of the famous corporation in
New Jersey. Trevor said that he was with Emily during their younger years but
they separated because of misunderstandings. Trevor and James both explained
that they only came to express their deepest sympathy.

Two weeks after the burial, the two elderly men were spotted in the house
of Emily. The townspeople were eager to have a decent look at Emily’s house and
to find out what Trevor and James doing inside the house. Meanwhile, a lawyer
entered the house and the people overheard their conversation. It turned out that
the two men were planning to demolish the house and establish a commercial
building.

The people are unaware that Trevor intentionally broke the heart of Emily
as a revenge because Emily’s father stole a huge amount of money on Trevor’s
grandfather. Emily’s father and Trevor’s grandfather were very good companions
and they shared their plans for the success of the company. However, due to his
eagerness of giving his family a good life, Emily’s father ran away and brought the
money with him. Trevor’s grandfather suffered and later died because of heart
attack.

With Trevor’s unyielding commitment of saving the company of his

grandfather, he managed to attract investors and he worked hard to the extent he
chose to dedicate most of his time in finding people that could help him save the
company. In worst scenario, Trevor gave up his dream of becoming a pilot.