Creative Non-Fiction

Group of: Anlei Chiara De La Vega, Honey Grace Alata and Lovely Grace Alata

“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner

Summary of the Story:

The story revolves around the curious history of Emily Grierson, a mysterious figure. It started
with the recollection of when the entire town attended her funeral that is held in her house where
no stranger had entered for more than ten years. Dating back to the past, Colonel Sartoris which
is the town’s mayor at the time, suspended Emily’s tax after the death of her father to justify the
actions by claiming that Mr. Grierson had once lent the community a significant sum. When new
leaders took over, unsuccessful attempts were made to get Emily to resume payments and she
insisted that the Board of Aldermen should talk to Colonel Sartoris with regards to this matter
when they visited her but the former mayor is already dead which she declined to acknowledge.
The story goes back in time thirty years earlier when her father just died when the town’s people
complained to the officials about the horrible odor emitted from Miss Emily’s house. Being
stubborn, complaints are again dismissed by Miss Emily which led to the decision of eliminating
the smell by sprinkling some line around her house after dark and as a couple of weeks passed,
the smell eventually faded. During the summer of 1894, Homer Barron, a construction worker,
became popular as he came to the town and is spotted taking buggy rides with Emily on Sunday
afternoons which gain her some pity from the town folks since she is dating someone below her
social status.

One day she is seen buying an arsenic in the drugstore but declines to reveal the reason of using
it which convinced the people that she will kill herself with it. Her relationship with Homer
became a blur as she find out that Homer isn't actually into women and marriage even after a
year of courtship. The Baptist minister talks with Emily about her behavior and after their talk,
the minister swears to never go back again so his wife wrote a letter to Emily's two cousins in
Alabama. Emily purchased a man's grooming kit, a suit and a nightshirt which led the town to
assume that she and Homer are finally a married couple. One evening, Homer enters Emily's
house after her cousins left the town but he was never seen again along with the disappearance of
Emily but after some time later, she emerged again older and plumper. As years passed, her
appearance to the crowd became lesser and when she finally passes away in 1937, her servant
finally let the curious women in the town into the house and walks out to the backdoor for good.
After a few days of her funeral, the townspeople breaks down the locked bedroom in Grierson's
home. As they explore the interior of the room, they finally discovered the decayed body of
Homer and what shocked them even more is the strand of a long grey hair in the pillow beside
the corpse.

Discussion of the Meaning:

"A Rose for Emily" is a reflection of the disintegrating societal views of the South in the
1930s. Furthermore, the story depicts the dark themes of death and resistance to change. It
conveys the ideas of concealment and obsession due to the extreme mysteries of Emily Grierson.
The citizens of the area also look after her with obsessive sense of wonder. In the story, William
Faulkner argues that the benefits of the upper class can often function as more of an
imprisonment of societal constraints. To summarize this work, the story begins with a brief first-
person account of the funeral of Emily Grierson, an elderly Southern lady whose death is the
incumbent of her small town. Also, it proceeds in a non-linear fashion, to something like the
writer's recollections of Emily's archaic and incredibly unusual behavior and attitude over the
years. The intention of the author is really to broaden our perspectives and show us the reflection
of a harsh society. He wants to establish the truth of how race, poverty, power, and slavery could
have a huge impact on the people involved in the community. On top of that, he also wants
explore the destructive effects of repression and comment upon the power of a manipulative
father, destroying his daughter’s future, whose happiness he held in his hands, failed duty as a
father and failed mission as a human being to help another achieve a full life. This story has
made readers more curious and interested to read more because of its dark and mysterious
impression. There were also a lot of symbolism and life teachings throughout the story which
made a significant impression on the reader’s understanding of life. One of the moral values of
this story is that we're not seeing the world properly whenever we look at everything through
rose-colored glasses. The whole town was able to disregard Emily's peculiarities because they
could see her through rose colored glasses but behind that glass is a girl imprisoned of societal
constraints.

Form:

Faulkner used an incredibly interesting technique to compose the plot. He structured the
storyline in a jumbled chronological shifting viewpoint that reflects Emily's character. For
instance, the story unfolds with a flash back of Emily's life and ended with her death. The story
is structured like a fictional prose. Faulkner also isn't introducing things chronologically. Instead,
he seems to arrange things by topic, and then disintegrates them in long narratives. The first
theme is her death, the second her taxes, the third is the smell, the fourth her father's death and
Homer Barron, and, finally, the truly awful discovery. The story, "A Rose for Emily" has a
Southern Gothic genre. This has been popular in the literary works of Europe for several
centuries. This story, however, reflects the influence that Southern Gothic have upon Faulkner's
writing. The short story has a non-chronological structure. Its content is divided into five parts,
that are labeled by Roman numerals. That being said, the content doesn't really implement
Emily's life chronologically throughout the five parts. Such method of storytelling brings a
tremendous element of surprise at the end of the story. The narration also contributes to the
element of surprise at the end of the story.

Voice and Tone:

Equipping a first-person point of view, the story was narrated by a collective narrator,
from the narrative itself “A rose for Emily”, which are the townspeople of Jefferson. As the
narrators, the townspeople are pretty straight-forward with their words in their commentary
about the Griersons This can be observed clearly because William Faulkner made it evident by
emphasizing the townspeople’s dialogues, making it easy for the readers to interpret. The
collective narrator shifted views from the different townspeople, in order to sequentially narrate
Emily’s life presenting the story from past to present and describing the Griersons’ personality
and relevance to Jefferson. William Faulkner conveyed the story in a serious tone, enabling the
narrator to present it morbidly, congruent to the Southern Gothic style which was applied for the
entirety of the story.

Character and Characterization:

Character Characterization
1. Who are the people in the work? What is the character’s motivation?

 Emily Grierson- main character from Emily Grierson’s motivation in the story is to
which the story revolved. be a righteous Grierson according to the
 Homer Baron- Emily’s lover and traditional standards set by her father. After
fiancée, head of a construction her father died, she also longed for love as she
company. was left all alone, where Homer and her
 Colonel Sartosis- Mayor of Jefferson started dating. In addition, the townspeople’s
10 years ago. criticisms seem to affect her too much which

 Judge Steven- current mayor of developed her antisocial character, and even
Jefferson. shutting her house closed to strangers.

 Tobe- Emily’s servant

 Mr. Grierson- Emily’s strict and
manipulative father
 Emily’s 2 cousins- from Alabama,
Emily’s only family since her dad
died.
 Townspeople- ones who gave
criticisms from the Griersons and also
the ones who told the story.

2. How does the dialogue and action Is the character’s personality revealed
reveal a character’s personality directly by the speaker telling the reader or
 traits? indirectly by the character’s own words and
deeds?
Emily accepting everything her father tells
her to do and not to do reveals a character of Emily Grierson’s personality for the most part
her of being a coward, her desire for romance was expressed indirectly in a way that the
can be observed by the murder of Homer townspeople were the ones who gave
Baron. descriptions of her and her life. While direct
in a way that the actions she committed,
Homer Baron meeting Emily Grierson, loving and murdering Homer, enduring her
disregarding the townspeople’s negative father’s manipulation, living as an anti-social
perspective of the Griersons seemed like his all evidently made up her personality.
love for Emily is genuinely pure.
That interpretation clearly demonstrated that
Colonel Sartosis exempting Emily from tax William Faulkner successfully managed to
bills as a sign of his gratitude for Mr. compose a complicated story by its way of
Grierson handed him a significant amount of narration and presentation of characters.
money back then revealed he’s being a bias as Some unfamiliar words were also used. But
the town’s mayor. with some research, those will be easily
understood.
Judge Steven referring to Emily informally,
revealed his contumelious personality as a
Mayor of Jefferson.

Tobe serving Emily Grierson despite of her

antisocial and grotesque being revealed his
personality as someone who’s very patient.

Mr. Grierson being so concerned about his

family’s reputation. Rejecting Emily’s suitors
to protect their wealth and standing. Those
actions of him explains how stern he is as the
head of the Grierson Family.

Emily’s 2 cousins from Alabama being

present when the minister’s wife called them
during Emily’s rough times and showing up
at Emily’s funeral reveal their concern for
Emily.

The townspeople being so interested about the

Griersons revealed how the Griersons can be
considered very relevant in Jefferson.

Their dialogues and actions equate to such

personalities which the author designed as
their roles in the story. A way of William
Faulkner to reveal the characters’ true colors
and intentions as characters in the story.

3. Is there a principal character? In a non-narrative work, how would you

As the story revolved around Emily characterize the speaker or the writer? How
Grierson’s life, and what the title of the would you characterize the work itself?
narrative suggests, Emily Grierson is certainly
the principal character in the narrative. For a non-narrative work, the speaker or
writer can be characterized through choice of
clothing, gestures, and mannerisms according
to the role they will play. While in order to
characterize the work itself, it is essential to
have one’s own style of language in story
writing, voice and tone in delivering lines, a
specific theme which can be easily identified
or one that may require a deeper interpretation
 and having a clear picture of the whole
work’s form. If a writer manages to present
all of the aforementioned essentials, A
successful non-narrative work may then be
created.

Language of the Story:

The use of imagery can be observed in the story which helps the readers to have a better
understanding of its theme and concept. Sensory images and figurative language were
established by the author to give the readers a mental interpretation of the story’s elements. For
instance, through describing the house of Emily and her possessions, the readers are able to
distinguish that Emily is not a common citizen of that town and that the aura of her house
symbolizes death in which Emily isolates herself in. The author used figurative language to give
deeper meanings to texts. He specifically connotes the meanings with metaphors, similes,
alliteration, and personification. Metaphors gives the readers a better grasp of what the writer
wants to express by using comparisons. Similes, just like metaphors uses comparisons to give a
deeper meaning to the context but unlike metaphors, it uses direct comparisons like how the
writer describe Emily’s appearance as a body submerged in motionless water, and of that pallid
hue. Her eyes, lost in the fatty ridges of her face, looked like two small pieces of coal pressed
into a lump of dough which gives the readers an overview of what a distressed Emily looks like.
Alliteration helps in highlighting the sound of words which is also important other than it’s
meaning since it emphasizes some of the words, making them notable. Personification also has a
great role in this story since it gave personality to inanimate objects. The author’s diction in his
work particularizes Emily’s personality and attitude by saying that she vanquished the officials,
she insists that she have no taxes in Jefferson or the town folks suggesting that she is supposed to
be a “noblesse oblige”. By using these words, he showed his readers that she assumed that she
can dominate the town because she belongs in a higher social class than anyone in her town and
she also have the privilege to pay no taxes. The author uses and connects words like this to give
its readers a context that Emily cares about nobody but herself and that she will do everything
just to fulfill her satisfaction. Also, the words used by the author gives the readers clues to
slightly expect the unusual ending of the story which in turn, becomes an expected surprise for
them. A lot of these clues leads the readers to the cause of Homer’s sudden disappearance and
what really happened to their relationship. The words, phrases, and lines combined together
contributes greatly to the theme, tone and meaning of the selection. It is noticeable that a lot of
the words, phrases or lines uses positive denotations but with negative connotations associated
with it. It is as if it’s trying to mask the horror and dreadful part of the story making it a mystery
for the readers to solve. In addition to this, the structure of the story is in a non-chronological
order which adds to the mystery of the story. The last part also has the intention to shock the
readers as it reveals what actually happened in the story. The writer conveys most of the meaning
of the story with connotations since it uses a lot of figurative language and symbolisms which
gives a deeper meaning to what words or phrases actually is instead of denoting and giving its
direct meaning. Though a lot of the words are denoted with neutrality, the meaning actually
came up negative especially on how it describes Emily’s identity and her stand in the society.
The implications of statements give way to the meaning behind the story as it plainly revolves
around the dark and mysterious personality of Emily. However, what’s intriguing about this is
that the author of the story purposedly used these implications not only to entertain but to
enlighten its readers about several aspects of human condition, particularly, isolation, how evil
repression affects man’s coping mechanism to blend into a society that is constantly changing
and how it can bring them loneliness and do things unimaginable which can lead them to despair.
The way the author interprets and describes the settings in the story identifies its style which is
similar to a Southern Gothic style that is rather mysterious and scary at some point. This is
because the setting in the story is actually influenced by the American civil war between North
and South and the modernization of the South as time pass by. The style is very apparent from
how the author describes the town and Emily’s house with connotations of decay, racism,
alienation and violence. The selection noticeably includes elements of propaganda since it
persuades its readers to see Faulkner’s view of the modernization of the old South. He wants to
open our minds about how social position and power had a great value back then as he portrays
Miss Emily Grierson as the last descendent of an aristocratic family who is resistant to change
with the means to protect their legacy. The story also touches some of the contemporary issues in
our society like racism, hierarchy, slavery and self-imprisonment.