“A Rose for Emily” William Faulkner

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A Short Story Unit - “A Rose for Emily”

By: William Faulkner

Part One: Pre-reading Notes:

Note about Setting: Besides indicating time and place, setting also includes the customs and
social conditions of a time-including, in this case, such things as racial stereotyping. In this
story, readers my take offense to the language Faulkner uses to portray a racially segregated
town of the rural south in the early 1900’s. Keep in mind, an author does this to preserve the
realism of the situation and time period as would have been felt and seen by those experiencing
it during the time.

1. What did Faulkner’s writings chronical (depict):

2. Genre: Southern Gothic

a. Focus:

b. Set in _______________, includes _____________, ___________________

c. Based on:
“A Rose for Emily” William Faulkner

3. Themes:

a.

b.

c.

d.

e.

f.

Part Two: Vocabulary Terms

Directions: Determine what part of speech each word is based on the definition provided.

Word Part of Definition

Speech
1. cupolas small, domed structures on roofs

2. spires structures that taper to a point at the top

3. perpetuity for an indefinite amount of time; forever

4. aldermen members of a local legislative body; city council

members

5. lime also called quicklime, this white and odorless

substance has many uses, including masking foul
odors
“A Rose for Emily” William Faulkner

6. tableaux a living representation of stock photographs of

the era; however, in those photographs, the
virginal-looking young woman in the background
was usually a new bride, and the authoritarian man
was usually a grim husband.
7. noblesse oblige honorable behavior, considered to be the
responsibility of persons of high birth or rank, to
members of the lower class.
8. a man’s toilet set a mirror, brush, and comb.
9. cabal a secret group
10. bier A stand on which a coffin is placed before burial

Part Three: Comprehension Questions

Section I

1. What can you tell about the townspeople’s attitude toward Miss Emily from their reaction to her death?

2. What is the impression created by the description of the house and it’s neighborhood? How has this
changed?

3. What had Colonel Sartois done for Miss Emily in 1894? Based on tradition and gender roles, whey might he
have done that?

4. What did the next generation of town leaders do on the first of the year?
“A Rose for Emily” William Faulkner

5. How does the physical description of Miss Emily compare with the general image of charming southern
women?

6. Why do you think the tax collectors don’t press Miss Emily to give them the money she owes?

Section II:

Question: Note, the reference to Miss Emily’s servant in this section. The narrator refers to him as a
Negro. But, the characters use the “N” word. What is Faulkner trying to show with the two references?

7. How long had Miss Emily’s father been dead?

8. Why are the neighbors complaining? What does Judge Stevens say probably has caused it?

9. Why can’t they just tell her that she, or her place, smells bad?

10. At what point do the people of the town start to feel sorry for Miss Emily? Why?

11. Why is the community’s reaction to the death of Miss Emily’s father one of satisfaction?

12. What did Miss Emily tell her visitors the day after her father’s death?
“A Rose for Emily” William Faulkner

13. Why did the townspeople not think she was crazy for this?

Section III

14. Who began to date Miss Emily in Part III? Why was he is town?

15. What did the townspeople think of Miss Emily and her new boyfriend?

16. What did Miss Emily purchase from the druggist?

17. Why do you think he didn’t make her give him an answer when he asked what she was going to use it for?

Section IV

18. What are the women saying about Miss Emily behind her back? How do they feel about her and what she is
doing?

19. How do the women of the town try to get Miss Emily to stop what she is doing (and not disgrace the town)?

20. What does Miss Emily do that makes the townspeople think she and her boyfriend have wed?

21. Why do the townspeople believe her boyfriend/husband left?

22. How had Miss Emily changed since the last time anyone saw her in town (about 6 months)?
“A Rose for Emily” William Faulkner

23. Why do you think the daughters and granddaughters of the older generation take painting lessons from
Miss Emily?

24. Why don’t the younger generations not send pupils?

25. How has Miss Emily shown her stubbornness against changing times?

Section V

26. Who returns to hold Miss Emily’s funeral?

27. Why might the very old men have shown up at the funeral wearing their old Confederate uniforms?

28. There is a room upstairs that no one has seen for forty years. After Miss Emily’s funeral, the door is
broken down. What do the people find there? What is noticed about the second pillow on the bed in the
last paragraph?

29. What happened to Homer Baron?

After Reading:

1. The community thought of Emily and her father “as a tableau-a kind of dramatic picture. This tableau
suggests conflict. What conflicts do you think existed between Emily and her father? (For whom or what
was that horsewhip intended?)
“A Rose for Emily” William Faulkner

2. How is Colonel Sartoris’s white lie to Miss Emily about her taxes an attempt to spare her any
embarrassment? Explain how, one generation later, Judge Stevens takes steps to avoid embarrassing her.
How do the changes in attitude toward Miss Emily’s taxes reflect wider social and economic changes in the
South?

3. Why do you think Faulkner emphasizes the way Miss Emily’s hair turned gray-and what do you think is
significant about the time it started to happen?

4. What significance do you see in the strand of iron-gray hair found on the second pillow?

5. What part do you think Tobe, the manservant, plays in Miss Emily’s history? Why do you think he continues
to work for her, being the only person who saw her daily?

6. Several critics noted of this story: “The community is nearly everywhere in Faulkner’s work as an
important force and, diffused and anonymous though it be, it becomes one of the most important elements
of the story…Miss Emily Grirson is one of the numerous characters in Faulkner’s work who are warped by
their inheritance from the past and who are cut off from the community-sometimes by their own will-to
their detriment”

Do you agree with these critics? Why or why not? Be specific.

7. Another observation noted by these critics is that Faulkner’s story has significance far beyond its horror-
story-like shock ending: ”To read ‘A Rose for Emily’ as merely a piece of cheap Southern Gothicism, an
attempt to shock and horrify, would be to miss the point.”

Do you agree with these critics? Why or why not? What do you think is the point of the story?
“A Rose for Emily” William Faulkner

8. Historical details in this story reveal a great deal about its setting. What do you learn about the times
from the townspeople’s attitude toward the African Americans who live in Jefferson? In our time, have
such attitudes changed or stayed much the same? Discuss how Faulkner might have changed his story if it
was written today.

9. What does a rose usually symbolize? Why do you think the title of the story is “A Rose for Emily”?

10. When telling this story, Faulkner does not reveal the plot in chronological order. Why do you think he
doesn’t tell the story in order of events?

Part Four: Synonyms, connotation, denotation

Near the beginning of the story, Faulkner writes, “Alive, Miss Emily has been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort
of hereditary obligation upon the town…” Faulkner specifically chose these words to create a richer, more
meaningful description of the role Miss Emily played in regards to the town.

Synonyms: words have nearly the same meaning

Connotation: a word that has more meanings than its original or main definition.
Denotation: the literal, primary meaning of a word

Directions: Using a dictionary, look up the definition of each word on the left (denotation).
 If a word has or suggests a particular meaning or connotation, put a + in the box.
 If a word does not have that meaning or connotation, put a – in the box.
 If a word potentially, but not necessarily, has a specific connotation, put a * in the box.

Felt as something something that suggests a has aspects of

Tradition

Duty

Care

Obligation
“A Rose for Emily” William Faulkner

Part Five: Themes

Directions: Give examples of each theme from the short story, “A Rose for Emily”
1.
destructive
nature of
isolation

2.
Tricks memory
plays on past

3.
Versions of reality

4.
Compassion and
Forgiveness

5.
Burden of family
legacy

6.
Decline of the Old
South