A Rose for Emily

349 Words2 Pages
A Rose for Emily, WILLIAM FAULKNER QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1. Can this story really be a tribute to someone whose gray hair is on the pillow next to a skeleton? What are we supposed to think of Miss Emily Grierson? Who is Emily? What is she a monument to, and why does she deserve a rose? 2. Is the narrator's opinion of Miss Emily at all influenced by the place and time in which he lives? By his gender, class, and race? By Emily's? If so, how? 3. Does Miss Emily's status as a town monument suggest a reason for the manipulation of time sequence? 4. Can you imagine this story told any other way, perhaps as a Poe story, “The Casket of Homer Barron,” beginning, “The dozens of insults of that low-born Yankee I had borne as best I could, but when he ventured to injure my good name before all the town I vowed revenge”? Prof. McCleanhan Eng. 161 8 Jun. 2013 The story A Rose for Emily is about a lady Miss Emily Grierson who was controlled by her wealthy father and grew to be an old maid. She is a monument for southern pride because of the way she conducts herself with elegance and manners. Miss Emily deserves a rose, because a rose symbolizes love, and even though the community gossiped about her they grew to love her. The narrator’s opinion of Miss Emily is entirely influenced by his surroundings. To me it’s a combination of all the towns’ people and how they feel about Miss Emily. Had Miss Emily been living in 2012 in New York such actions would not have been tolerated, and people would not have paid as close attention to her. A span of 75 years is covered throughout the story, and events are manipulated to make the story shorter. As the story begins she is older and then it falls back into her childhood and ends with her dying. The story was interesting and intriguing, but I might have enjoyed it more from Miss Emily’s point of
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