They are not made to stand for one idea, but for many. Symbols are used very frequently throughout the story, “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner. The short story is about Emily Grierson. It takes place after the Civil War and the abolishment slavery. The unidentified narrator describes the eccentric circumstances of Emily’s life and her unusual relationships with her father, Homer Barron, the town of Jefferson and death.
The concepts of originality and forgery, the backbone of the novel, are purposely introduced at the very beginning of the story. On the way to Leno Antiques in Dodd’s Gardens, Charles, the main character and a poet himself, makes a very keen observation. He notices that “all these houses seemed
My Ántonia by Willa Cather is a novel that is based on the memories of the protagonist, Jim Burden. Many critics have assessed this novel, and they have focused on such literary elements as symbolism, motif, and characterization. Although, the most agreed upon argument is the one that says that the groundwork of every section of the book is based on the personal memories of Willa Cather. It seems that her ideas for characters, settings, and plots all come from her own personal memories. In the introduction, Cather’s description of Jim could easily be a description of herself.
Story Within a Story: The Subtle Confession Expressed Through A Rose For Emily’s Unique Narration William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily is the subject of countless literary analyses and scholarly discussions, but the focus too often remains on Emily Grierson’s character. Arguably more deserving of attention are the subtler insinuations delivered throughout the narrative. Faulkner’s narrator ostensibly recalls the tragic life of a strangely enigmatic woman, the sort of tale that would pass into Jeffersonian legend. A closer reading, however, reveals that the unique first-person-plural narrator—the townspeople—are the true subjects of the tale, and Emily Grierson’s tragedy is only a side note in the grand scheme of the story. Through the manipulation of pronouns—transitioning often from we and our to they, not always with the same referents—and chronology, the narrator tells not Emily’s story, but rather describes a personal confession and rationalization.
Analytical Essay Short Stories Short stories can be written and interpreted in different ways. Short stories provoke and reward their reader by using figurative language and narrative conventions to paint a picture in the reader head. The most common forms of figurative language are imagery, simile, metaphor, alliteration, personification and onomatopoeia. In the short story Lamb to the Slaughter Roald Dahl describes the setting very clearly. The main event is occurring in Mary and Patrick Maloney’s house.
The introductory paragraphs of Ian Banks’ The Crow Road establish a clear setting as well as emotional and physical representations of the characters. The passage recounts the funeral ceremony of Prentice’s – the main character – grandmother and the family gathering it entails. This scene serves to expose the general atmosphere in the crematorium and Prentice’s reactions to the situation. This expert features significant literary elements, namely: a rich and precise descriptive prose that works to define the passage spatially and in term of its characters; a deliberate choice of narrative chronology by which readers better get a grasp of the main character’s personality; and the process through which the author engenders empathy, sympathy or some other form of emotion for the characters from, augmenting the reader’s interest. Using these methods, Banks is able to successfully keep readers engaged and solidly begin his novel.
This essay compares the ways in which Hardy presents attitudes to death in ‘Drummer Hodge’ and ‘The Man He Killed’. As well as this, the essay will include the situations, feelings conveyed by Hardy, the language and effect. ‘The Man He Killed’ is a monologue written in a conversational style. Hardy uses pauses between lines to show the narrator’s mental process when thinking. The amount of hyphens used begin to increase in stanza four as if the narrator is faltering more often due to natural speech.
In William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” the life of a woman known as Emily is explored. Everything from the way she treats those around her to the way people look up to her can attest to the time period in which men came to view a “fallen monument” (Faulkner 91) and pay their respects to an era that was no longer in their midst. These deep seeded conflicts that grip this region can be pinpointed to the south, during reconstruction, after a long and grueling civil war from which “garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of [Emily’s] neighborhood.” (Faulkner 91) Even before her passing the death of the old was being overrun by the new just as the cotton gins had done to Emily’s street. This old versus new rivalry brings upon the all-important theme of tradition versus change. As the custom of the South the elites or Aristocrats have power not linked to their land alone, but to the name they carry as well.
After World War One, there were many changes occurring in the world. Man’s need to follow longstanding tradition was being challenged by a continually changing and modernizing world. The past and the present often collided. William Faulkner, a southern born writer, aptly reflects the turmoil of the past and the present in “A Rose for Emily”. The conflict between the past and the present is symbolized in the beginning of the story by this description, “only now Miss Emily’s house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and gasoline pumps-an eyesore among eyesores” (91).
Symbolism and theme in “A Rose for Emily” In William Faulkner's short story "A Rose for Emily," a series of interconnected objects collectively represent a single theme as he presents the mysterious character Emily Grierson who is consistently called “Miss Emily.” While trying to avoid the changes that comes with time, Miss Emily isolates herself and lives in the illusive comfort of her past. As he discusses the theme of holding onto the past, Faulkner uses several symbols to show Emily’s resistance to changes, and in a broader sense presents the struggle that comes from trying to maintain tradition in the face of widespread, radical change. The protagonist’s living in the past is symbolized in her home, and her relationship with her father and her fiancé. Faulkner first presents the house which he uses to symbolize Emily’s ardent resistance to change. The personified house is a faded glory of its once decorated self, and even at a state of “Coquettish decay”, it still lifts itself stubbornly conspicuous and making it an eyesore of eyesores (Faulkner 34).