Style and Meaning in William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily"

By

Dr. Sami Breem

Deputy Dean for Scientific Research
POBox 108
English Department
Islamic University, Gaza,
Palestine
sbreem@iugaza.edu.ps

‫السألوب والمعني في قصة "وردة إلي إيميلي" للكاتب وليم فولكنر‬

‫ سأامي البريم‬.‫د‬
‫نائب عميد البحث العلمي‬
108 :‫صندوق بريد‬
‫قسأم اللغة النجليزية‬
‫الجامعة السألمية – غزة – فلسأطين‬
sbreem@iugaza.edu.ps

1
 ‫السألوب والمعني في قصة "وردة إلي إيميلي" للكاتب وليم فولكنر‬

"‫ يهدف هذا البحث لدراسة أسلوب الكاتب المأريكي وليم فولكنر في قصته " وردة إلي إيمأيلي‬:‫ملخص‬
‫ تروي القصة مأأساة الشخصية الرئيسية النسة‬.‫ومأدي تأثير هذا السلوب علي القاريء لفهم النص‬
‫ ويؤكد البحث علي أهمأية‬.(56 :1996 ‫إيمأيلي جريرسون ومأعاناتها المأتأثرة بجذورها الجنوبية ) مأاير‬
‫التحليل اللغوي للنص بالضإافة إلي التحليل الدبي حيث يستخدم الباحث نمأوذج ا أسلوبيا مأعدلا كمأا‬
‫ أدوات‬،‫ مأعلومأات جديدة مأقابل مأعلومأات قديمأة‬:‫( والذي يشمأل‬286-287:1996 ‫جاء في) شورت‬
‫ يوضإح‬.‫ التقديم والتأخير والخروج عن النص‬،‫ التعبيرات ذات الدللة‬،‫ الشاريات‬،‫التعريف والتنكير‬
‫التحليل والمأناقشة كيفية استخدام الكاتب لسلوب لغوي يعكس التعقيدات المأختلفة في حياة الشخصية‬
،‫ الشخصيات‬:‫الرئيسية بالضإافة لمأساهمأة هذا السلوب في فهم القاريء للعناصر المأختلفة لهذه القصة‬
.‫ التناص وبنية النص‬،‫ الرمأزية‬،‫ البيئة الجتمأاعية‬،‫ المأكان‬،‫ الزمأان‬،‫المأوضإوع‬

Style and Meaning in William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily"

Abstract: This paper aims to examine William Faulkner's style in A Rose
for Emily. The story is about the tragic life of Miss Emily Grierson and
presents a personal conflict rooted in her southern identity, Meyer (1996:
56). The analysis in this paper adopts an integrated approach of language
and literature. A modified stylistic model (Short 1996:286-7) is used for the
purposes of linguistic analysis. The check-list, for the purposes of this paper,
includes: given vs. new information, definite and indefinite articles, deixis,
value-laden expressions and endophoric vs. exophoric references. The
discussion and results of this research show how Faulkner's language is
utilized in away to reflect the complexities in the main character's life in
addition to enhancing the reader's understanding of the different narrative
features in the story: characters, themes, setting, symbolism, intertextuality
and structure.

1 Introduction
This paper focuses on William Faulkner's style in one of his short stories "A
Rose for Emily". The language of the text provides a variety of stylistic

2
features that may affect the readers' understanding of Faulkner's themes,
characters and setting leading to a better appreciation of the story. Discourse
stylistics is used as a tool to unlock the story through an integrated approach
of language and literature which emphasizes contextualization of texts,
Carter and Simpson (1989: 15). Several studies have voiced the importance
of this approach in providing a systemic linguistic/textual description
combined with other factors such as: readers, social environment, culture
and history, Carter (1982), Carter and Simpson (1989), Stockwell (2002),
Gavins and Steen (2003), Short (1996). The analysis in this paper adopts a
modified check-list which is essentially derived from, Short (1996: 286-7)
(see section 2 for more details).

1.1 William Faulkner (1897-1962)

William Faulkner was born into an old Mississippi family which had lost its
wealth and influence during the civil war, Meyer (1996: 54). He lived in the
South and wrote about it most of his works. At First, he attempted writing
poetry, then he tried his hand at fiction. Starting with Soldier's Pay (1925)
followed with a succession of remarkable novels including: As I Lay Dying
(1930), Light in August (1932), The Town (1957), The Mansion (1959) and
The Reivers (1962). In addition, he produced a number of short stories
published in The Collected Stories of William Faulkner (1952).
Faulkner won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950. At his acceptance
speech, he said, "…the young man or women writing today has forgotten
the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can
make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the
agony and the sweat," Faulkner in Daniel et al (1997: 723).
Interestingly, Faulkner found his great themes in, "the American South as a
microcosm for the universal themes of time, the passions of the human
heart, and the destruction of the wilderness. Faulkner saw the South as a
nation unto itself, with a strong sense of its noble past and an array of myths
by which it clung to its pride, despite the humiliating defeat of the Civil War
and the acceptance of the distasteful values of the industrial north," Daniel
(1997: 713). Moreover, Miller (1982: 83) notes that, "Faulkner's fiction
Draws inspiration from the traditions, myths and historical conflicts of the
South. But his work surpasses regional limits, for Faulkner is a poet of the
human condition, portraying the strivings of individuals against alienation
and loss of values."
Commenting on Faulkner's style, Daniel (1997:722) states that, "Faulkner
often forces the reader to piece together events from a seemingly random
and fragmentary series of impressions experienced by a variety of narrators.

3
Faulkner's style often strains conventional syntax; he might pile clause upon
clause in an effort to capture the complexity of thought." His language/style
offers so many levels that will be the focus of this paper.

1.2 The Text: A Rose for Emily

A Rose for Emily is one of William Faulkner's most studied short stories. It
was written in 1930 and published in The Collected Stories of William
Faulkner in (1950). It is a gothic story about the mysterious life of Miss.
Emily Grierson. It skillfully represents the numerous conflicts in the main
character's life, illustrating the effect of social change on the individual and
how her tragedy is rooted in her southern identity.
The story illustrates Miss. Emily's miserable life from the town people's
perspective. The third-person plural narrator represents the voice of the
whole town. The story is known to all: men and women. They go to her
funeral, 'men through a sort of respectful affection' and women 'out of
curiosity to see the inside of her house which no one…had seen in the last
ten years.' The unnamed narrator provides details about the mysterious life
of Miss Emily: the archaic house, Colonel Sartoris remitting her taxes, new
generation demanding tax payment, the nasty smell coming from the house,
peculiar relationship with father and later with lover, keeping father's corpse
for three days inside the house, and keeping homer's corpse for nearly forty
years in one of the upstairs rooms. After her death, the town's people
'noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head…we saw a
long strand of iron-grey hair.' This suggests she was sleeping with the corpse
after she had poisoned him with arsenic.
Moreover, the text lends itself to different interpretations and themes: Miss
Emily's tragic life, father-daughter relationship, southern identity, north and
south, love and marriage, old generation and new generation, change in the
American south and its negative effect on Miss. Emily, past and present,
racism, slavery, social norms and time and its effect on the main character.

2 The linguistic Model

For the purposes of this paper, a modified model will be introduced for the
analysis of Faulkner's style in A Rose for Emily to show how he controls
viewpoint at a more detailed level through the choice of particular words
and constructions, and how his manipulation affects the reader's
understanding of the story's meaning: themes, characters, structure and
setting. The check-list is essentially derived, with some modification, from
Short (1996: 286-7). It includes: 'given' vs. 'new information'; 'definite' vs.
'indefinite' references; 'schema oriented language'; 'deixis'; 'value-laden'

4
expressions (evaluative nouns, adverbs and adjectives); 'endophoric' and
'exophoric' references. However, it must be stressed that this check-list
constitutes only a few of the many linguistic indicators of point of view (see
Stockwell 2002: 40-57 for more details on deixis).

3 Analysis of Faulkner's Style in 'A Rose for Emily'

The following sections, for the limits of time and space, deal with some
aspects of William Faulkner's style in A Rose for Emily.

3.1 The Title

The title of the story, A Rose for Emily constitutes four words. On the first
reading of these words, readers may expect a love story with a happy end.
'A Rose' is one of the symbols used in the story inviting the reader to think
of: love, affection, admiration, and sympathy. In an interview, Faulkner
answered a question about the meaning of the title of the story, "Oh, it's
simply the poor woman had had no life at all. Her father had kept her more
or less locked up and then she had a lover who was about to quit her, she
had to murder him. It was just "A Rose for Emily"-- that's all," Faulkner in
Meyer (1996: 61).
In addition, the reference in the title to the main character, using the first
name, without the social title (Miss.), is an example of how social deixis can
be effective in understanding relationships between speakers in the text. It
suggests a close relationship between the speaker/author and the Miss
Emily. He is deeply sympathetic with her and what she represents as a
victim of her society's rotten values of past and present.

3.2 The First Paragraph

The first paragraph is significant with many examples of new information
and value-laden deictic references. It begins with the social title and the
complete name of the protagonist which suggests the distance between the
speaker/narrator, the town's people and Miss Emily. She belongs to the
Grierson family while the town's people belong to the working class.
The story begins from the end of events which is the death of Miss Emily:
the funeral. Then, the events that follow are like flashbacks to different
episodes in Emily's life. Faulkner seems not to conform to Aristotle's plot-
line; therefore, the story employs an odd structure (see section 3.5).
Men and women go to the funeral for different purposes: men through a sort
of respectful affection for a fallen monument and women mostly out of
curiosity to see the inside of her house. This allusion hints to cultural and

5
social practices at that time in addition to creating suspense on the reader's
side to join women in their desire to learn more about the mysteries in Miss
Emily's house/life.
No one had seen the inside of her house in at least ten years; the time
reference in the first paragraph invites the reader to speculate about what is
going on in the old house.
Moreover, the reference to the old manservant also suggests that he is the
only person who probably knows Miss. Emily's secrets. Ironically, the
Negro manservant disappeared after the funeral, he let the first of the ladies
in and walked right through the house and out of the back and was not seen
again. Miss. Emily's life is kept unknown to the outside world pointing to
the life-style of aristocratic families in the South.

3.3 The House

The house is one of the literary symbols which are skillfully employed by
the author to foreground the effect of place in understanding the main
character's world. It embodies the major part of the setting in the story
where most events have happened. Faulkner uses many references to
describe the old house that is built in the style of the seventies, big, squarish
that had once been white, set on what had once been our most select street,
an eyesore among eyesores. The house is full of old cracked furniture, full
of dust, the blinds are shot. It is full of shadows, smelled of dust and disuse,
before the fireplace stood a crayon portrait of Miss. Emily's father. The
house illustrates a gothic setting. The description of the house and its
surroundings represent the rotten past and the rotten present. Miss. Emily is
a victim of both generations. The decayed past is represented by an
aristocratic father who wanted a housekeeper. He refused all the young men
who proposed to marry her. Also, the decayed present is represented by the
lover, Homer Barron, whom she discovered to be not a marrying man. She
decided to poison him and keep his corpse in one of the upstairs rooms for
the rest of her life.

3.4 The 'We' Narrator

The whole story is told by a first-person plural narrator: the town's people.
For example: our whole town went to her funeral, we all said, she will kill
herself, we had said she will marry him, we did not say she was crazy then,
we remembered all the young men her father had driven away, when we saw
her again, her hair was cut short it would be the best thing. Faulkner uses
this style effectively to suggest that Miss. Emily's story is familiar to
everybody in town. The town's people care to know every detail about her

6
life. Curiosity is a social custom/behavior which is customary at that time
while it is completely denounced in modern societies.

3.5 Plot Structure and Time

The table below shows the order in which the narrator recounts major events
in the story:

No. Order of Events Time: Miss Emily's Age Key Events/Comments

1 The funeral 74 yrs. Death of Miss. Emily
2 The house (very 64 yrs. no one had seen in at
old) least ten years
3 Colonel Sartories 34 yrs. Remitted her taxes,
(mayor) fathered the edict no
negro woman should
appear on the street
without an apron
4 A deputation of 64 yrs. city council demanded
the New taxes
generation
5 China-painting 40 yrs. Not seen before for
lessons seven years
6 Colonel Sartories 54 yrs. Old generation,
death remitted her taxes
7 The smell 34 yrs. Neighbors complain to
Judge Stevens
8 Homer Barron 33 yrs. Lover, later deserted
her and she poisoned
him, disappeared for
forty yrs.
9 Father's death 32 yrs. Kept his body inside
the house for three days
10 Emily is still 31 yrs. Father alive, none of
single the young men is good
enough for Miss. Emily
11 Death of Miss 74 yrs. The funeral, forcing the
Emily upstairs room open and
mysteries revealed.

Moreover, time references which are employed in the text put more
difficulty on the side of the reader to understand the time order of events in

7
the story: no one…had seen in the last ten years, on the first of the year,
February came, since she ceased giving china-painting lessons, eight or ten
years earlier, Colonel Sartories had been dead almost ten years, she
vanquished them…as she had vanquished their father's thirty years before
about the smell, that was two years after her father's death, and a short time
after her sweetheart…deserted her, after her sweetheart went away, after a
week or two the smell went away, that was after the smell, day after father's
death, she was sick for a long time, when they saw her again, in the summer
after her father's death, she was over thirty….
The table and time references above show that the author/narrator does not
utilize a chronological order of events as they actually happened in Miss.
Emily's life. The narrator refers backward and forward to different episodes
in the protagonist's life. In addition, the time expressions and words are
ambiguous and difficult to comprehend. This needs more effort on the side
of the reader to achieve cohesion in the text and adds to the mystery of the
story.
It seems Faulkner deliberately makes use of a complex time in A Rose for
Emily. The effectiveness of this style is producing the odd structure of the
story which reflects the complexities of Miss. Emily's world. The character's
life/circumstances are as complex, confused, ambiguous and mysterious as
the time management in the text which consequently reflects the
complexities of modern times and how they negatively affect the
individual/Miss. Emily.

3.6 Schema-oriented Language

Schemas are organized representations of background knowledge which
readers bring along to texts, Short (1996: 231). Also, Landry (2002)
summarizes some views on schemata:
A strong view of schemata sees them as something influencing the
reader's opinion even before a text is read. Schemata are higher-
level complex knowledge structures (van Dijk, 1981, p. 141) that
function as "ideational scaffolding" (Anderson, 1977)…. [It]
would be one of organized knowledge on a topic leading to
predictions of discourse. Messages are seen in a certain way
determined by a person's personal history, interest, gender, excreta
(Andreson et al., 1977). As far as 1932, Barlett saw memory as
constructive and mental representation was built from current
discourse and background knowledge….Schemata whether fixed
or flexible, are a way to account for interpretation and production
of discourse (Brown and Yule, 1983, p. 250)

8
In A rose for Emily, the author/narrator utilizes schemata that help the reader
interpret/understand the text. The varying attitudes a reader offers towards
the topics encountered in the text require cultural, historical and social
insight to determine the narrator/author's intentions/meaning.
In an interview, William Faulkner has stated, "…it had been argued that "A
Rose for Emily" is a criticism of the North, and others have argued saying
that it is a criticism of the South. Now, could this story, shall we say, be
more properly classified as a criticism of the times?"
The table below lists schemas in the text and shows how they help the
reader infer information which is not stated in the text:

No. Schema-oriented Language Analytical Remarks

1 Curiosity Social norms (women's curiosity).
Their interest to know every detail
about Emily's life.
2 An eyesore among eyesores Reference to Emily's old house and
surrounding signs of modern life:
corruption of past and present.
3 Colonel Sartoris remitted her Colonel Sartoris is a symbol of
taxes. He fathered the edict corruption in traditional aristocracy.
no negro women should Slavery, Racism, and class system
appear on the street without in the American South
an apron
4 Union and confederate American Civil war between north
soldiers and south
5 The next/rising generation The difference between the old
generation and the new generation.
Change in the American society and
its negative effect on Miss Emily.
She is a victim of both generations.
6 The negro A symbol of slavery
7 We remembered all the Father's role in Miss. Emily's
young men her father had tragedy. A symbol of selfish fathers
driven away. who wants stay as a housekeeper in
the house. Corrupt past traditions.
9 Homer Barron, a Northerner, Homer represents the rising
a day laborer, a Yankee working class. Miss Emily accepted
to marry him in spite of all the

9

10 Homer had remarked-he
liked men, and it was known
that he drank with the young
men in the Elk's club-that he
is not a marrying man
differences between them. She
wanted to find love, a husband and
a family.
Homosexuality in the American
society. When this is revealed to
Miss. Emily, she seems to have lost
her last chance in leading a normal
life. The outcome of repression
comes in a tragic form; she
poisoned Homer Barron and kept
his body in one of the upstairs
rooms for the rest of her life.

3.7 'Social Deixis': Characters' Names and titles:

Wales (1989:112) identifies deixis as originally from Greek meaning
"'pointing' or 'showing', deixis in LINGUISTICS refers generally to all those
features of language which orientate or 'anchor' our utterances in the context
of proximity of space…and time…relative to the speaker's viewpoint."
Stockwell (2002: 45-49) has classified deixis into five categories:
perceptual, spatial, temporal, relational, textual, and compositional.
Relational deixis are expressions which encode social viewpoint and relative
situations of authors, narrators, characters and readers including: modality,
expressions of point of view and focalization; naming and address
conventions; 'social deixis'; evaluative word-choice. (46)
Stockwell seems to agree with Short (1996: 272)by stating that, "It is
possible…to view social relations as 'deictic'. We can feel 'close or 'remote'
to other people in social terms. Someone to whom you refer with 'title' + last
name would be remote socially, and you would normally refer to those with
whom you are close by their first name…."
For the purposes of this paper social deixis has an evident role in
understanding social relations in A Rose for Emily. The following table
records a number of examples to explain how the author has employed
names and titles of his characters to reveal social interaction:

No. Social Deixis: Names and titles Stylistic effect/comments

1 Emily First name in the title of the
story; it shows a close
relationship between the

10
 protagonist and the author;
Faulkner is sympathetic with
Miss Emily
2 Miss. Emily Grierson; Miss Complete Name and title shows
Emily a distant relationship between
Miss. Emily and the narrator
'the town's people; she belongs
to an aristocratic family; also it
represents a distance between
aristocracy and the working
class.
3 Colonel Sartoris Title and surname show
distance between the mayor and
the town's people; between
aristocracy and the working
class
4 Negro, Negro women Identical with slavery, racism.
The town's people use these
nicknames to refer to slaves;
distant relationship
5 Tobe No title, first name of the negro
manservant as it is used by Miss
Emily; servant-master relationship
6 The Sheriff No title or name for the mayor
of the city, signs of modern
times which are different from
the past; the working class is
taking the place of aristocracy
7 Her father No name for the father in the story.
No specific reference, to
emphasize a symbol/type of
horrible fathers who repress their
daughters. He is an example of
other fathers of the same type.
8 Her sweetheart From the town's people
perspective, it refers to Homer
Barron who is expected to marry
Miss Emily; a close relationship.
9 Neggers and mules and A reference to slavery, racism,
machinery and class discrimination. Blacks
are expected to do the hard

11
 work.
10 Homer Barron Homer Barron belongs to the
working class, a day laborer;
showing a close relationship
with young men
11 Yankee A nickname for a native or citizen
of the North, an inhabitant of the
Northern States as distinguished
from a Southerner.

3.7 The last Paragraph

William Faulkner remarks on his style, "I'm trying primarily to tell a story,
in the most effective way I can think of, the most moving, the most
exhaustive…. This I think accounts for what people call the obscurity, the
involved formless 'style', endless sentences. I am trying to say it all in one
sentence, between the Cap and one period, (The Faulkner-Cowley File 14).
Moreover, Aiken (1973:134) has remarked on Faulkner's illumination style,
"It is as if Mr. Faulkner…had decided to try to tell us everything…every last
origin or source or quality or qualification, and every possible future or
permutation as well, in one terrifically concentrated effort: each sentence to
be, as it were, a microcosm."
Labov (1972: 354-396) proposes a linguistic model for narrative structure.
He lists possible elements of narrative structure: abstract, orientation,
complicating action, evaluation, resolution and coda. The coda signals that
the story has ended. It provides a sense of completeness, bringing the
narrator and the reader back to the point at which they entered the narrative.
An excellent coda should be unexpected; therefore the reader is invited to
put forward a possible interpretation.
The last paragraph (coda) in A Rose for Emily is one sentence. It draws in
words the most touching, the most horrible scene in the story. A few words
with big meaning where most expressions are value-laden and deictic: we,
noticed, on the second pillow, the indentation of a head, lifted something,
leaning forward, faint and invisible dust, dry and acrid in the nostrils; saw a
long strand of iron-gray hair. Miss. Emily has been sleeping on the bed
beside Homer's corpse for more than forty years. This secret is kept from the
town's people since the smell. This is the first time they know that the smell
was not of a rat or a snake. She poisoned Homer Barron, her lover, when he
decided to desert her.
This coda conforms to Labov's model which stresses that "some codas
which strike us as particularly skillful are strangely disconnected from the

12
main narrative". The reader is invited to sympathize with Miss. Emily in
addition to raising a number of questions about the different reasons that led
to her tragic life. That is, how she is a victim of the father, the lover, social
change, class system; how she is a victim of the rotten past and the rotten
present.

4 Conclusions
The analysis of Faulkner's style in A Rose for Emily allows neater and more
delicate support to the readers understanding of the story's meaning:
characters, themes, structure and setting.
The different stylistic features in the text keep the reader involved in the
reading process as if they were part of the story, in medias res. From the
very beginning, they sympathize with Miss. Emily, then, they join the town's
people in the funeral, they enter the house full of curiosity, and they follow
every action/reaction of the main character. Faulkner's style increases the
reader's awareness of the American culture and society: how it witnesses
rapid change, and how this change negatively affects Miss. Emily,
aristocracy vs. working class, old generation vs. new generation, past vs.
present, south vs. north, whites vs. blacks, masters and slaves, group vs.
individuality, and marriage vs. homosexuality.
It should be emphasized that the model and the analysis provide a better
understanding of the different narrative features in the text. Initial
impressions about the story are supported by a stylistic analysis of
Faulkner's words on the page. The analysis is expected to provide an
effective approach for the study of A Rose for Emily and Faulkner's style in
addition to offering a model which could be beneficial for the study of other
narratives.

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