GROUP 3

SUBJECT: A ROSE FOR EMILY

OUTLINE
I/ AUTHOR FORis William
 Where A ROSE Faulkner from?
BIOGRAPHY AND  What is William Faulkner’s style of writing like?
STRUCTURE OF THE
STORY
FOR
 What EMILY
is William Faulkner known for?
 What are William Faulkner’s most famous works?
o What is the plot structure of A Rose for Emily?
o Is A Rose for Emily in chronological order?

II/ PLOT Exposition (The introduction of characters and setting)

Although the story begins with Miss Emily's funeral, the
exposition occurs shortly thereafter when we meet Miss Emily
through the narrator’s eyes and are told something about her
background, her family history, and her eccentricities.
Rising Action (developing conflict)
There are 4 major conflicts in “A Rose for Emily”:
- External: Person vs. supernatural (Emily and her dead father:
When Emily’s father died she refused to believe it for 4 days),
person vs. person (Homer Barron and Miss Emily: Emily worried
that her boyfriend might leave her, so she bought some poison),
person vs society (Townspeople and Miss Emily: The town's
people are horrible to Miss Emily about her dating).
- Internal: Person vs. self (Emily kept to herself and was not
stable and did not marry).
- In flashback readers learn Emily was told to pay her taxes.
- A flashback shows aldermen spreading lime secretly.
- Another flashback reveals Emily's purchase of arsenic.
Climax (how conflict will be resolved)
Despite its position at the very beginning of the story, the
climax occurs when Miss Emily dies. Townspeople break
down the door to a locked bedroom.
Falling Action (what the characters are doing after the story’s
most dramatic part has happened)
Homer Barron's decomposed body is on the bed.
Resolution
On the pillow beside him rests a long strand of gray hair.
III/ SETTING  Time
-in the early 1900's
 GROUP 3
SUBJECT: A ROSE FOR EMILY
 Place
-in the town of Jefferson, Mississippi. Jefferson is a fictional town
loosely based on Oxford, Mississippi, where Faulkner lived most
of his adult life.
 Social Environment
- it was a time when it was socially acceptable to called people
"Negro" and noblesse oblige where there was a responsibility of
privileged, high-born people to remain honourable and marry the
right sort of people and also allowed others to judge others entire
lives when it was of really no consequence to them.
 Physical Environment
-Most of the story involves Miss Emily's house a big squarish
frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and
spires and scrolled balconies.
IV/ There are four main characters in this story.
CHARACTERIZATION Miss Emily Grierson a reclusive Southern belle harboring a
gruesome secret. She is a round character in this story
although we never really get her point of view of things.
Homer Barron is a foreman who has a brief relationship with
Emily before mysteriously disappearing.
Mr Grierson (Emily’s father) is a proud, aristocratic man
who chases away his daughter's suitors because they aren't
good enough for her.
Colonel Sartoris is the mayor of Jefferson and exempts Emily
from paying taxes.
V/ POINT OF VIEW What point of view does story use? Is the story from a first person
or a third-person perspective?
The point of view of the story is first person, but not the typical first
person. There is not one named narrator whose mind we follow.
Instead, it is “our town.” It is almost as if the town itself is telling
the story, or one person is sharing multiple perspectives gleamed
from rumors. Small towns tend to have a collective consciousness.
It is this consciousness that narrates the story.
What are the advantages of the chosen point of view?
By using the "we" narrator, Faulkner creates a sense of closeness
between readers and his story.
VI/IMAGINERY AND Imagery is the representation of experiences of the senses, which
SYMBOLISM uses descriptive, but also figurative language, whereas symbolism is
used by “writers to invest objects, actions or ideas with a symbolic
meaning.”
 GROUP 3
SUBJECT: A ROSE FOR EMILY
 The functions of Grierson’s house
 The picture drawn of Emily
 Home Barron
 The aspect of time
 Lime and Arsenic
 The symbol of rose
VII/ FIGURATIVE  Figurative language is the use of words in a nonliteral sense
LANGUAGE AND to describe a person, place, thing, event, or idea. Similes,
IRONY metaphors, personification, imagery, and hyperbole are all
types of figurative language. In "A Rose for Emily" Faulkner
uses figurative language to make Miss Emily seem less than
human.
 Irony would be in the way the citizens of Jefferson criticize
Miss Emily Grierson for being a Southern aristocratic and
acting too far above their social class while they proceed to
give her special privileges and demand that she honor her
"noblesse oblige."
VIII/ THEMES AND Themes
TONE The main themes in “A Rose for Emily” are isolation, memory
and the past, visions of America, versions of reality, compassion
and forgiveness.
Tone
The tone of this story as sympathetic, as Faulkner could present
Emily Grierson as a total monster, but he, instead, presents her
somewhat gently, given what he could do.