In response to an article written by Michael Burduck, author of “Another View of Faulkner’s Narrator in ‘A Rose for Emily’” he suggests that the narrator is a female. Throughout the short story the narrator relates to the females in the town through the use of the word “we”. The females in the story are concerned with Emily’s affair, and force the men to act to stop it. Similar to the ladies making the men stop the affair, the female narrator is making sure no one forgets Emily’s situation. Also, the narrator feels remorse for Emily once her beloved Homer disappears, suggesting that a female is narrating. The narrator’s emotional words emotional words when referring to Emily’s loneliness also points to the narrator being a female. The narrator,
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The narrator represents not one place in time, but possibly multiple generations. Further broken down generationally by when Faulkner uses “we” and “they.” “We” representing a generation of the Old South, and “they” representing the New Generation or New South (Nebeker). For example, the difference in narrator in sections three and four. Section III, the narrator is the elderly people of Emily’s generation because she was being watch or looked over, while buying the poison. Section IV, the newer generation because of the emphasizes of wanting to get married and wanting jewelry. Also the narrators seem to be naïve of Emily’s life because they do not understand what is going on in certain parts of the story as they tell it. The different narrators is also evident in how their views change over time. The middle parts of the story show them being naïve and not understanding what is actually happening when she buys poison or when her house begins to smell. As time moves on in the last paragraph the naivety of the narrator disappears. The Townspeople now know that Emily’s life was much more perverse then they had witnessed over the years …show more content…
West’s “Atmosphere and Theme in Faulkner’s ‘A Rose for Emily,’” West considers the chronology as a “confusion between the past and the present.” One of the first presentations of past and present is when the young man goes to the Judge Stevens about the smell at Emily’s house. While the Judge (past) is unwilling to say anything to Emily about the smell, the young man (present) is ready to say something, given permission from the Judge. This signifies that Emily’s time, the past, is dead to the young man and it no longer exists. Emily refused to leave the past and did so by keeping Barron in the past with her the only way she could. Emily stuck in a time of tradition which is the Old South. Through Barron, she attempted to leave the Old for the New, but as soon as she realized Barron was going to leave her, she decided that she would never leave the Old (past). Once this was decided, she also decided that Barron would never leave the Old South either. Basically, the moral behind “A Rose for Emily” is that a person must accept both the past and the present. Without the past the person is guilty of unwise innocence (the townspeople), and without the present the person will become a monster or in this case the depiction of Emily
The narrator represents not one place in time, but possibly multiple generations. Further broken down generationally by when Faulkner uses “we” and “they.” “We” representing a generation of the Old South, and “they” representing the New Generation or New South (Nebeker). For example, the difference in narrator in sections three and four. Section III, the narrator is the elderly people of Emily’s generation because she was being watch or looked over, while buying the poison. Section IV, the newer generation because of the emphasizes of wanting to get married and wanting jewelry. Also the narrators seem to be naïve of Emily’s life because they do not understand what is going on in certain parts of the story as they tell it. The different narrators is also evident in how their views change over time. The middle parts of the story show them being naïve and not understanding what is actually happening when she buys poison or when her house begins to smell. As time moves on in the last paragraph the naivety of the narrator disappears. The Townspeople now know that Emily’s life was much more perverse then they had witnessed over the years …show more content…
West’s “Atmosphere and Theme in Faulkner’s ‘A Rose for Emily,’” West considers the chronology as a “confusion between the past and the present.” One of the first presentations of past and present is when the young man goes to the Judge Stevens about the smell at Emily’s house. While the Judge (past) is unwilling to say anything to Emily about the smell, the young man (present) is ready to say something, given permission from the Judge. This signifies that Emily’s time, the past, is dead to the young man and it no longer exists. Emily refused to leave the past and did so by keeping Barron in the past with her the only way she could. Emily stuck in a time of tradition which is the Old South. Through Barron, she attempted to leave the Old for the New, but as soon as she realized Barron was going to leave her, she decided that she would never leave the Old (past). Once this was decided, she also decided that Barron would never leave the Old South either. Basically, the moral behind “A Rose for Emily” is that a person must accept both the past and the present. Without the past the person is guilty of unwise innocence (the townspeople), and without the present the person will become a monster or in this case the depiction of Emily