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The Role Of Gossip In William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

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In the short story, “A Rose for Emily”, by William Faulkner, gossip functions as the main way that most people in the town learn anything about Emily. Throughout Emily’s life the townspeople were never able to know her personally and this caused the townspeople to make assumptions and gossip about her life. A few good examples include when Emily purchased the silver men’s toilet and when she bought arsenic.
When Emily was seen in public buying arsenic, many people quickly assumed that she was going to commit suicide. During her conversation with the druggist, he asks Emily what she plans to use the arsenic for, but instead of answering she “just stared at him, her head tilted back in order to look him eye for eye, until he looked away and went

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