A Rose for Emily

Author: William Faulkner

“A Rose for Emily” became one of his most famous short stories

His first novel was “Soldier’s Pay”

Most of his novels are set in the mythical Yoknapatawpha Mississippi

Characters:

Emily: She had passed away. Everyone in town came to her funeral. She had a lovable personality. Had a lot of tax notices

Negro(Tobe?) : He was a servant. He is helpful and does whatever is asked of him

Summary:

Everyone thinks that Emily is going to kill herself when she asked for Arsenic.

There was a smell radiating from her house because her father was rotting away. The smell brought men who came and sprinkled lime around.

Emily had a tax notice but didn't reply so people came to ask her about it.

As she grew older less people saw her and she ended up dying in one of her rooms downstairs.

People found a decades man in an upstairs bedroom of her house.

Reader Responses:

I think that this story shows the theme of isolation. Emily was not very social. “The women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house which no one save an old man-servant- a combined gardener and cook- had seen in at least ten years.” This sentence describes how the only person who've seen the inside of her house is her servant. In today's society there are people who are more isolated too.

I wish that there was more of Emily's view throughout this story. “She told them that her father was not dead.” This is just one of the many examples of how this story was written. She did not speak in first person, instead the narrator restated what she had said. I didn't like this. Just like today's books and stuff, there are authors who write in third person. I do not enjoy these books.