A Rose for Emily
The following paper analyzes the William Faulkner story called A Rose for Emily. The paper discusses my thoughts and ideas about the story, and evaluates different elements of the story. The paper analyzes the style that the author uses in characterization, and a few specific methods used to convey the plot and lay out the scene mentally, giving specific examples in the story. Finally, I give my overall opinion of the story.
I found the first paragraph very enticing; first drawing me in with the explanations of why all the townspeople attended her funeral. Then making me want to get a look into her house that only a few others had seen for so many years. The descriptions of the house with its “cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies” sparked memories of old houses in my neighborhood when I was growing up. The story quickly created strong mental images of contrasting scenery with the mention of the encroaching cotton gins, garages, and gas pumps around Emily’s grand, but decaying home on what the author calls a “select street”, (Xroads, 2005).
The Author’s smooth use of imagery and language drew me deep into the story after only the first paragraph, and it just kept getting better. I enjoyed this story for a number of reasons, which included how the author laid out the plot. The story was not told in a chronological order, thus allowing relevant information to be pieced together in an interesting and different way. It started with Emily’s death, then jumped back in time and finally led to her ultimate demise. This play on time was carefully constructed so that it built suspense and anticipation in a way that a chronological story could not, (Xroads, 2005).
I also enjoyed the story because of its gothic undertones. The author’s use of dark images such as the decaying mansion, dead bodies, and the morbid attraction of Emily to dead bodies was only part of the carefully crafted multi-layered story line that used descriptive language, characterization, and chronology to keep you on the edge of your seat, (Xroads, 2005).
I also liked the way the author portrayed the characters in the story, especially Emily. One example is Emily’s characterization when she purchases the arsenic, looking through her “cold, haughty black eyes” which peer from a “face the flesh of which was strained across the temples and about the eye-sockets”, (Xroads, 2005).
Were the settlers attacked and “murdered? Did they die of natural causes? Or were they assimilated into Native American tribes?” The title of this documentary is Roanoke: The Lost Colony and directed by Brendan Greockel and Brian Leckey. This is an instructive documentary about the Roanoke settlers and how they suddenly disappear. “Croatoan” was the only clue left, carved on the trunk of a tree by the Roanoke Colony before they disappear. In the year 1587, over 100 English settlers came ashore Roanoke Island, NC, to establish the first English colony in America. Sir Walter Raleigh sent John
6. West, Ray B., Jr. "Atmosphere and Theme in Faulkner's 'A Rose for Emily'." William Faulkner: Four Decades of Criticism. Ed. Linda Welshimer Wagner. Michigan State University Press, 1973. 192-198. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Laurie Lanzen Harris and Sheila Fitzgerald. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale Research, 1988. Literature Resource Center. Web. 5 July 2011.
The next expedition to Roanoke was lead by “John White, a gifted amateur painter who kept a remarkable pictorial record of his experiences” (A Muse of Fire). Within six years this colony that was thought to be in a good location will have disappeared; “John White set off back to England for food and relief. On his return he blew a trumpet to announce his arrival. His men sang English songs, but there was no answer. The Roanoke colony was deserted”(A Muse of Fire). There are many different theories that many different people have compiled over the years including hostile Indians attacking the settlement. There is also the theory that comes from “scientists studying tree rings found that one of the worst droughts in eight hundred years took place during the settlement attempt” (Elvin 16).
The destiny of the Lost Colony of Roanoke is one of the biggest America unsolved mysteries. It is said that a group of 90 men, 17 women, and 9 children were set to arrive on a small island named Roanoke, just off of what now a days is North Carolina. The leader of this group was names John White. It is said that just a couple months after the arrival of this colony, John White had gone back to England to resupply. While on his way back he ran in to Queen Elizabeth who wanted every ship in sight to fight off the Spanish Armada. He was stuck there for three years. When he finally returned to Roanoke Island there was no evidence that there even was a colony once there. The only clue as to where they went was the letters “CROATAN” carved on a nearby tree. There are many theories as to just what happened to this colony. There is a theory that they all suffered starvation. Another one states that the Indians, who inhabited the island before, had captured and killed the colonists. One other theory is that they ran away with the Indians because John White had not returned in time. The most factual and most proven theory as to what happened to the lost colony of Roanoke is that they left their forts and resettled among the Indians.
Once we woke up I began to start the activities after giving her breakfast. First, we played with dolls in which she enjoyed. Then, we sang ABC’s and counted to ten. I believe that those activities were very beneficial
Have you ever wondered what happened to the lost colony of Roanoke? This question has troubled archaeologists for decades. On August 18, 1590, also his granddaughter’s birthday, John White returned to the colony he had not seen in a long time. The place was deserted with the words “CRO” marked on the flag’s gatepost and “CROATOAN” engraved in the middle of a tree. There weren’t any bodies or sign of violence that had come upon them in the area. I strongly believe that the settlers of Roanoke were not killed, but merged into the nearby Croatoan tribe.
William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" is a story that uses flashbacks to foreshadow a surprise ending. The story begins with the death of a prominent old woman, Emily, and finishes with the startling discovery that Emily as been sleeping with the corpse of her lover, whom she murdered, for the past forty years. The middle of the story is told in flashbacks by a narrator who seems to represent the collective memory of an entire town. Within these flashbacks, which jump in time from ten years past to forty years past, are hidden clues which prepare the reader for the unexpected ending, such as hints of Emily's insanity, her odd behavior concerning the deaths of loved ones, and the evidence that the murder took place.
Kurtz, Elizabeth Carney. "Faulkner's 'A Rose for Emily'". Explicator. Heldref Publications. 44.2 (1986): 40. Academic Search Complete. Blinn College, Bryan, Lib. 18 Oct. 2007
This suggests that the settlers joined a group of Croatian Indians or that they traveled south to the Croatian islands. “Although there are main theories this is the most likely said lead archeologist Nicholas M. Luccketti ” (Colony). Another theory is that they tore down their houses to make a boat that sunk at sea. The only evidence backing this theory is that there weren’t any houses when Sir Walter Raleigh returned from England. (Lane Ralph) These are just three of the hundreds of theories about what happened at Roanoke.
William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” has many gothic themes such as, when Emily buys the arsenic and the tomb that lay buried in her house. These themes show that gothic literature consists of cryptic and dark settings and tones. This mysterious story is filled with violent events and creates suspense and terror.
As time went on pieces from Emily started to drift away and also the home that she confined herself to. The town grew a great deal of sympathy towards Emily, although she never hears it. She was slightly aware of the faint whispers that began when her presence was near. Gossip and whispers may have been the cause of her hideous behavior. The town couldn’t wait to pity Ms. Emily because of the way she looked down on people because she was born with a silver spoon in her mouth and she never thought she would be alone the way her father left her.
Faulkner, William. "A Rose for Emily." The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. Shorter 5th ed. Ed. R.V.Cassill. New York: W.W. Norton & Comp., 1995.
Consider this as a work in progress, where your daily routine and the baby's sleeping schedule is established. As the baby grows older, she will be gradually sleeping longer at night and you will be adjusting your schedules, too.
Sustainability is a concept with a diverse array of meanings and definitions – a widely used glamorous, ambiguous, ambivalent and vague concept that is used by different stakeholder groups in various ways. Presumably to avoid noodling over a terminology or to avoid the confrontation with a definition, most widely the concept is broken down a planning process (c.f. e.g. Döring & Muraca, 2010). That is why most common sustainability is understood as sustainable development.1
There are different approaches in sustainable development. Diesendorf (2000) had illustrated that the goal or destination of sustainable development was the tight relationship between sustainabi...