西洋文學選讀 外五甲 黃雅筠、沈家雯
101/05/24
A Rose for Emily
Q1: Despite the story's confusing sequence, many events are foreshadowed. Give
some example of this technique. How does foreshadowing enrich the story?
One can easily notice that the story is lack of chronological order and using
foreshadowing and flashback, but the puzzling arrangement of the plot is where the
engaging part lies. It intrigues readers’ curiosity to continue reading and unveil the
mystery. More importantly, the author somehow intentionally tries to misguide the
readers into wrong inferences.
First, one event of foreshadowed is Emily's future refusal to part from
Homer Barron. In the earlier of the story comes the passage where Emily's father died.
When town people come to the house to take away her father's corpse, she tells the
ladies that her father is not dead. This statement is a response to the hint as well as a
suggestion of Emily's growing madness. Finally, she breaks down and allows them to
remove the dead body, but her reluctance to accept Father’s death directly
foreshadows the entire Homer Barron situation that we discover at the end.
Another instance of foreshadowing is when Emily buys the arsenic, which
foreshadows Homer's death. When the pharmacist asks for her intention to purchase
the deadly drug, it states, "Miss Emily just stared at him, her head tilted back in order
to look him eye for eye, until he looked away and went and got the arsenic and
wrapped it up." The amount of arsenic she acquires is more than enough to "kill an
elephant" as the druggist says, yet she refuses to explain the motive.
The last instance of foreshadowing is the smell that radiates from her house. It is
so awful and strong odor that people sneak into her yard at night to apply lime to try
to eliminate the smell. That also foreshadows the horrific discovery at the end.
There is a comparison of the antiquated house with Emily as it lifts its "stubborn
and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps." This
description foreshadows the stubborn decay of Emily herself. Like the Old South, she
can no longer survive.