William Faulkner
American Modernist
“A Rose for Emily”
Oxford, Mississippi
► Based
Yoknapatawpha County (setting of
nearly all of his stories) on this town.
► Recall Louise Erdrich—“Little Spirit Sun”—
greatly admired and imitated Faulkner’s
style
Regional Writer
► Like
Mark Twain, he wrote about the
 SOUTH
Fun Facts:
► Never finished high school
► In 1918, he enlisted in the
British Royal Flying
Corps and was sent to Canada for training.
► Never sent to combat due to the end of the war
► Wrote during the modernist time period
► Moved to New Orleans where he published his first
novel, Soldier’s Pay.
► Spent the remainder of his writing time in Oxford,
Mississippi
► For many years, Faulkner was dismissed as an
eccentric
 Awarded the Nobel Prize following the publication
of Intruder in the Dust (1948), a novel in which he
confronted the issue of racism.
Faulkner’s Style:
► Yoknapatawpha
novels featured themes including
the decay of traditional values as small communities
became swept up in the changes of the modern age.
► Uses jumbled time sequences—doesn’t follow
traditional pattern
► Uses stream-of-consciousness narration (creates the
impression that the reader is eavesdropping on the
flow of conscious experience in the character’s mind,
gaining intimate access to their private “thoughts”).
► Uses southern dialect
► Famous for page-long sentences, and other difficult
techniques to show what he called “the human heart
in conflict with itself.”
► The
Major works:
Sound and the Fury (1929), a complex book
exploring the downfall of an old southern family as
seen through the eyes of three brothers, one of
whom suffers from severe mental retardation.
► As I Lay Dying (1930), the story of a poor family’s
six-day journey to bury their mother. Told from
fifteen different points of view and exploring
people’s varying perspectives of death, the novel
was a masterpiece of narrative experimentation.
► Absalom, Absalom! (1936), which is told by four
speakers offering different interpretations of
events.
► The Unvanquished (1938)
► The Hamlet (1940)
► Screenplays: Gunga Din (1939), To Have and Have
Not (1945), and The Big Sleep (1946)
“A Rose for Emily”
What is the title of the
story? Why do you think ► Red
the author chose this
 love
title?
► Yellow
► Rose:
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 friendship
How many types of roses
► Pink
are there?
 Youth, love
What can each type
symbolize?
► White
What connotations do
 purity
“roses” have?
Emily: to strive, excel or
rival
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What comes to mind?
Setting
► Jefferson
in Yoknapatawpha County
► An important city in the county
► Occurs from 1875-1920 chronicling the life
and death of Emily Grierson (the
protagonist)
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Father has falling out with relatives
Emily is in denial about her father’s death for
three days
Finally Emily gives in and lets them bury her
father
Emily was sick after her father’s death
Goes out little after her fathers death
(1894) Colonel Sartoris remitted Emily’s taxes
b/c she is sick
The town let the contracts for paving the
sidewalks and began the work
Foreman Homer Barron, a Yankee, comes to
town.
Homer and Miss Emily drive on Sunday
(hook?)
Town gossips about Miss Emily and suspects
marriage
Homer is found to be a gay drunkard
Baptist minister calls on Emily
Emily’s cousins come in response to a letter
from minister’s wife; Emily buys rat poison, the
arsenic
Emily orders a complete man’s toilet
Town believes Homer and Emily will marry
Homer Barron leaves town
Cousins depart
Homer Barron comes back
Homer Barron disappears
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(1896) Smell developed
Complaints are filed and men go over,
sprinkle lime and are seen by Emily and
leave
Miss Emily grows fat and hair turns gray
until it is a vigorous iron-gray
Emily, who is fat, old and gray, gives
china painting lessons at age 40 for 6-7
years
(1906) Colonel Sartoris dies
Negro ages
(1926) Next generation mail her a tax
notice w/ no reply
Next generation send a formal letter,
with reply that she no longer leaves the
hosue
Next generation visits—she kicks them
out; Emily refuses to pay (Emily is 50
years old)
Tax notices sent each year
Emily gets sick and dies at the age
of 74 (resolution?)
Negro let ladies in and disappeared
Two cousins come
Funeral happens
Open the untouched room
Find rotting corpse
Find iron-gray hair on pillow next to
dead corpse (climax)
Chronologically
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Conflict: External
► Protagonist
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vs.
Man?
Technology?
Nature?
Society?
Supernatural?
Short Story analysis
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Mood
 The mood is very dark, and kind of mysterious. The reader
is left wanting to know what is going on and what is in the
house and why Emily is such a curiosity.
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Tone
 dramatic and perhaps a little allusive. There is definitely an
air of judgment about it and a pride that is unmistakable in
a town gossip.
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Theme
 Prosperity: started out in favor but fell because she was
too proud
 Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
 Pride is vanity
 Gossip is damaging
Figurative Language
► Symbolism
 Rose
 Rose vs. rose
► Flashback
► Foreshadow
► Characterization
 Protagonist
 House
 Town