Name:
Date:
Period:
A Rose for Emily
By: William Faulkner
Previewing Texts
1. Preview the text by looking at the pictures and reading the captions. What do
you predict this story will be about?
2. Fill out the first two boxes of the K-W- L Chart below. Now that you’ve previewed the
text, write down what you know about the topic in Box #1. Write down what you want
to find out in Box #2. When you finish reading the story, write what you’ve learned or
discovered in Box#3.
What I KNOW now
Box #1
What I WANT to find out
Box #2
What I LEARNED
Box #3
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Pre-reading Vocabulary
Directions: Write the definition next to each of the following words. Next, write
a sentence that properly uses each word in context.
1. Remitted: canceled
2. Archaic:
3. Vindicated:
4. Pauper:
5. Circumvent:
6. Virulent:
7. Tranquil:
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8. Perverse:
9. Acrid:
10. Inextricable:
Questions For Thought
Directions: Answer the following questions in complete sentences. Be sure to
proofread your answers and be prepared to share.
1. Why did so many people show up to Emily Grierson’s funeral?
2. How is Emily’s home different from the rest of the community?
3. How does the setting portray the changing economic conditions?
4. How does Colonel Sartoris justify remitting Miss Emily’s taxes? What does this
reveal about the time period?
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5. Describe how Miss Emily’s home smells. What type of mood do you feel that
Faulkner is creating?
6. How is Miss Emily described? What type of imagery is being used?
7. What can be inferred about Miss Emily based on the fact that she repeatedly
tells the city officials to go see Colonel Sartoris?
8. How did Miss Emily’s behavior change after her sweetheart deserted her?
9. Judge Stevens attributes the stench from Miss Emily’s home to “a snake or a
rat that nigger of hers killed in the yard.” What does this statement show
about his character? What does the fact that he is a judge reveal about the
historical time period?
10. Rather than confronting Miss Emily, Judge Stevens prefers to have four men
sneak onto Miss Emily’s property to eliminate the stench. What does this
reveal about the southern aristocracy?
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11. Why is Emily pitied? Why were people glad to pity her?
12. How did Miss Emily respond to her father’s death?
13. Who is Homer Baron? What is he like?
14. Why do the ladies doubt the relationship between Homer and Emily? What
does this reveal about the attitudes and beliefs of the Deep South?
15. What does Emily request from the drug store? What is suspicious about how
she buys the item? What do you predict will happen?
16. What details suggest that Homer Baron and Miss Emily are married?
17. Why do you think Faulkner compares sending pupils to Miss Emily to going to
church?
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18. Why does Faulkner mention the old man in the Confederate uniforms at Miss
Emily’s funeral? What do they reveal about the changing time period?
19. What does the strand of gray hair at the end of the story imply?
Literary Focus
Directions: Answer the following questions about the following literary terms.
1. What is mood? How does William Faulkner use diction, specific word choice, to
set the mood of the story?
2. What is the setting of the story? How does Faulkner use the setting to make a
statement about the historical period?
3. What hints or clues foreshadow the gruesome ending of the story?
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Critical Thinking
Directions: Historical details in this story reveal much about the setting.
Based on how Faulkner develops the setting and characters in A Rose for
Emily, how do you think he felt about the Deep South? Do you think that
Faulkner was criticizing the time period? Consider which characters Faulkner
seems to ridicule and which ones he seems to sympathize with. Use concrete
examples to support your answer.
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