“A Rose for Emily” By William Faulkner Howard College, Big Springs, TX

“A Rose for Emily”
By William Faulkner
Written and developed by Mrs. Carol Hanes,
Howard College, Big Springs, TX
http://www.howardcollege.edu/homepages/chanes/engl_1
302_tth.htm
Climax
Resolution
PLOT
Exposition
Exposition:
1. Initial equilibrium
2. complication (Homer)
3. Setting
-Small town
-South
-late 1800s, early 1900s
-Miss Emily’s house
3. Characterization
(What are the characters like?
Protagonist/Antagonist? Flat/Round?
Static/Dynamic? Stock?)
-Miss Emily Grierson
-Miss Emily’s father
-Homer Barron
-townspeople
-the Negro
-the cousins
Conflict
( Man vs. Man; Man vs. Himself;
Man vs. Nature; Man vs. Society;
Man vs. Supernatural )
-Miss Emily vs. her father
-Miss Emily vs. herself
-Miss Emily vs. Homer
-Miss Emily vs. townspeople/cousins
•Climax
(The point of the story where the main conflict is
resolved.)
-Miss Emily dies.
•Resolution
(What does the reader learn after the climax?)
 The room is opened.
 Homer’s body is discovered.
 The townspeople put all the clues
together.
– What is the “rose” for Emily?
POINT OF VIEW
1) 1st person Character (major/minor? participant? reliable?)
2) 3rd person Narrator (omniscient/limited/objective)
• “When Miss Emily died, our whole town
went to her funeral. . . .” -First person
minor character, participant, unreliable
TONE
• Conversational,
gossipy.
• Mysterious
• Bizarre, strange
• Grotesque
• Southern Gothic
STYLE
(The way the author tells the story.)
Long, complicated sentences. (See ¶ 1)
-interruptions
-big, bookish words (coquettish, ¶ 2)
• Lots of description. (See ¶ 6)
• Flashbacks. (See ¶ 3)
• Not much dialog.
THEME
(What general idea or insight does the entire story reveal?
Must be stated in general words & must apply to society in
general and not just this story. May not state what the story
is about.)
• People may resort to desperate
measures to prevent being alone
in life.
• Things, people, and events are not
always what they appear to be.
• Others?
SYMBOL
(An object that suggests more than its literal meaning. An
object that points or hints at deeper meaning. Always look
at titles, inanimate objects, names, colors, and locales.)
•The rose color?
•The title?
•The toiletry items?
•The pocket watch?
•The dust?
CRITIQUES
• The plot’s order and time frame
• Southern Gothic genre
• Her father’s influence – his repression leads
her to date a man he would not
approve of and then take control
in the only manner possible
• Necrophilia – she loved and slept
with the dead. In what ways?
• Passage of time – Emily’s denial of it