Overall, Faulkner portrays the positives and negatives associated with the Old South by depicting the duty, honor, and tradition, while simultaneously exposing the ugliness of the region via Miss Emily Grierson's crime and necrophilia. Approved by eNotes Editorial Team bullgatortail | Certified Educator Share Cite
Full Answer
What is Faulkner's Southern Renaissance?
This vitality constituted the living matrix that birthed the Southern Renaissance. The language of Faulkner's South, like the music, was the air that his ears breathed.
What is the style of Saul Faulkner's writing?
Faulkner’s themes are often conveyed in an elaborate baroque style noted for its long, difficult sentences that challenge the reader to discern the speaker, the time, and even the subject of the narrative.
What is the central problem of William Faulkner's literature?
One critic argues that Faulkner, like the greatest of his contemporaries, dramatizes in most of his novels some version of the central problem of modern man in theWest, how to respond to the recognition that man has no certain knowledge of a stable transcendent power that assures the meaning of human history.
What is the main idea of Faulkner's tragic characters?
Faulkner’s most tragic characters are those who feel driven to impose so rigid a pattern upon their lives and on the lives of others as to invite destruction from the overwhelming forces of motion and change. These characters experience the heart in conflict with itself as the simultaneous need for living motion and meaningful pattern.
How does Faulkner depict the Old South vs the new in A Rose for Emily?
In William Faulkner's “A Rose for Emily,” Faulkner reflects the deterioration of the Old South by using Emily Grierson as a symbol for southern views on reconstruction through descriptions of the respect and admiration of Emily, using imagery to contrast her youth and downfall, and descriptions of how modernization ...
How does faulkners treatment of the north and south contribute to the meaning of the story?
Answer: They were "looked down" upon for their race and their social status. But even though the town was full of southern tradition northerner “Homer Barron” was accepted due to his generous nature and charming sense of humor. This leads to the "meaning of the story".
How does Emily represent the Old South in Faulkner's A Rose for Emily?
Emily clings to the notion of what once was, becoming a traditional obligation to the town of Jefferson through her refusal to pay taxes. Finally, she is representative of the South through her unwillingness to accept the passage of time as she keeps the bodies of both her father and Homer Barron after their deaths.
What is the central primary purpose of the story is the purpose important or meaningful A Rose for Emily?
William Faulkner's central theme in the story "A Rose For Emily" is to let go of the past. The main character in the story, Emily Grierson, has a tendency to cling to the past and has a reluctance to be independent.
What is Faulkner's point of view in the short story A Rose for Emily?
First Person (Peripheral Narrator) The fascinating narrator of "A Rose for Emily" is more rightly called "first people" than "first person." The narrator speaks sometimes for the men of Jefferson, sometimes for the women, and often for both.
What is the conflict of the story A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner?
This conflict occurs between Homer Barron and Miss Emily. Because she was unable to let go of her father's death, Emily falls in love with Homer Barron. Homer is attracted to the male company of the town instead of her, so in order to keep him, Emily poisons him.
How can Emily be seen as a symbol representing traditions?
Emily Herself The world is changing all around her, but she clings to her traditions and makes a living monument out of her home. She symbolizes tradition and a stubborn clinging to the past, no matter what progress or changes occur.
Is there a call for change in the South in A Rose for Emily?
“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is written about the change from Old South to New South and Emily refuses to accept the changes by living in her own version of reality.
What is the theme of A Rose for Emily?
The theme of "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner is that people should let go of the past, moving on with the present so that they can prepare to welcome their future. Emily was the proof of a person who always lived on the shadow of the past; she clung into it and was afraid of changing.
How essential is the setting to the story A Rose for Emily?
The physical setting, time setting and cultural settings are all important parts of this short story, Physical setting is to give the readers a sense of what the environment is for the story. The physical setting for A rose for Emily is important because it reflect the life of Emily, the main character.
What is important about the title of the short story A Rose for Emily What are the multiple meanings for the rose?
Rose as an Allegory When asked, he explained it this way: ''(The title) was an allegorical title; the meaning was, here was a woman who had had a tragedy, an irrevocable tragedy and nothing could be done about it, and I pitied her and this was a salute . . . to a woman you would hand a rose. ''
What are some themes in the story how do they relate to the plot and characters A Rose for Emily?
A Rose for Emily ThemesThe Post Civil-War South. ... Tradition vs. ... Patriarchal Authority and Control. ... Time and Narrative. ... Gossip, Social Conventions, and Judgment.
What is Faulkner's style?
Faulkner’s themes are often conveyed in an elaborate baroque style noted for its long, difficult sentences that challenge the reader to discern the speaker, the time, and even the subject of the narrative. Faulkner makes considerable use of stream-ofconsciousness interior monologues, and his frequent meshings of time reinforce his conviction ...
What was William Faulkner's greatest achievement?
In using this material and, in the process, suggesting to others how it might be used, he has also been credited with sparking the Southern Renaissance of literary achievement that produced much of the United States’ best literature in the twentieth century.
What does Sarty's columned house represent?
To Sarty, DeSpain and his columned house, as big as a courthouse, represent not what Ab sees, the sweat of black and white people to produce someone else’s wealth, but the peace and dignity for which Sarty yearns and a system of justice that operates on principles of law rather than on personal revenge.
What is Sarty's view of civilization?
Sarty’s view is based on a naïve trust in civilization that blinds his inexperienced eyes to the inescapable connections between wealth and the mechanism of civilization. Ab provokes a confrontation with DeSpain by deliberately tracking horse manure on an expensive rug.
What was Ike's personal sacrifice?
In Ike’s own case, the personal sacrifices to integrity and conscience have been enormous—his wife’s love; his hope of a son to carry on his mission; living alone and ultimately uncertain that his sacrifice will bear fruit beyond his limited scope to influence events.
What is the significance of the opening paragraphs of the story when Miss Emily died?
The opening paragraphs of the story inform the reader that when Miss Emily died, the whole town turned out for her funeral. She was a “fallen monument . . . a tradition, a duty and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town.”.
What is the story of A Rose for Emily?
A Rose for Emily. “A Rose for Emily,” frequently anthologized and analyzed, is probably Faulkner’s best-known story. Because of its elements of mystery, suspense, and the macabre, it has enjoyed a popular appeal. That Emily Grierson, an aging southern belle, murders the lover who spurned her and sleeps beside his decaying body for a number ...