Unit 11 concepts and frameworks

¶ … Faulkner's story is titled "A Rose for Emily," the text does not mention rose. It is ironic that Faulkner gives his story a title that seems to run counter to the characterization of Emily. Emily is portrayed as an object, at the same time the narrator pities her and describes her as an irritating person who would rather live life on her own terms, which eventually leads to her death. This appears to the reason for such a tittle. It seems to be an attribute to Emily, a way of expressing condolences to her death as well as sympathy to loneliness and her imagination about her status. He begins the story with a description of her funeral "When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument..." (Faulkner 484) he goes on to say that "…the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house..." (Faulkner 484) these are the indicators of the towns gossip. Emily had been a subject of discussion in the town for some time. The townspeople had been watching her carefully; they knew everything about her from her father's death, relationship with Homer, to her purchase of poison till her death. They talked about her, but could never confront her nor establish links with her. The narrators tone suggest in the view of all these events that Emily had a problem that could not be solved. The tittle connect to the opening lines of the story, the author uses reverse chronology to give weight to the tittle. He then outlines the major event in her life as seen through eyes of the townspeople that took place before her death.

Question 4

O'Connor presents a realistic portrayal of a dysfunctional family taking a road trip. As the story unfolds, this journey of the family is a journey that shows the class divide and the inextricable memory of the southern past. Classism, racism and feelings of defeated regional pride after the Civil War were issues in the southern past. This is portrayed in this story through the character of grandmother. The grandmother considers herself superior to others; she freely passes judgment on other people this is evident when she sees a black child explaining that, "Little niggers in the country don't have things like we do" (O'connor 1144). The scene concerning the Negro child and the grandmother is an indication of traces of discrimination in her generation. She further chastises John for his lack of respect for the State of Georgia where he comes from. In addition, she takes advantage of any opportunity to express her dissatisfaction in the lack of goodness in people in the world today. To her, wearing her preferred dress and hat with a pair of gloves is the most important virtue. O'Connor makes the grandmother the central character as a representative of traditional attitude of her generation that is responsible for the issues ailing the state. She uses her influence to instill derogatory traditional ideas on her children as well as her grandchildren. She fails to perform a self-judgment, turning a critical eye on herself to inspect her own hypocrisy, dishonesty, and selfishness. The author further reveals the manifestation of classism and racism by introducing the Tower, a symbol of authority representing southern segregation. The owner of the Tower, Red Sammy whose name is most likely drawn from "Redneck" a term referring to the uneducated white male from the south, a definition that was further widened to refer to bigoted, reactionaries, those who opposed changes to the aristocratic system. The Tower as portrayed in the story is facing challenges posed by the realities of the changing times.

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