This essay examines the role of first-person point of view as a defining literary element in John Updike's "A&P" and William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily." While both stories employ first-person narration, they do so in strikingly different ways. In "A&P," narrator Sammy tells his story in real time, acting directly within the plot and guiding the reader toward his own emotional conclusions. In "A Rose for Emily," an unnamed collective narrator reflects on past events, allowing readers to draw their own conclusions about Emily's life. The essay argues that each author's use of point of view is essential to conveying theme, establishing tone, and creating emotional impact.
The paper demonstrates comparative literary analysis: it establishes a shared literary feature (first-person point of view) across two texts, then systematically explores how each author deploys that feature differently to achieve distinct narrative and thematic effects. This technique moves beyond simple summary by using the comparison to reveal the flexibility and significance of a single literary device.
The essay opens with a thesis introducing the shared device and its key difference across the two stories. It then defines point of view using secondary sources before devoting two body sections each to "A&P" and "A Rose for Emily." A comparative section synthesizes the contrast, and the conclusion restates the broader significance of first-person narration as a literary tool. The Works Cited follows MLA format.
Point of view often defines a story as a critical element, and this is the case in both John Updike's "A&P" and William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily." Both stories share the first-person point of view, meaning that one perspective is intimately related to the reader — a perspective that may be biased, reflecting the narrator's outlook rather than the author's. This contributes significantly to each story, as the narrator's perspective helps to illustrate themes and concepts that would not otherwise be possible from a third-person point of view. "A&P" and "A Rose for Emily" both rely on the first-person point of view as a critical element, with the primary difference being that in "A&P" the narrator is directly tied to the unfolding events, while the narrator of "A Rose for Emily" reflects on past events from a collective, community perspective.
Point of view is the experience of the narrator, and as such it is an important element of literature. Point of view can be defined broadly as "the perspective from which the story is told" and usually consists of either the first or third person. Within these different points of view there are further variances — for instance, whether the narrator is omniscient and knows everything, completely objective, or limited in the information available to them. The first person, or "I" point of view, has been described as "the most obvious point of view," since the narrator is a character within the story itself.
This is the case in both short stories under discussion. When one reads "A&P" or "A Rose for Emily," the narrator's experience is what is communicated to the reader — either directly, as in "A&P," or more indirectly, as in "A Rose for Emily." This use of a personal viewpoint helps to relay much of what the author wishes to convey, since the narrator has a stake in the story: the narrator makes judgments, draws conclusions, offers opinions, and may even directly affect the story's action. Thus, the first-person point of view is highly influential to a story's development, as the narrator's bias in portraying events makes it an integral aspect of storytelling.
The two short stories under examination demonstrate how point of view functions to shape a short story. Looking at John Updike's "A&P" as an example, one can see not only the importance of point of view but perhaps its necessity in eliciting a particular response from the reader. In "A&P," the narrator is a teenage grocery store clerk in Massachusetts named Sammy. Sammy narrates the story as it is happening, frequently interjecting commentary whether or not it is directly related to the plot. For example, in the midst of telling his story — which unfolds as if in real time — Sammy remarks, "You never know for sure how girls' minds work," a comment that does not necessarily advance the plot (Updike). This not only helps the reader understand Sammy's character, but also lends a sense of reality to the story.
As the story develops, it becomes clear that Sammy's narration is the key element, as his commentary about the girls who enter the store constitutes the main plot. Sammy works as a clerk, and the story follows his reaction to the events unfolding around him. "I watched them all the way," Sammy says as he reflects on the girls' appearance in bathing suits in the grocery store (Updike). This first-person perspective is the crux of the story: all the reader knows is what Sammy has communicated, and his fascination with the girls — particularly the one he calls "the queen" — drives the narrative as he follows them through the store through the eyes of a teenage boy.
Similarly, William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" also employs the first-person point of view, though to very different effect. Here, the perspective belongs to a biased observer who reflects the general sentiment of the townspeople toward the story's subject, Emily. The narrator comments, "our whole town went to her funeral," and although it is never made entirely clear who the narrator is, it is understood to be one of the townspeople who has adequate knowledge of the details being narrated (Faulkner). This is a markedly different type of narration from "A&P": although it is still a first-person point of view, it emerges from a collective perspective reflecting a community's general sentiment, and the narrator is not recounting events as they occur.
In fact, Faulkner does not have the narrator proceed in chronological order; instead, events are retold in the sequence that will produce the greatest dramatic effect on the reader. By presenting the story through a first-person narrator in this manner, Faulkner is able not only to heighten dramatic tension but also to illuminate the general attitude of the town — a point he clearly wishes to emphasize.
This sense of communal sentiment is critical to "A Rose for Emily" and could not be achieved without a first-person narrator. It is therefore to the story's benefit that the narrator is general and reflective rather than an active participant — a contrast to the narrator in "A&P." While the narrator is often relatively detached, as when stating of the servant, "He walked right through the house and out the back and was not seen again," which allows the reader to draw their own conclusions, the narration nevertheless conveys the townspeople's collective view of Emily's eccentricity and her father's restrictiveness. The final lines of the work provide further evidence: "One of us lifted something from it, and leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair" (Faulkner). This passage not only underscores the collective nature of the narrator but also invites the reader to draw conclusions independently. The point of view achieves its purpose by conveying the story without heavy-handed bias — the narrator functions more as a reporter on the events of Emily's life than as a participant in them.
The use of the first-person point of view in both stories, though deployed differently, allows each author to accomplish things that would not otherwise be possible. The narrator becomes a character and takes on a distinct persona — either that of an entire town reflecting over many years, or that of one individual experiencing events within a brief span of time. The narrator can act, reflect, and — most importantly — control the extent of the information available to the reader. This means that the reader comes to know Sammy as a typical teenager who acts on impulse before the plot develops, and who does indeed act impulsively in vain. It also reveals how the townspeople perceived Emily as increasingly eccentric before the full extent of that eccentricity is disclosed.
While Faulkner's narrative voice is perhaps less immediately central to the emotional impact of his story, the tale is nonetheless told by a gossipy townsperson in a manner that could not be replicated from the third person. A third-person narrator would know too much, and the non-chronological structure could not be rendered with the same intricacy. The same is true of Updike's story: the reader can only be drawn toward Sammy's decisive action by Sammy himself. Sammy reveals information and acts upon what he reveals, creating a greater impact than if the story were simply told from the outside.
Point of view — the perspective from which a story is told — is a narrative element that contributes profoundly to all other aspects of a story. The first-person point of view in particular demonstrates this, as it develops character and amplifies emotional impact. While first-person perspectives can take on very different forms, as evidenced by the contrast between these two stories, the choice of point of view simultaneously limits and expands what an author can accomplish. This is clearly evident in "A&P" by John Updike and "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner. Both employ the first-person point of view to add emotional resonance for the reader and to illuminate a perspective from within the story itself. Through point of view, the narrator becomes a character, and the power of this literary element — regardless of the particular form it takes — is vividly demonstrated in both works.
Faulkner, William. "A Rose for Emily." 10 Apr. 2007.
"Literary Terms." Brooklyn College, CUNY. 26 Feb. 2002. 9 Apr. 2007.
Updike, John. "A&P." 1961. 5 Apr. 2007.
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