A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner is a short story published in the April 30, 1930 issue of a major magazine called Forum. In this literary piece, there are several aspects of the society that were shown all throughout the rest of the story. The author used literary conventions in order to illuminate such aspects for readers to recognize them. In literature, few writers can capture in their writings the flavor of the people's folktales. The manner in which they deliver the story is among the ways to fully demonstrate the effectiveness of the style in writing.
With A Rose for Emily, William Faulkner used the narration and description style of presentation using a storyteller in presenting the significant events that happened in the story. Faulkner chose to narrate and describe the story using an anonymous person that will help the viewer figure out what is being related to them. According to Georg Lukac (cited in Pizer 2002), writing is governed by narration. The narration in this literary masterpiece is a kinetic stylistic approach to imagination that weaved the plot's separated elements into a dynamic whole and allows the reader to experience the action. The description, on the other hand, focuses on minute features at the expense of chronological progress and creating fixed texts marked by conclusion, fragmentation, and boredom, which in return makes both the narrator and reader mere observers.
Faulkner as a naturalistic author is interested in using horror and depravity for their shock value (Corbett et al 1970, p. 1). While other authors differ radically in other details of plot and character, A Rose for Emily offer an opportunity for the consideration of the problem of to what degree the story belongs in the tradition of the Gothic horror tale. In narrating and describing what is happening in the plot, Faulkner developed a mental picture in the perspectives of the readers using the descriptions provided by him. The detailed description of the eerie locations in the story is also another way in which Faulkner treated the subject. For instance, the room wherein Miss Emily kept Homer Barron is so gloomy and ghostly that it elicits a feeling of horror. Another example is the image that the readers create in relation to the house in which Miss Emily lives in, the window pane in which she stands as an idol during the night that makes an image of a ghost, the portrait of her father in the wall that shocked people who immediately sees it, and the dusty, gothic, and aged furniture and other materials within the house. Schaub (2000) stated that readers create the story for themselves out of the pieces that the authors provide (p. 386).
Thematically, A Rose for Emily also treats of a conflict in values between the Old and New South in the period of transition. Faulkner used symbolism to signify Miss Emily as the Southerner and Homer Barron as the Northerner. It brings into contact a representative of an aristocratic person (Miss Emily) with a pragmatic outsider having the new-fangled principles of the industrial age (Barron). In the story, there are clashing visions of life, between romance and realism, liberalism and traditionalism, private and public face, pretended and real concern, sanity and insanity, children and parents, inner life and external behavior, the past and its questionable recollections, and inner life and ideologies.
Specifically, Faulkner presented some situations that depict the obsession and insanity of the characters. For instance, Miss Emily trying to convince the men that she paid her taxes and asking them to see Colonel Sartoris who is already dead for almost ten years, Miss Emily not allowing her father to be buried because she believes that her father is not dead, and her love affair with Homer Barron are pertinent examples. In relation to Faulkner’s treatment on the stereotypical conventions of gothic romance, there is the presence of tragedy that is characterized by horrible events. A perfect example is the love, or could be obsession; Miss Emily has towards Barron that made her insane. The spectacle on woman in this part is also noted. Faulkner's descriptions of Southern Gothic evoke something like classic gothic tales of heroines under siege and bringing attention to the spectacle of a woman (Donaldson 1997, p. 568). In Masse's words, the spectacle is "being hurt by a dominant other", sometimes by a male character, the community at large, and unsettlingly enough, by the audience of the story itself.
Additionally, in critique to certain aspects of Southern society, Faulkner showed specific conditions like people are gossipers (mostly ladies), suicide considered as a solution to life’s problems, children who are inclined to arts like china-painting, strict collection of taxes and sheer implementation of laws, patriarchal politics, and the notion of South and North like Northerner men are judge not to be seriously taken Southerner ladies.
Accordingly, A Rose for Emily is a criticism of the North and others claim it to be of South or battle of good (God) and evil (Satan) (Corbett et all 1970, p. 21). But all in all, the short story was a simple yet outstanding literary masterpiece of Faulkner that made him popular and good in his chosen field. The manner in which Faulkner deliver the story – narration and description, made it clear to the readers that he is certainly pointing out to something out of symbolism, description, situations, and characterization.
To conclude, A Rose for Emily is written artistically that any reader will have a vivid depiction of what is being described. Further, it presents realities that occurred during those times in the history that help people to develop and turn in better individuals. The way in which Faulkner treated the plot had challenged the ability of readers to comprehend and interpret the real meaning of the short story. May it be a criticism of the Southern society during those times or a classic gothic romance short story, A Rose for Emily and William Faulkner made its reputation in the world of literature.
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