A rose for Emily

• Ene
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 5

A rose for Emily

written by William Faulkner

First we are gonna discuss the study questions!

Make sure to grab your pen and correct your answers!

1. List five things to know about William Faulkner:

1. He was born on September 25 in the year 1897. New Albany, Mississippi in the United States of America

2. He won a Nobel prize in literature in 1949.

3. Faulkner changed his name from Falkner to Faulkner because a typist made a mistake on his first book's title. page so he went with it.

4. Faulkner based his fictional Yoknapatawpha County on the real-life Lafayette County in his novels and short stories.

5. He died of a heart attack in 1962 at the age of 64.

2. Explain Faulkner's reasoning for focusing his writing on one Southern County

William Faulkner came from a Southern family who lived in Oxford, Mississippi. That is in the county Lafayette. Mississippi is a Southern State.

Southern fiction is about South of the United States.

William's writings took place in a fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on his hometown in Mississippi. 

Which Faulkner in a rose for Emily renamed to Jefferson. So, he basically made his own hometown in his writings.

How the Grierson house and Emily’s appearance is a reflection of the family's changing fortunes through the years?
What changes were there?

In the beginning her father thought no men were good enough for Emily. She was the so-called slender figure in white. Which meant that she was skinny and graceful. At that time the Grierson's had a fortune also seen by their nice white house with balconies.

After Emily's father died when she was very ill, she cut her hair very short. She had debt that she did not want to pay. When City representatives came by Emily's house to collect the money the house smelled musty, the leather furniture was broken and there was a lot of dust. The house had it's defects. The fortune they had before was now gone.

By the time she did not appear on the streets for six months she had grown fat and her hair was turning very grey. As time was past her hair went even more grey. 

So looked like a man.

Before she looked skinny with long hair and now she looks like a fat man with grey hair.

4. Give three (3) examples of the town's inability to deal normally with Miss Emily

THE TAX NOTICE. When a delegation of townspeople visited Emily to advise her that she owed property taxes, she told them that the taxes had been perpetually eliminated by a previous mayor (who was long dead). After she told her servant, Tobe, to show them the way out of the house, they continued to send her a tax statement. Emily, however, refused to pay, and the town never collected.

THE SMELL. The terrible and mysterious smell that permeated the house and surrounding property became too much for some of the townspeople. Several of them met to discuss what could be done. When one of them decided that they could not approach her about such a thing, the men took action on their own. One night they spread lime around the perimeter of the house, and soon the smell disappeared.

THE PREACHER'S VISIT. Many of the townspeople thought it was improper of Emily to be seen cavorting around unescorted with Homer Barron on Sundays. When a local minister visited her to discuss her relationship with Homer, he left her house with ears burning, and he refused to return. 

5. Miss Emily's sanity is called into question. Give a valid example of her inability to cope with life

In "A Rose for Emily," Miss Emily's sanity is indeed called into question. One valid example of her inability to cope with life is her refusal to accept the death of her father.

After her father's death, Miss Emily goes into a state of denial and refuses to acknowledge his passing. Despite his death being a well-known fact in the town, she insists that he is still alive. For three days, she keeps his body in her house, refusing to allow anyone to take it away for burial. This behavior demonstrates her inability to accept the reality of death and move on, suggesting a disturbed state of mind.

Miss Emily's inability to cope with her father's death and her refusal to confront the finality of it highlight her detachment from reality and the deteriorating state of her mental health. Her actions concerning her father's corpse serve as a significant example of her inability to navigate the normal grieving process and cope with the loss, contributing to the questioning of her sanity by the townspeople.

 

6. Describe Homer Barron and explain why you think Emily's attraction to him

Possible explanation

Homer Barron in "A Rose for Emily" is described as an outgoing and charismatic Northern laborer who arrives in the town. Miss Emily's attraction to him could stem from his lively personality and departure from the town's traditional values. His defiance of societal norms may have intrigued her. Additionally, Homer's presence offered companionship and an escape from her isolated life. However, the exact motivations for her attraction remain open to interpretation.

 

7. If you reflect on the events in the story, what are some examples of forshadowing

8. How can the title of this story be seen as ironic when you think about roses as a symbol of love

1. Emily does not like roses
2. Emily does not love Homer Barron
3. Emily loves Homer Barron but poisons him
4. not any of the above

9. Did the story prepare you for another ending? If so how did the writer do this?

10. This story is told by "we": who do you imagine this narrator (or narrators) to be?

I think the most logical option is Tobe. He is the servant of Miss Emily and was the only one who came in her house. He lived in her house with her for so many years, he must have known all of her secrets and was maybe the only one who knew what was behind the door that was closed in her house for so many years. 

At the end of the story, the narrators gives the reader a tip about his identity. the narrator shows how much he actually knew. The narrator uses the pronoun 'we' throughout the whole story. In the last paragraph the narrator switches for one moment from the pronoun 'we' to 'they', which means he doesn't mean himself. 

In the whole story, the narrator is one of the townspeople, but now he is not and it’s like he is not standing behind the idea of opening the room in Miss Emily her house. I think this is an indication that Tobe could be the narrator of the story, because when Miss Emily dies, he leaves though the back door and is never seen again. He could know what was behind the door, the body of Homer Barron, Miss Emily’s lover. And did not want anyone to know this secret of Miss Emily. After this the narrator switches back to the pronoun ‘we’. 

10. How is the attitude of the narrator towards Emily represented by calling her 'Miss Emily'?

11. Women of the Old south and of a ‘good family’ were often put on pedestals as paragons of virtue and respectability and given special treatment as ‘ladies’. How do you see these attitudes at work in this story?

Miss Emily comes from a family who held themselves very high, although it was a maybe a little too high according to the townspeople. When Emily her father dies, she gets that special treatment from the townspeople. For example she does not have to pay taxes, because people feel bad for her when her father dies and he has loan the town a lot of money. Also when she goes to the druggist to buy arsenic poison, she does not have to explain for what she will be using it, which is a requirement according to the law. Because the townspeople feel pity for her, they give her special treatment.  

11. Why is Miss Emily called a 'fallen monument' in the first paragraph?

Miss Emily is called a fallen monument in the beginning of the story when the townspeople go to here funeral. She is called that, because she was treated like a piece of history of the town before the next generation came in town and changed everything. The whole town changed, expect Miss Emily and her house. Also she was the only one remaining from her family from the Old South, who lived in the town for many years. 

1. What does Emily purchase from the druggist?

1. Medicine for Homer's illness
2. Poison
3. Sleeping pills
4. Cigarettes

2. How does the town react to Emily Grierson's relationship with Homer Barron?

1. They are supportive.
2. They are judgmental and disapprove their relationship.
3. They are unaware of what is even happening between both of them.
4. They dont like it, but do not say anything

3. What did Miss Emily do that makes the townspeople think she and Homer Barron are married?

1. Miss Emily ordered a toilet set with the initials Homer Barron
2. Every sunday they went for a ride together
3. Miss Emily bought a black suit and shoes
4. They disappeared together for some time

4. What did Emily give to Homer Barron?

1. sleeping pills
2. mens toilet set
3. fruit basket
4. room plant

5. What is the narrative point of view used in the story?

1. First-person
2. Second-person
3. Third person limited
4. Third person omniscient

This was the end of the lesson!

we hope you all enjoyed our lesson!