Questions for Reading Comprehension and Critical Analysis: A Rose for Emily After reading the introduction about

William Faulkner (page 624), list four characteristics that could define Faulkners writing. Then, look for these characteristics as you read and record examples. 2. Based on the commentary found below the story title (page 626), highlight/underline examples of names, behaviors, etc. found in the story that would be considered racist. 3. In the last paragraph of Section II, what does Faulkner mean when he says, we remembered all the young men her father had driven away, and we knew that with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her, as people will.? 4. What reason does Miss Emily Grierson give for not paying her taxes? 5. What evidence of instability does Miss Emily show when her father dies? 6. Why does the ministers wife send for Miss Emilys relations? 7. Why does Miss Emily buy rat poison? When is this finally revealed to the reader? 8. What mysteries are resolved at the end of the story? 9. In William Faulkners writing, and especially in the short story A Rose for Emily, we find the following themes: a. positive and negative aspects of tradition: b. coarse insensitivity of modern times: c. pathos and horror of repressive victimization: Can you list a few examples of how we see these themes represented in the short story A Rose for Emily?
1.

The events in the story are not presented chronologically. In telling the story, the narrator frequently jumps back and a forth in time. Why do you think Faulkner constructed the story this way? 11. Consider what it means to give someone a rose. Consider the color of the curtains and the lampshades in the room that Miss Emily, expecting marriage, had prepared as a bridal suite. How is the storys title ironic? 12. Theme may be defined as the idea behind a story, the unspoken comment growing out of every sentence, every detail, every character, every event. In some stories the theme is closely related to moments of revelation. Often in the best stories, the theme is difficult to state. It is as complex as the story itself. However, making a rough statement of the theme will usually help a reader to understand a story, and finding and interpreting significant passages is a good method of arriving at the theme. Locate several significant passages in A Rose for Emily and use them to arrive at a statement of the storys theme.
10.

123- Faulkner refers here to the men that Emily was forced to reject when she was young, and that probably now she will have to accept because she has no option.

4- She explains to the men who want to force her to pay her taxes that she is exempt of paying them because Colonel Sartoris had remitted her taxes from the death of her father on into perpetuity. 5- The most evident proof of instability that Emily shows when her father dies is that appart of having no trace of grief on her face she also says that her father was not dead and she did that for three days. 6- The ministers wife send for Miss Emilys relations because some of the ladies began to say that it was a disgrace to the town and a bad example to the young people the fact that Miss Emily and Homer Barron were dating without being married but most important that a Grierson was dating a Northener. 7- Miss Emily buys rat posion to kill Homer Barron so that he could never leave her. this is revelaed to the reader at the end of the story. 8- Some of the misteries resolved at the end of the story are, first of all, that the smell that was coming trough the house was Homers dead body; second, that Miss Emily has bought rat posion in roder to kill him, and last, that she was obssesed and crazy since she had slept with his dead body until her hair grew grey. 9- a- Positive and Negative aspects of tradition: one of the positive aspects of tradition is appreciated when Faulkner describes the way Miss Emilys father protects her as is was a tradition at that time. One of the negative aspects of tradition is seen when people of the town dont accept the fact that a Southern person was dating a Northener. another negative aspect is the way Faulkner refers to black people as Negroes. b- Coarse insensivity of modern times is shown trough the people of the town, when they are talking all the time about Miss Emily and her life, without helping her, without really wanting to join her. They just try to join her in order to get some information from and then gossip with the rest of the people. Another example is seen when mayors and aldermen try to make her pay her taxes without caring about the delivered law of Colones Sartoris and without caring about her age. c- Pathos and horror of repressive victimization are used in Faulkners writing to persuade readers feelings and appeal to the audiences emotions. This is seen every moment we read Poor Emily and when people had begun to feel really sorry for her. 10- I think Fualkner had constructed the story in this way because