A Rose For Emily by William Faulkner. can someone help me with the narrative point of view, symbolism, theme??

Question

foreshadowing.. any element of the story.. it really didn't make sense to me!

Answer 1

Narrative point of view in the story is interesting because the narrator seems to know things that someone from the outside would normally not know. It is not exactly omniscient, but it also isn't limited to just one perspective. It seems to be the collective view of the town as a whole which excuses Miss Emily for things that she has done--it would be interesting to contrast the morality of this story--where Miss Emily commits murder--to the morality of another Faulkner story, "Barn Burning" where Snopes is castigated for his actions. Miss Emily is almost "excused" by the narrator.

As far as symbolism, pay attention to the house itself and how it is viewed. On some level this is a "true Southern story" embodying old class systems and social conventions long gone in many parts of the world. The question becomes whether observing these old Southern conventions leads all of us to overlook the horrors underneath. . .

Try this website for some help: http://college.hmco.com/english/heath/syllabuild/iguide/faulkner.html

Answer 2

Read it years ago--all I remember is that the rose is a symbol of preserving what you love as she kept the dead body all those years so was the rose kept in the book pages.