A Rose for Emily
In William Faulkners a Rose for Emily, Faulkner immediately establishes a theme of time. Time is one of Faulkners key elements in allowing and making this story work. From the details of the town and how it has aged to very descriptive terms in describing Miss Emily, Faulkner establishes time as the focus of the story.
In the opening sentence, he establishes the end of a time for the main character with the death of Miss Emily Grierson. Faulkner describes how the town people had not seen her in at least ten years. (414) This is the beginning of Faulkners web of time. It is very specific and very telling of things that are to come.
Before the end of section I, we see that there will be no rhyme or reason or timeline for this story- yet another faucet of Faulkners use of time. The story is being told from the town folks point of view. The narration is similar to that of a gossip session rather than that of a story. The reader can almost picture the town people
rose, emily, miss, time, emily, town, story, faulkner, emilys, very, homer, faulkners, point, generation, establishes, becomes, because, age, things, story,
stop, reason, reader, prisoner, people, newer, never, life, isolation, intervene, image, gossip, folks, events, entire, end, details, describing, boyfriend, attempt, alone, allows, about, youth, yet, years, yankee
