"A Rose for Emily"
Study Questions
Before Reading -- Title: The title of this story is only apparently
easy; later you will need to explain for yourself what this rose means.
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After the 1st Reading: (Please remember the general questions
suggested for making your annotations.) 2. Plot
2. Narrative Point of View
3. Main Characters and Minor Ones:
4. Symbolic Language and the Characters' Actions:
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Further Questions or After the 2nd Reading: 1. Why did Emily Grierson murder her lover? Did she really kill him? 2. Is Emily a victim or a heroine? 3. Who are the narrators? Does it make a difference if they are women, or men? 4. Were you in any way entertained by the story? How? One critic (Sniderman) argues that Faulkner uses the rhetorical strategies of tabloid journalism to establish the guilt of Emily: "sensational, excessive, gossipy, stereotyped." Do you agree? 5. Do you think that our knowledge of the Old South vs. the New South, and the American Civil war matters in our understanding of this short story?
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Extension:
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Background:
the South (from Resources
For American Literature) William Faulkner (1897-1962) is most widely known for his epic portrayal, in some twenty novels, of the tragic conflict between the old and the new South. The majority of Faulkner's works are centered around his hometown of Oxford, in Lafayette County, Mississippi. However, in Faulkner's fictional literature, the setting is renamed Jefferson, in Yoknapatawpha County. In addition, names from Faulkner's family, such as Sartoris, consistently appear throughout his work. In fact, his great-grandfather William Clark Falkner- the "Old Colonel" -was the model for Colonel Sartoris in various novels. Overall, Faulkner's numerous stories encompass the time period ranging from pre-Civil War days through the early 1960's. This author's fiction recreates more than a century of Jefferson life. People of all sorts come into sharp focus in his literature. Despite his complex and usually confusing style, the "old verities and truths of the heart" are nearly always emphasized.
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References Palmer, Louis. "Bourgeois blues: class, whiteness, and Southern Gothic in early Faulkner and Caldwell." The Faulkner Journal 22.1-2 (2006): 120+. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 30 Aug. 2010. Sniderman, Stephen L. "The Tabloidization of Emily." Journal 10-6.2 (Spring 2002): 177-201. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Jelena O. Krstovic. Vol. 97. Detroit: Gale, 2007. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 30 Aug. 2010. |