A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner

A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner

A Rose for Emily is a very ambiguous, unorganized, and incomplete story, and the author meant for this completely. Just as are most gossip stories, this short story by Faulkner has many different parts to it that may be out of place or do not agree. That is the main point of why Faulkner narrates his story the way he does. His story telling in the first person plural simulates a collection of rumored stories that passed back and forth between the town's people. This way of presenting the story not only is interesting by what it mimics but also by how it gives an aura of mystery to Miss Emily. Imagine if this story had told every detail of her secretive life in chronological order. There would be much less mystery or intrigue or genuine care. By giving off only bits of information from far displaced times, Faulkner keeps the story interesting, slowly feeding the reader more and more until the final revelation. If this story had taken place in correct chronology, the reader would have known of Homer's death halfway through the story. This strategy of the disjointed story gives a more human experience to the story, just as how the shoddy, home-video styled scary movies appear to be much more terrifying. When you finally read that last line, "we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair", the movie ends with a sudden shock of revelation the same as a ghost movie (Faulkner 289).