Cask of Amontillado

Rochelle Fry

English 1302

Teacher

In the story “A Rose for Emily,”,  the author, William Faulkner, paints a story

around the fading values of an old generation and its beliefs and dabbles it with

the more modern ideas of the upcoming generation. This creates conflict within

a small southern town where the story follows the development of the main

character named Emily and how she deals with the changing times and

townspeople as she matures from a young girl in the care of her old fashioned

father to a reclusive spinster who seems to be a sad shut in. The town

modernizes around Emily and her house until they stand alone as a symbol of

a  single rose bush almost choked in a bed of weeds. Carefully woven into the

story are subtle suggestions that Emily isn’t as horribly alone as everyone

believes her to be, and the last laugh is on the townspeople when she dies and

her macabre secret is revealed. Through its haunting tone, William Faulkner’s

“A rRose for Emily” suggests the point that

we must embrace changing times.  Faulkner uses point of view, flashback,

setting, and character to paint a gothic picture of one woman’s need to

preserve the past. Your thesis is very clear here.

 In the story,Faulkner allows the narrator takes to take on many roles, which is evident in the by using various points of

view. He or she takes on first person and third person points of view while telling

the story. It’s both interesting and unusual when the narrator refuses to give

their gender or age as it is clear they know very specific details of the past and

present. In the story, the narrator switches from first to third person with

omnipresent point of view throughout the story, and it is necessary so that one

may understand what is going on in the scene without the narrator actually

being there.   For instance, in the opening piece, the narrator seems to take on

the whole town’s point of view when he states that “When Miss Emily Grierson

died, our...