Short Fiction

Changing Times in A Rose for Emily

The fast pace of the modern age is hard to ignore . As time seemed to speed up , a battle arose between those wishing to push forward into the future and those wishing to hold on to the past . William Faulkner captured this struggle over changing times in the short story , A Rose for Emily ' Through its time-bending narration , symbolic portrayal of Emily , and descriptive language , Faulkner 's story of a small Southern town and its strange resident displays the changes society faces in the modern

world

Faulkner 's narration of the story is unique in itself . His choice of first person plural gives the feeling of a present community discussing the past . The use of we ' in the narration also incorporates the reader into the story , almost as if they are part of the action and the community observing the dusty world of Emily . The narrator often notes the old-time ways of Miss Emily when describing her . Starting with her funeral , the narrator flashes back in time and examines the events that lead up to Emily 's death . The framing of the story in this way builds a greater sense of suspense and helps show that the story is really an expose on time and how people react to it . This narration technique gives the feeling that Emily 's story is almost a legend among the townspeople , and seems to make it a commonly known legend or myth . By the time narrator mentions the mysterious smell coming from Emily 's house and then takes the reader back thirty years , the mystery surrounding Emily is too powerful to ignore or avoid . Faulkner 's later narrative s also call to mind the elements of time and its passing

Miss Emily Grierson is a relic of the past . From the introduction of the story , she is described by the narration as a tradition , a duty and a care a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town , dating from that day in 1894 ' She is the past that the present leaves behind keeping only as a memory or story . Emily 's house is described in a way that clearly describes the passage of time , as it smelled of dust and disuse - a closed , dank smell ' with faint dust ' covering her furniture . This picture of Emily 's house gives a good idea of the world she lives in . Not only is Emily portrayed as a relic of the past , but she is the past in decay . She represents all the old beliefs that younger generations abandon . When she is visited after her father dies by the next generation , with its more modern ideas ' she refuses to accept their new rules , instead citing an old agreement with Colonel Sartoris , who had also been dead for years . When the present visits Emily , she denies it . This meeting is the present confronting the past and Miss Emily is left frozen in time , even though time passes on around her

The descriptive...