The Purpose of the Order in a Rose for Emily

To the odder reader, this choice of organization may seems a little strange, but William Faulkner wrote in this way with the purpose of creating suspense, mystery, and sympathy. William Faulkner, in A Rose for Emily, takes a small town scandal and turns it into a heightening story holding the reader’s attention till the last sentence. Taking the reader from the present to the past creates the essence of mystery, to the reader, by the cleaver use of hermeneutic codes.

Starting the story with Emily Gridiron’s death, cleverly, grabs the reader’s attention by presenting the question, How did she die? ‘.

Another example of Faulkner presenting questions is in one part of the story where the narrator goes back to an account of Miss. Emily banishing the taxes collectors from her house. “See Colonel Sartor. “, Miss. Emily replied, (Colonel Sartor has been dead almost ten years. ) “l have no taxes in Jefferson. Toby! ” The Negro appeared. “Show these gentleman out.

” So she vanquished them, horse and foot, Just as she had vanquished their fathers thirty years before about the smell. That was two years after her fathers death and a short time after her sweetheart- the en who we believed would marry her- had deserted her. (31 ) Once again, we see the use of hermeneutic codes, and the mystery Faulkner creates. “Why can’t Emily come to the realization Colonel Sartor is dead? What smell caused the men of the town to confront her? Who was her sweetheart? Why did he leave her? “, each a question that increases the mystery within Email’s story.

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Going hand in hand with the mysteriousness of Emily story, is the suspense building throughout the entire narrative. At the beginning of the narrative, the questions the reader falls on are not of the serious nature, “Why doesn’t she have any axes? , Why has no one been inside her homer, and so on; albeit, as the story progresses William Faulkner adds in the element of suspense. In one part of the story, the narrator refers back to a time when Emily goes to by arsenic. For what? As readers we do not know, Emily refuses to tell. Reading on we find the towns people rumoring about seclude. “Is that how she addled The reader Is left hanging in the suspense, as William Faulkner continues his pattern of leaving the reader guessing by moving too different account of Emily life, only heightening the reader’s interest In the story. Along with suspense and mystery.

William Faulkner, creates sympathy for Emily by telling the events of her life in this fashion. We start the story at her visitation. When she is buried, Faulkner does not say she is buried with her family, but with… “The ranked Ana anonymous graves AT Nylon Ana concentrate servers won Tell at ten battle of Jefferson. “( 30) As if to start the story by saying she is Just part of the past. Our next account of Emily is as an old lady, bitter and uncaught-up to the times, insistent of the fact that she does not have taxes and hardened to the realization of a Emily friend’s death, of nearly ten years.

The next account of Emily is even earlier and we see the town gossiping about the smell of her home and the way she has her man servant clean the place. Later, it is speculated that Emily is considering suicide; no longer wanting to live in a world that is ageing around her, subjected to be the talk of the town, and abandoned by her lover. William Faulkner, tells the events of Emily life in an order that makes her sympathetic to the reader, which is why, when Faulkner finally comes back to the present and reveals that Emily is truly a cerographical homicidal psychopath, it hits the reader with a profound effect.

Had William Faulkner told the events of Emily Gridiron’s life in chronological story would have lost its mystery and suspenseful effect on the reader. Also, it would have made it a lot more difficult to sympathize with Emily if we had heard of her life, the rich girl who had everything growing up, from start till finish. By telling the events of Emily life out of order, Faulkner, opens up the mind of the reader. Forcing the reader to draw conclusions, read deeper into the meaning of events, and ultimately causes the reader to be shocked by the ending.