StudyMode - Premium and Free Essays, Term Papers & Book Notes
Home Essays Foreshadowing Death in...
Foreshadowing Death in William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily."
Topics: English-language films, Death, William Faulkner Pages: 1 (440 words) Published: June 28, 2008
In "A Rose For Emily," by William Faulkner, the author foreshadows events of death in many ways. Especially the awful, but eerie, death of Homer Barron. One way is the single event of Emily buying rat poison from the druggist with no reason to buy it. Another way of foreshadowing death is by a strange disappearance of Homer from the town, which the town's people thought they had an explanation. The last event of foreshadowing comes when Faulkner lets the reader know about the awful stench creeping from Emily's old house. Emily was seen at a drug store looking to buy some rat poison. Not just any rat poison, she wanted the harshest kind, Arsenic. Best put by the druggist "This will kill anything up to an elephant" (Faulkner 106). That is what she wanted and refused to tell him what it was for. Faulkner did this in a way of giving the reader a hint of what it was for. She would eventually kill the man she loved with it. Homer all of a sudden disappeared from the town, long after his work there was done. The town's people figured he had left in preparation for Emily because she had to get rid of her arrogant cousins. The whole town wanted to believe that Emily was soon to be with her man. The foreshadowing comes in here in a way of irony, for she was with the man she loved, it's just he was no longer alive to know that he was left in same position that he died in for a long time. Soon as the town's people thought that Emily had ran her cousins away, there was all this talk of her being married. The cousins were there to persuade her into getting rid of Homer, due to the fact of noblesse oblique. The town figured she was married now but there was this awful emanation of the dead embracing her house, a smell of something that had perished. The town's people thought that her butler had killed a snake or something, little did they know there was a dead Homer upstairs in a...
Please join StudyMode to read the full document
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
Analysis of William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" Essay
...Analysis of William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" In "A Rose for Emily", William Faulkner uses symbolism, imagery, simile and tone. Faulkner uses these elements to lead his characters to an epiphany of letting go of out-dated traditions and customs. The resistance to change and loneliness are prominent themes within "A Rose for Emily". Faulkner uses "A Rose for Emily" to caution his readers that things are not always what they appear to be. The tone of "A Rose for Miss Emily" could be described as one of complicity and guilt. Note how often Faulkner intrudes with the pronouns "our" and "we," throughout the story, even in the first sentence: "our whole town went to the funeral." (30). Guilt and complicity can be seen in the way Emily is treated while alive. Once part of a proud and wealthy Southern family, she is considered a "fallen monument" (Faulkner 30) when she dies. Mistreatment, in the form of negligence, "We did not even know she was sick" (Faulkner 34), eventually compounds their guilt after Emily's death. The pieces come together. She was lonely, needed help, not judgment and isolation. At the close of the story, Faulkner once again uses "we" to evoke the townsfolk's' universal guilt: "For a long while we just stood there, looking...
"A Rose For Emily" by William Faulkner
...Foreshadowing is often used by an author to heighten the interest in the story. The author of "A Rose for Emily" foreshadows the discovery of Homer Barron's body in a few different ways. The smell that develops around Emily's house, and Homer never returning to Emily's house are both foreshadowing what happens later in the story. When Emily went into the drug store saying "' I want the best you have. I don't care what kind'",(William Faulkner) and purchased rat poison, it immediately informed the reader that somebody is the story was going to die. While reading this story, I believed that Emily purchased the rat poison in order to kill herself, not Homer Barron. Right at the end of the story, when the door to the house gets opened, the Negro immediately leaves, which indicates that he has got something to hide. We soon find out that he indeed had something to hide, Homer Barron's body. Emily Grierson's portrayal of reality is completely different from the reality surrounding her. Emily doesn't allow the mayor to put up a mailbox in front of her house, and refuses to accept the fact that there might be mail coming to her house. She believes that since she doesn't have any actual friends, there will be no mail getting delivered to her house. She believes that since nobody is friends with her, she should have no mail....
Foreshadowing in "A Rose for Emily" Essay
...Student Mrs. Hammel English 101 September 10, 2014 Foreshadowing in "A Rose for Emily" William Faulkner is the author of the Nobel prize winning short story, "A Rose for Emily." The story takes place in the nineteenth century in Jefferson, Mississippi, and the theme of the underlying American story is resistance to change. It is a challenge to the readers to understand that this story portrays to be a horror, yet it leaves the readers with a vague feeling of what anyone person would feel during the loss of a loved one. In this story, William Faulkner uses instances of foreshadowing with Miss Emily's insanity in her refusal to pay taxes or to put up her mailbox numbers, in not accepting the death of her father, and in buying the poison and toiletries for Mr. Homer In the beginning the first instance of foreshadowing takes place ten years before Miss Emily's death. This is whenever there is a new government that is taking place in Jefferson. The new government and the town's mayor attempt to collect her taxes. Considering that the last mayor, Colonel Sartoris, never makes her repay after her father's death. "Colonel Sartoris invented an involved tale to the effect that Miss Emily's father had loaned money to the town, which the town, as a matter of business, preferred this way of repaying (Faulkner...
Essay on Reader Response Criticism: William Faulkner's a Rose for Emily
...Reader Response Criticism: William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" "A Rose for Emily" was written in first person point of view. The narrator is never given a name, but it is apparent to the reader that the narrator is one of the townspeople. This is evident in the opening of the story when the narrator exposits that, "our whole town went to her funeral" (Faulkner, "Rose" 90). This story tells the tale of Miss Emily Grierson in psychological order, beginning with her funeral (as a flashback) and ending with the gruesome discovery of her lover's remains in her bed (in present time). The destinies of Miss Emily and her lover, Homer Barron, are alluded to by the author's extensive use of foreshadowing. The author of this story, William Faulkner, was born in 1897, in New Albany, Mississippi (William Faulkner Contemporary par. 1). He was a member of "a once- wealthy family of former plantation owners" (William Faulkner par. 1). Although the town is never named in the story, " A Rose for Emily" is one of his several stories set in the fictional town of Yoknapatawpha County, "which bears a close resemblance to the region in Northern Mississippi where Faulkner spent most of his life" (William Faulkner Contemporary par. 28) . This is important to know when...
Essay on An Analysis of William Faulkner's "a Rose for Emily"
...Analysis of William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" When a person has only been taught dysfunctional love, it is all too often that this is the only kind of love they will ever experience. In "A Rose for Emily", William Faulkner explores an unorthodox relationship between an aristocratic southern lady named Miss Emily Grierson, and a blue-collar northern fellow named Homer Barron. The narrator, who likely represents the townspeople, describes Miss Emily's unusual father in detail. Because of this illuminating description, the reader is able to begin to understand the strange dynamic Mr. Grierson and his daughter share. The story reveals how an over-controlling parent can negatively influence their child's life and how this influence will introduce complications in later years. During a time of dramatic tiers in social class, the narrator hints heavily towards a compelling social explanation for the love interest in the tale. Of related interest is the emotional rational and significance of the relationship between Homer and Emily. The storyteller allows the reader to come to understand why Emily is drawn towards Homer on a mental and emotional level. It is of paramount importance that only after Emily's father dies does she connect with Homer. An oppressive upbringing, a seemingly elevated social class, and a damaged...
The Rose For Emily by William Faulkner Essay
...12. Explore Faulkner's concept of time in " A Rose for Emily": There are two concepts of time in Faulkner's " A Rose for Emily": First one is the world of the present, where the past is a "diminishing road", time is a mechanical progression. This is the view of Homer Barron and the modern generation in Jefferson. They represent the North and its highlighted state, because in the Civil War the North has won, so people started to adapt to the Northerners' lifestyle. Second one is the world of tradition, where the past is a "huge meadow, which no winter ever touches", so this is a peaceful state, where there is no death or anything disturbing. There is also a bottleneck dividing us from the past, but not for Emily, she believes she still lives in the past. This is also the view of the Board of Aldermen and of the confederate soldiers, who still believe in the power and shining of the South, which existed before the Civil War. Emily's upstairs room represents that timeless meadow: she and the dead Homer are still together there, and these unchanged objects can explain this concept of time, as well as it suggests an atmosphere of horror. 13. How do Faulkner's concept of time and his understanding of history relate? Faulkner adapted his concept of time from the philosopher Henry Bergson, who thought that time is a continuous flowing stream,...
A Rose for Emily: Love and Death Essay
...A ROSE FOR EMILY (William Faulkner) INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE SEPTEMBER 19TH, 2011 1 A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner the theme is Love and Death. It shows the basic need for her to find lasting love but, it also shows her need to be with the one's that have passed and she loved deeply. The narration starts with the funeral for Emily in the story the narrator says that the men go to the funeral for Emily out of obligation, and the women go to the funeral for Emily because no one has been in her house for years. The narrator goes on to tell that the house at one time was a very nice (grand) house and that both the house and the neighborhood have deteriorated. It goes on to tell that the Mayor remitted Emily's taxes starting with the death of her father. And, that her father left nothing for her when he died. It tells in the story where Emily has gotten letters and notices that she has ignored. They send someone out to the house to talk to her about them. It then goes on and begins to describe what Emily looks like " a small, fat woman in black" who looks "bloated, like a body long...
"A Rose For Emily"
...the Mentally Insane In "A Rose For Emily" by William Faulkner, published in 1931, he exposes the mentally instable and disturbed mind of Emily Grierson. The story describes a woman living in the American Deep South, in a town named Jefferson, between the 1850's and 1920's, when the class structure was very stratified/racially segregated. Faulkner portrays the story in five sections that are out of chronological order, making the story more interesting and compelling as the reader. Through the use of ironic and interesting symbols and themes, the southern gothic fiction literature and movement, along with the captivating characterization, William Faulkner is able to give the reader a first hand experience in considering the different components of what true love are and reveal how troubled and alienated Emily Grierson is. To get a more in depth idea of what happens in the story, it is important to summarize the main events that will be expanded on later. Faulkner tells the story in first person plural, trying to represent the feelings of the townspeople. The first section begins "When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town wen tot her funeral" (516), and incorporates a flashback describing how Emily does not have to pay taxes in Jefferson, since her father, who has passed away, did not have to. We then move to a different point in time that explains a...
Internal Conflict of Goodman Brown
The Theme of Hope in, Of Mice and Men
Margaret Atwood Essay
Julius Caesar Essay
Morality Essay
Teacher Essay
American films Essay
COINTELPRO Essay
Join millions of other students and start your research
Become a StudyMode Member
Sign Up - It's Free
StudyMode
©2020 StudyMode.com
Premium Essays
Virtual Writing Center
AP Notes
Student Brands