A Rose for Emily

Writer: William Faulkner

Klas: 4 Havo

Date: 23-04-2014

Name: Ferdie Vroegop

School: Odyzee College

Index

Page 3: Story information

Page 4: Writer

Page 5: Main and minor characters

Page 6: Summery

Page 7: Other Information, title statement, perspective, time and place.

Page 8: Other Information, theme, story building and motives.

Page 9: Own opinion

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Story informationThe story is called: A Rose for Emily. It is a short

story of 6 pages long. It is written by: William Faulkner and first published on April 30 1930 in

the United Stated of America in the national magazine(Forum). It is also originally English written. It was next published in a collection:

these 13 in 1931 and went on to become one of the most anthologized American short stories. If you still have a paper with this story out of that

time, it is worth a lot of money.

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WriterThe writer of the short story is: William Faulkner.

William Faulkner is born in New Albany(Mississippi), September 25 1897, and he

died in Oxford(Mississippi) on July 6 1962. He was a writer from Mississippi. He didn’t finish his

school. He went to New Orleans and he became a journalist. He wrote many stories about colored

people and stories against racism.He has written many short stories and also a lot

of novels. When he was older he moved to Hollywood to become a screenwriter. He did get a

relation with a secretary by Hawks, Meta Carpenter.

William Faulkner also had a alcohol problem. His Health deteriorated when he was getting older

and he died of a heart attack.

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Here a picture of William Faulkner in 1949 when he was 52 years old.

Main and side characters

Emily: A fearful woman who needs always one really good friend in her area. She can’t

accept it when her father is dead. After a while she get a man named Homer Barron.

She gave six or seven years porcelain painting classes.

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Homer Barron: The husband of Emily. There are rumours that he is gay. But one

day no one sees him again.

Tope: He is the servant of Emily. He takes care of all the things what happens outside the house of Emily. After Emily dies, he was

never seen again.

Mr. Grierson(Emily’s father): Mr. Grierson is the father of Emily. Before Mr.

Grierson dies he has Emily under his control. He is also just like Emily afraid to get lonely.

Mr. Grierson didn’t allow Emily to have a husband.

SummeryEmily is very protected raised by her father. He didn’t allow her to get any friends or men in her

life. When Emily’s father died, she denied to

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recognise his death. The villagers could imagine that. She had to take care for herself now.

After her father past Emily get a man in her life, named Homer Barron. He was a black man.

Still Emily was very dependent of someone. Tope the servant of Emily did bring everything she

needed to her home.After a while she came to a pharmacy to get

some arsenicum.(Perhaps Homer would leave her) The villagers thought she would kill herself

but she didn’t. After a while there came a smell of the house. The villagers threw lemons in the garden to kill the bad smell. After she didn’t

gave porcelain painting classes anymore, the villager almost didn’t see her.

Years passing by. Emily became thicker and greyer. When she was 74 years old she past

away. The villagers went into the house out of curiosity. Should she hide something? And yes in

a locked bedroom was a body. The body of Homer. Emily did gave Homer the arsencium. And

she still slept next to him, because there were grey hears on the pillow and you could still see the print of her body in the pillow. That is where

that smell came from. From dead Homer.

Other information7

Title statement(Why is the story called: A Rose for Emily?)

Faulkner himself said: Emily was a woman with a tragedy where she could do nothing about. She was someone who you would

hand a rose.

Perspective(How was the story told?)The story is told by the villagers(an we-

teller), so that means that the story has a personal regional narrative perspective.

Time(How much time goes by in the story?)The story began in 1894 and ends around 1940, so there are about 46 years past in

the story.

Place(Where does the story take place?)The story does take place in a little village named: Jefferson in the state Mississippi in

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the south of America. In the south of America slaves were normal.

Theme(What is the theme of the story?)Lonely is in my opinion the main theme in the story because the main character is all the time afraid to get lonely. Just like her father. Other themes are: Insanity, drama

and love.

Story Building(Is the story chronological?)No it is not. The story begins at the end and

There are many flashbacks in the story.

Motives(Does some things frequently come back in the story?)

The thing what frequently comes back is the loneliness. Just like her father.

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Own OpinionThis is one of the stories that stick to you all the time. You do want to know why she did it

and if some other rumours are true. It was quite difficult to read it. At first you do not

know what you are reading but at the end of the story everything will fall into its place.

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