Literary Devices in A Rose for Emily

             I found William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" to be a rather macabre story. The Authors ability to structure the story without using chronological order and the use of many literally devices intrigues the reader to continue.
             Faulkner uses foreshadowing throughout the story. He starts with the first sentence " When Miss Emily died, our whole town went to her funeral," he explains that the men go out of respect and the women go out of curiosity. The first sentence alone asks the reader three questions. First, "Miss" means that Emily has never been married. Why or why not? Second, the men attend out of respect, insinuating that they only attend because it is an expected behavior and not because she was popular. Why was Miss Emily not popular? Finally, the women go out of curiosity to see the inside of the house. Why had no one been in the house for so long?
             This technique of foreshadowing helps to pull the reader into the plot. Other examples of foreshadowing would be the tax situation; Colonel Sartoris invented a way for Miss Emily not to pay her taxes. Later the reader finds that the taxes become an issue. Miss Emily purchases Arsenic, later we find out about a smell of something dead and finally the body is found.
             Many believe the climax of the story is the purchase of the Arsenic. We know Emily plans to kill something but at this point what she plans to kill is still somewhat in question, herself or someone else? Further on the story tells us that Homer disappears. Yet we still do not know he is dead. I believe the climax is the opening of the upstairs room and the finding of Homer. This is when my mind races to think of reasons she would have killed him. Was he going to leave her? Was he Gay? The story suggests that he may be in saying "-he liked men, and it was known that he drank with the younger men at the Elks club-that he was not a marrying man." Whateve
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Literary Devices in A Rose for Emily. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 02:26, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/27935.html