“ A Rose for Emily ” William Faulkner

Part I The funeral and burial Point of view? Why do the towns people seem to go to the funeral?

Profiling Emily Grierson “Monument” “A tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town” What about the taxes?

Part II What is the smell? –How does the town solve it? Insanity runs in the family… –Great Aunt “Old lady Wyatt” What’s odd about her reaction to her father’s death?

Pg. 520 “When her father died, it got about that the house was all that was left to her; and, in a way, people were glad. At last they could pity Miss Emily. Being left alone, and a pauper, she had become humanized. Now she too would know the old thrill and the old despair of a penny more or less.”

Part III Homer Barron—Yankee construction man (southern reconstruction) –Relationship with Emily How does the town react? Why does she buy the rat poison?

Character Profile You must choose either Emily Grierson or the town of Jefferson. If you’re looking at the town of Jefferson, you’re looking at the narrator and the people that comment on her.

Part IV Bad example keeping company with Homer Baron? Baron’s disappearance China painting—an old tradition The death of Emily

Part V Emily’s funeral What do they discover???!!! Why the title “A Rose for Emily”?

Isolation Her upbringing vs. the new south Relationship with father Only seen in glimpses Taxes

Living in the Past Refusal to give up her father’s body Teaching china painting Relied on a black man to do her work What might her death represent?

Modernity/Change Mailbox Numbers Sidewalks Did Emily make any attempt to modernize her home?