Position Paper on William Faulkner's ' A Rose for Emily'

12th posting

11.15 a.m. 1st Sept 2008

Lets see what William Faulkner has to offer. I chose one of his short stories ' A Rose For Emily' for my position paper. This story has become one of my most loved stories after I was introduced to it by Assoc. Professor Dr. Rosli Talif. This was how my interest in Literature deepened. The narrator of this story is a non participant narrator and I am again fascinated with the diction used by the author to write this story. It is easy to understand and makes one's reading a pleasure. Now I am given the opportunity by Assoc. Professor Dr. Edwin M. Vethamani to find what is the thesis statement and 5 points of argument and what's more fantastic is that I am given a choice to select a story at my own pleasure. So obviously, I selected one of my favourites, the above title and these are the outcomes:

Thesis Statement: 'Unwilling to change with times due to her stubbornness and pride that led to the acceleration of her moral decadence and Mental Decline'

The five points of arguments why I said so to support my position paper are 1)Point 1- Tax Collection (2)Point 2 – The Visit To The Drug Store That Shows Her Stubbornness (3)Point 3- Emily’s House (4)Point 4- Emily’s Mental Decline and (5)Point 5- Emily’s Decadence in Morality. I have mentioned about this in my 3rd blog.

In the horror story ‘Rose for Emily’, William Faulkner portrayed Emily’s character as a woman who is full of pride and always defying and denying about anything and everything due to her aloofness and her aristocratic lineage. She is a lady of some social standing in that Southern community. She has deemed herself to adhere certain stringent rules that her father and forefathers have instilled in the upbringing of her family as how aristocratic Southerners would have practiced. She is described as a grand lady who never gives away her pride. She does not let go of her past and she can’t seem to come to terms about many things and stays aloof throughout the story. Some might consider her to be abnormal or mad such as when her father passed away, it was a devastating loss for her.

The lines from the story “She told them her father was not dead. She did that for three days,” (Scene II, 11th paragraph ,p.32) conveys the message that she tried to hold on to him, even after his death. Even though, this was a sad moment for Emily, but she was liberated from the control of her father. Despite her newfound freedom, her whole life came to a halt after the death of her father. Nevertheless, she remained much as a person who earns the peoples’ respect. This can be noted from the opening statement by the author describing Emily as “a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument” (Scene 1, 1st paragraph, p. 29)

The other character is Homer Baron who is described as a foreman and a Northerner. He was a day labourer and was courting Miss. Emily which the town's people were not happy at all because he had this weird attachment to men and boys.

I am so excited and I can't wait to tell you more about my findings in my 13th posting.