Point of View & Theme in "A Rose for Emily" and "The Tell Tale Heart"

Essay Instructions:

one to two paragraphs per a question, use quotes and textual evidence. use own word.

Readings & Materials

1) William Faulkner, “A Rose for Emily”

2) Edgar Allan Poe, “The Cask of Amontillado”

3) Poe, “The Tell Tale Heart”

4) Ursula K. Le Guin, “The Wife”

Literal:

1) What is discovered in Miss Emily’s house after her death?

2) How much time has passed since the narrator of “The Cask of Amontillado” led Fortunato into the catacombs (hint: we don’t find out until the end of the story)?

3) The narrator of “The Tell Tale Heart” admits that the old man “never wronged him.” Why, then, does he set out to murder the old man?

Interpretive:

4) The narrator of “A Rose for Emily” doesn’t tell the story chronologically. Does the reordering of events shape your attitude towards Emily in any way?

5.) “A Rose for Emily” is narrated in the first-person plural. Why do you think Faulkner chose “we” rather than “I” as the voice for the story? How might this narrative strategy be related to the description of Emily as “a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town”?

6.) “My heart grew sick,” the narrator of “The Cask of Amontillado” says while completing his revenge against Fortunato; “—on account of the dampness of the catacombs,” he quickly recovers. Until this point, Montresor has shown no remorse for leading Fortunato to his death. In fact, he teases Fortunato, who, in his drunken state, doesn’t realize that he has been shackled: “Once more let me implore you to return. No? Then I must positively leave you.” But, again, Montresor ends his narration with the blessing “May he rest in peace.” What do these two lapses in the narrator’s hard-heartedness suggest about his character? Does he know right from wrong?

Applied:

7.) Many critics have interpreted “A Rose for Emily” as representative of the tenuous relationship between the North and South after the Civil War. After the war, the North profited greatly off of the reconstruction of the decimated South, and once-respected Southern families like the Grierson’s clung tightly to their way of life, resisting modernization. Keeping in mind that Homer Barron is a construction foreman and a northerner, while Emily Grierson comes from a genteel southern family, how do the descriptions and actions of these two characters support this theme?

8.) Compare the narrators in the two Poe stories. What are their motives for murdering? Can we trust their reporting of events?

Essay Sample Content Preview:

Unit 3: Point of View & Theme
Student's Name
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Unit 3: Point of View & Theme
Literal
Miss Emily's House after Her Death
The people of Jefferson discovered an old, rotten dead person in one of the rooms in Emily's house after her funeral. The corpse, lying in bed, was of a character called Homer Barron, who passed on almost forty years before the body was discovered. He was Miss Emily's former lover.
Time Passed since the Narrator Led Fortunato into the Catacombs
Fifty years have passed, as hinted at the end of the story. The narrator reveals to the audience in the end that fifty years had gone after the revenge and that Fortunato's body had not been disturbed.
Reason Why Narrator Set Out to Murder the Old Man
The old man's deformed eye offended the narrator, making him murder the old man. The narrator explains that the he could not stand the old man's deformed eye, which always made him want to kill him. The narrator watched the old man sleep on many occasions but could not kill him because he could not see the offending eye.
Interpretive:
Reorganizing of Events
Reorganizing events in "A Rose for Emily" shapes my attitude towards Emily. The lack of chronology in the film makes it challenging to put together facts in the story. The non-chronology in the presentation of the story's events confuses me, and I waste more time connecting the story fragments. For instance, realizing that Emily has been lying on the same bed with Homer takes me to the previous sections of the story, like where Emily acquires poison. If the story were written chronologically, I would read the story with Homer's skeletal in mind. This way, I would know why Emily does some things in a certain manner, guiding my attitudes towards her.
Narrative Strategy
Faulkner uses "we" instead of "I" voice in the story's ...

Updated on January 26, 2024

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Point of View & Theme in "A Rose for Emily" and "The Tell Tale Heart"

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