A Rose for Emily (1930) by William Faulkner

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A Rose for Emily (1930) by William Faulkner
Introduction
In writing the short story A Rose for Emily, William Faulkner was influenced by Southern Gothic. Arguably, Southern Gothic writers were concerned with exploring antisocial and extreme behaviors that characterized the society at the time (Ahmadian 215). A Rose for Emily tells of a story of how after the death of the protagonist, the whole town attended her funeral and filled her home even though no one had visited her for over ten years. Faulkner employs sensational elements in his work to explain Emily’s struggle against what is seen as an oppressive society and which is rapidly evolving. This paper discusses the theme of temporal and time shifts as discussed in the story “A Rose for Emily”.
The Theme of Temporal and Time Shifts
In writing his short story, Faulkner does not use a conventional linear approach to describe the motivations and inner lives of his characters. On the contrary, he shifts, breaks, shifts and stage-manage time stretching the storyline over several decades. Emily’s life is described using a range of flashbacks. In this context, the author begins by describing the funeral of the protagonist and moves back to the past (Davis 15). At the end of the story, the reader observes that the funeral itself was a flashback. Towards the end, Emily is presented as a young girl who is beautiful enough to attract a number of suitors. However, his further does not see a suitable suitor for her daughter and uses a whip to chase them away. The author explains that "none of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily and such" (Faulkner). As Emily come to terms with reality, the South is experiencing rapid change. Faulkner moves forward and backward in time which enables him to depict the present and the past as coexisting. In addition, the author is able to examine how the two-time periods influence each other. This allows the author to create a layered, complex and a multidimensional world.
In the short story, the author represents two visions of time. One of the visions is founded on objectivity of reality whereby time is moving forward unremittingly. In this vision, only the present exists and the past does not matter. The second vision is rather subjective. Despite the fact that time is moving forward, past events remain in the near memory. Here, the past has a dynamic and active role in explaining the present. In each of the five sections, there is at leas...