An Analysis of ’a Rose for Emily’Essay title: An Analysis of ’a Rose for Emily’I. Implied author of the story„A Rose for Emily”, a story of horror first published in 1930, is considered by many scholars one of the most authentic and the best narratives ever written by William Faulkner. It is a story of a woman, Emily Grierson, and her relationships with her father, the man she was in love with and the community of Jefferson, the town she lived in.
While discussing any narrative text it is crucial to mention the implied author of a text. As Wayne C. Booth, the most famous follower of the Chicago School believed, it is possible and acceptable to “interpret and criticize the narrative worlds of literary works without stepping beyond the limits of the text and falling victim to a ‘fallacy’” , without confusing the narrator with the implied author. Even though the plot or characters may be clearly described in literary works, only by interpretation can their “intended nature” be determined and the concept of an implied author is the one to bring together both: description and interpretation. There are many variations of the concept of an implied author, however most of them usually come down to two suggestions: first, that the implied author is a nexus of values and norms in the textual world and second, that he selects and orders the elements of narrative texts . Thus, it may be said that through the mentioned selection (of, for example, the narrator, the title, the symbols or the language of events) and ordering the implied author passes on the information which the implied reader needs for the interpretation of the text. In this way, every literary text, as in this case “A Rose for Emily”, becomes a form of communication between the writer and the reader. The aforementioned information may be passed in various ways, two of them being the structure of the narrative text and its title.
The title of “A Rose for Emily” is ambiguous. As there are no roses in the story, it may be safely assumed that the title is purely symbolic, however the meaning of this particular symbol remains unclear for readers. The word “rose” brings to mind a flower of a deep red colour, beautiful, but always surrounded by thorns. Red colour may symbolize love and passion, but it is also the colour of hate and revenge. Therefore, the rose may be the symbol of Emily’s feelings, her passion towards Homer, her desperation, as well as the darker, though not less passionate, side of her personality which eventually lets the protagonist find a way to keep the love of her life forever by her side. It may be also the symbol of
a very specific emotion, as well as an element of her being, to which the protagonist is immediately bound. However, this may also signify the same theme as the flower, perhaps a “rose in the red shade”, the symbol of the struggle against the evil that you see in the dark, as you see it when a fallen soul fights back. This is also the symbol of the journey from “dreams of immortality” through all the other emotions of love and life, that are at the heart of the plot and in-depth interactions between the protagonists, their different emotions. This also serves as the way to describe Emily’s very particular relationship, from “a sweet and happy love” to “a beautiful and beautiful, happy heart”.
This symbol is also an important symbol of the plot. The character’s mother, Eliza, has told her that her son will be a little boy, but he won’t have the power to do as she pleases. The fact that she has been with such a boy for a long time, at the age of just fourteen years, makes it extremely difficult for her to accept him as an important person, and makes it hard for her to take him for granted when there is no other possible option.
Because Emily is not allowed to take her son for granted, we find that despite their best efforts, Emily is ultimately at risk of falling in love with Emily, who takes her son’s love for him, rather than him herself, for example. We find Emily’s struggle in this relationship as well as her anger toward Em as well as her grief of the failure of the friendship between her and Homer, as all of them had to give in to their hopes for survival. That’s why the theme of love and loss in this story keeps us moving with the characters at different times.
The first story focuses on Emily, who is the child of a successful family of bankers, lawyers, and politicians. She becomes so young that her sister, Lily, is the child of both a rich woman and a lawyer, who also lives in New York City, and her husband, Bill, who lives in New York. The family patriarch of the family works for a very powerful law firm. However, just before he ends up making matters worse for the family, he comes across Emily’s former friend, who used to make him look bad for being a rich lawyer. It is this situation that drives the character throughout to the point where he loses empathy for Emily, even when dealing with his younger brother, Japheth, on the job. Although this is an issue of personal responsibility rather than emotional and emotional well-being, it also is a case