“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is a mysterious and exciting story that tells about the life of a woman who, at first glance seems unremarkable, but is fraught with the mystery of the murder. Although the story’s events seem to be presented in chronological order, some digressions and repetitions change that order. Hence, while the main plot elements of ” A Rose for Emily” are linear, digressions and repetitions in the story allow Faulkner to complicate the story and shape intrigue.
In his short story “A Rose for Emily,” Faulkner uses repetition and clarification of the plot in a linear presentation of events in general, which allows him to create intrigue for the reader. The exposition of the story is a description of Emily’s funeral, or rather the interest that they and Emily’s house aroused among the townspeople. Faulkner summarizes Emily’s importance to the city and reveals that she was a “tradition” for the locals, despite her strange behavior (2). At the same time, Emily’s funeral also leads to the story’s denouement as their events are described in more detail at the end of the short story.
The rising action one can divide into two parallel stories, such as Emily’s refusal to pay taxes and the story of her relationship with her father and Homer Barron. On the one hand, Faulkner tells the story that the previous mayor freed Emily from taxes, and the current government tries to cancel this decision but cannot overcome the stubbornness and character of the woman (3). The situation in which men secretly cleaned Emily’s house to remove the smell and not offend the proud woman is another manifestation of Emily’s character. On the other hand, Faulkner talks about Emily’s controlling father, who got in the way of her marriage, and her romance with the Yankees, Homer Barron (5). From these two lines, Emily’s conflicts with the society also arise, one because she refuses to pay taxes, although it is not the main one, and the second because of the interference of society in her personal life. The city imposes on Emily the rules of decency by sending a priest to her house and writing letters to her relatives as they consider her relationship with Barron inappropriate (Faulkner 6). This conflict is decisive for the short story.
The climax of the story is Emily’s purchase of arsenic at the pharmacy, which generates and reinforces the reader’s suspicion about Emily’s secret. In fact, the climax sentence is: “there was written on the box, under the skull and bones:’ For rats’” (Faulkner 6). Since Emily did not say the purpose of buying the poison, this clarification leads the reader to think that arsenic has a different purpose. In addition, the falling action, which reveals that Homer Barron was last seen entering Emily’s place, and the previous description of the house stench, nudge readers into thinking that something terrible happened in the house (Faulkner 7). The further description of Emily’s 30 years of a lonely life, which is a falling action, partially reassures the reader with its routine. However, denouement collates all the facts and reveals the main mystery of the story. Homer Barron’s badly decomposed body and a lock of Emily’s hair are found in Emily’s bed (Faulkner 8). Emily probably poisoned a man who did not want to marry her, fearing society’s condemnation and loneliness.
Therefore, the story demonstrates that although Faulkner uses all the plot elements in a classic sequence, some repetitions, such as the funeral scene, keep the story intriguing. The story begins and ends in one place, although the details revealed at the end give it different meanings. At the same time, the climax of the story is also not evident to the reader. Consequently, the structure and details of each plot element create an atmosphere of mystery and keep the reader intrigued until the very end.
Work Cited
Faulkner, William. (1930). “A Rose for Emily”. Gothic Digital Series. Web.