Analysis Of Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

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William Faulkner was born in Mississippi in 1897. Faulkner was always interested in writing; however, he was not interested in formal education. He dropped out of high school in 1915. Faulkner drifted for years, traveling around the United States, living with a friend at Yale, briefly joining the Royal Air Force, performing odd jobs, working for three years as postmaster at the University of Mississippi, traveling to Europe, and publishing a novel (Soldiers' Pay [1926]) to little response. In 1929, however, with the publication of The Sound and the Fury, Faulkner began to experiment with new forms of storytelling, and he wrote a remarkable series of novels over the next eight years. His works include: "As I Lay Dying", "Light in August", "Intruder", and "A Rose for Emily". The short story "A Rose for Emily", like his other short stories, consists of many metaphors and similies, numerous examples of imagery, a questionable point-of-view, and a vivid theme.

"A Rose for Emily" consists of many metaphors, which are defined as "an instance of this" (The Oxford Pocket Dictionary 558, and similies-"potential comparison of one thing with another using the words 'like' or 'as' (The Oxford Pocket Dictionary 850). The house smells "of dust and disuse-a closed, dank smell" (Literature and the Writing Process 315). A description of Emily is made in comparison to the house: "She looked bloated like a body long submerged in motionless water, and of that palled hue" (Literature and the Writing Process 316). However, Emily had not always had such an unattractive appearance. In the picture of a young Emily with her father, she was frail and apparently desired to participate in the life style of other women during this era. Emily desperately wanted some gentleman to court her. However, her...