It s also worth knowing that A Rose for Emily is considered to be a piece of Southern Gothic literature.

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2 A Rose for Emily is one of William Faulkner s most famous short story. This ghost story (as he once called it) touches upon many themes found in Southern fiction* including the complexities of a changing world order. *FYI characteristics of Southern literature include a focus on Southern history, the significance of family, issues of racial tension, and social class/place.

3 It s also worth knowing that A Rose for Emily is considered to be a piece of Southern Gothic literature. What is Gothic literature generally known for? Supernatural occurrences Mysterious and secretive things Wild and frightening situations The morbid and grotesque Exploration of human psychology, twisted psyches and dark motives Those who are on the fringes of society

4 Emily was born either shortly before or during the Civil War. Her death took place sometime in the late 1920s or early 1930s. The Civil War had a profound and humbling effect on Southern society. The South s economy was largely based upon slave labour which were destroyed upon emancipation. This resulted in Northern opportunists (known as carpetbaggers ) coming in to take advantage of the economic chaos.

5 As a class we are going to use this short story as an opportunity to exercise close reading. Close reading involves careful interpretation of the text. It s like placing a magnifying glass over the text and analyzing it for fine details as well as your own reactions. Close reading involves reading a text multiple times. You ll be noting things like vocabulary, point of views, characterization, mood, connotations vs. denotations, patterns, symbolism, etc.

6 Faulkner described the title as "an allegorical title; the meaning was, here was a woman who has had a tragedy, a tragedy and nothing could be done about it, and I pitied her and this was a salute... to a woman you would hand a rose. The idea of a tribute to Emily. If that is the case, what are we honouring exactly? And what is the tragedy?

7 Why did the story start with Emily s death? (It also ends with her death.) Observe how the story mixes the chronology of events. Would this story be different if the events were told in chronological order? When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men though a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old manservant a combined gardener and cook had seen in at least ten years.

8 This story is being told by the narrator in a series of flashbacks. What can we assume then?

9 Why did the story start with Emily s death? (It also ends with her death.) Observe how the story mixes the chronology of events. Would this story be different if the events were told in chronological order? Why the word monument? Suggest possibility that she was placed on a pedestal. And why is she a fallen monument? What did she do? When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men though a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old manservant a combined gardener and cook had seen in at least ten years. It seems like the town has mixed feelings about Emily. They respect her, they care about her, but she is also a town oddball. What is so odd about her? Why didn t anyone see the inside of her house for so long?

10 It was a big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies, set on what had once been our most select street. But garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of that neighbourhood; only Miss Emily s house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps-an eyesore among eyesores. And now Miss Emily had gone to join the representatives of those august names where they lay in the cedarbemused cemetery among the ranked and anonymous graves of Union and Confederate soldiers who fell at the battle of Jefferson.

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12 Recall the idea of a fallen monument. The description of the house seems similar. A once proud and respected house that has now fallen into dilapidation. August: Respected, dignified, of noble rank It was a big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies, set on what had once been our most select street. But garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of that neighbourhood; only Miss Emily s house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps-an eyesore among eyesores. And now Miss Emily had gone to join the representatives of those august names where they lay in the cedarbemused cemetery among the ranked and anonymous graves of Union and Confederate soldiers who fell at the battle of Jefferson. This paragraph describes the house as if it is stubbornly holding onto an era long past. Is this also Emily? Notice how upon her death, she joins the past era as well. (Southern history) Coquettish: behaving in such a way as to suggest a playful sexual attraction. Flirty. Think about what meaning can be taken when coquettish is paired with decay.

13 Consider the order in which Emily was described. She is first a tradition, then a duty, and finally a care. While they respect her (referring to her as Miss Emily ), she is viewed upon as an inherited obligation, a job/responsibility, a leftover from the past. Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town, dating from that day in 1894 when Colonel Sartoris, the mayor-he who fathered the edict that no Negro woman should appear on the streets without an apron remitted her taxes, the dispensation dating from the death of her father on into perpetuity. Not that Miss Emily would have accepted charity. Colonel Sartoris invented an involved tale to the effect that Miss Emily s father had loaned money to the town, which the town, as a matter of business, preferred this way of repaying. Only a man of Colonel Sartoris generation and thought could have invented it, and only a woman could have believed it. Suggest that Emily is proud. Consider her status within the town. What does this say about the past generation? Or about the past era? The gallantry of the old generation vs. the business-like mentality of the new. And what does this say about the narrator?

14 Clash of the old generation vs. the new generation. Emily does not acknowledge the new way of doing things nor does the new generation see her as a damsel in distress in need of assistance, but also considerate of her pride and dignity. To them, she is a hindrance to progress. When the next generation, with its more modern ideas, became mayors and aldermen, this arrangement created some little dissatisfaction. On the first of the year they mailed her a tax notice. February came, and there was no reply. They wrote her a formal letter, asking her to call at the sheriff s office at her convenience. A week later the mayor wrote her himself, offering to call or to send his car for her, and received in reply a note on paper of an archaic shape, in a thin flowing calligraphy in faded ink, to the effect that she no longer went out at all. Fading, archaic recall the idea of a monument. Again the sense of a past era. Again, why the recluse behaviour?

15 Earlier the exterior of the house was described. The interior is just as decayed. Dank = unpleasantly moist, chilly. The tax notice was also enclosed, without comment. They called a special meeting of the Board of Aldermen. A deputation waited upon her, knocked at the door through which no visitor had passed since she ceased giving china-painting lessons eight or ten years earlier. They were admitted by the old Negro into a dim hall from which a staircase mounted into still more shadow. It smelled of dust and disuse-a close dank smell. The Negro led them into the parlour. It was furnished in heavy, leather covered furniture. When the Negro opened the blinds of one window, they could see that the leather was cracked; and when they sat down, a faint dust rose sluggishly about their thighs, spinning with slow motes in the single sunray. On a tarnished gilt easel before the fireplace stood a crayon portrait of Miss Emily s father. Dull, discoloured, lost its luster. Think about Emily. She is a living relic from the past. She too has lost her luster.

16 China painting vs. crayon (wax pastel) portrait

17 They rose when she entered a small, fat woman in black, with a thin gold chain descending to her waist and vanishing into her belt, leaning on an ebony cane with a tarnished gold head. Her skeleton was small and spare; perhaps that was why what would have been merely plumpness in another was obesity in her. She looked bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water, and of that pallid hue. Her eyes, lost in the fatty ridges of her face, looked like two small pieces of coal pressed into a lump of dough as they moved from one face to another while the visitors stated their errand.

18 (Okay maybe she doesn t actually look like that )

19 The description of Emily lends to the mood of gothic horror. Although Faulkner never says it, Emily is described as a dark and decaying dead woman. It is only when we look back do we realize that the dead looking Emily has been sleeping with the actually dead Homer. (Pallid = pale, typically because of poor health) They rose when she entered a small, fat woman in black, with a thin gold chain descending to her waist and vanishing into her belt, leaning on an ebony cane with a tarnished gold head. Her skeleton was small and spare; perhaps that was why what would have been merely plumpness in another was obesity in her. She looked bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water, and of that pallid hue. Her eyes, lost in the fatty ridges of her face, looked like two small pieces of coal pressed into a lump of dough as they moved from one face to another while the visitors stated their errand. Emily s decay matches the decay of the house. (Remember dank smell of the house?) Her face is like dough, lacking in features and heavy, almost as if it ll engulf her eyes. It is as if she is rotting on the inside. This is a super cute plump squirrel! Emily is plump too, but not cute.

20 Thanks for checking out my free sample! If you like this lesson please consider exploring the other resources I have on TpT. There is an extended version of this lesson on my TpT store as well! (36 slides vs. this sample s 21.) It contains more slides and explores the rest of the story! Emily-by-William-Faulkner

21 For homework answer the following questions: 1. What is the conflict in this story? If Miss Emily is the protagonist, who is the antagonist? 2. How does the author use the topics of love, honour, and respectability as THEMES in the story? 3. What does the story say about female oppression and empowerment? Can you make any comparisons to The Painted Door?