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Rose For Emily Foreshadowing

Decent Essays

In both short stories “A Rose for Emily” and “Barn Burning” both written by William Faulkner, the point of view is one of the areas where the two stories bare a similarity. This point of view allows the reader ample time to analyze the various clues provided by the narrator, to discover the final outcome. In addition, the use of clues, or foreshadowing is another similarity found in both stories. Although, the point of view and the use of foreshadowing is similar, the delivery of these elements are not. In ‘’A Rose for Emily” the narrator uses a first-person-plural (community/group) point of view in which those telling the story have a limited perspective compared to “ Barn Burning” where a third-person individual (ten year old boy) point …show more content…

In fact, the story opens from the first-person plural “When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through 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 man-servant—a combined gardener and cook—had seen in at least ten years.” (Section 1-1) Instead of using facts through direct observation, personal relationships or hands on experience; gossip, hearsay and rumors are used to tell the story. For example, the townspeople speculate on Emily’s relationship with Homer; “At first we were glad that Miss Emily would have an interest, because the ladies all said, “Of course a Grierson would not think seriously of a Northerner, a day laborer.” (Section 3-31) Another example, is the narrator's portrayal of Homer as a homosexual or an eternal bachelor. “Then we said, "She will persuade him yet," because Homer himself had remarked – he liked men, and it was known that he drank with the younger men in the Elks' Club – that he was not a marrying man.” (Section 4-43) There’s also the matter of the poison; “So the next day we all said, “She will kill herself”; and we said it would be the best thing.” (Section 4-43) Then there’s Homer’s disappearance; “And that was the last

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