Progression of Time
...he era of when the story takes place, is the key to what makes Miss Emily’s character credible. Although she did not have a lot of money, she was presented as a snobbish, immovable, and egocentric person. Miss Emily is a static character because her persona does not change regardless of the events that take place. The static role that Faulkner demonstrates in Miss Emily is a functional attribute to the peculiarity of her personality. Her character is fitting for the story and serves the purpose of keeping the story interesting. The arrangement of a short story traditionally has a beginning, middle, and end. This traditional structure is the plot which consists of an exposition, complication, crisis, falling action and a resolution. The story, “A Rose for Miss Emily”, does not have the traditional chronological plot but its arrangement is effective for the narrative structure of the story. Faulkner purposely shifts back and forward in time with the plot to emphasize how Miss Emily denies the progression of time. He starts the plot with Miss Emily’s funeral and he then goes back and forward in the events that took place prior to her death. The alignment of the plot and Miss Emily’s behavior to deny the passage of time is demonstrated in each section of the story. The first section Miss Emily disregards the city authorities’ request for her to pay taxes. This section shows that she refuses to accept that times have changed and the new generation has different ways of doing things. The next section explains how Miss Emily did not want to accept her father’s death. She was in denial for three days before she allowed anyone in to dispose of his body. The third section leads to the extent of how far her character will go to keep time from progressing. She meets the love of her life and when it becomes clear that he will not be with her forever, she buys poison to make sure he does. Faulkner does not clearly state she poisoned her lover but it is implied in section four because he went to her house and was never seen again. In the last section it is clear that her character refused to accept things that did not go her way. This is discovered after Miss Emily’s funeral, when they find the remains of her lover and evidence that she had recently lain next to him. The necessity to set aside the chronological order of events was essential for the plot to accentuate the defiance of the progression of time. The readers’ interpretation of a story is all in how it is presented to the reader. The method a writer uses to determine who talks to the reader can alter or change everything the reader perceives. The reader’s attention is maintained by the narrator’s point of view. Faulkner adds mystery to the story by the...