1. “A Rose For Emily” What is the lesson the story is trying to teach us?
List 5 “oddities” in the story
Describe the narrator

2. Plot
Analyzing Literature

3. Analysis
How do we analyze a story?

4. What’s Normal?
In order to identify “oddities” in the text, we first must be aware of what is “normal.”
That is why we study as many aspects of literature as possible: that way, we enter into the academic conversation about what is “normal” in literature and what is not.

5. Plot
If all writers wrote their stories in chronological order, “plot” would be defined as:
plot = the sequence of events in a story.
The problem is, not all writers write chronologically.

6. For example, Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” is not written in chronological order.
Try putting the following events of the story into chronological order:

7. The town goes to Emily’s funeral
Homer says he “likes men”; is seen drinking with younger men at the Elks club
Colonel Sartoris remits or stops collecting Emily’s taxes
The town calls Emily “Poor Emily.”
The new mayor sends Emily a tax bill
Emily buys a set of men’s clothes
The deputation (acting deputy) visits Emily’s house
Homer Baron disappears
Emily’s father dies
Emily is forty years old.
“the smell”
Emily gives lessons in china-painting
four men sneak into Emily’s house and spread lime in the cellar.
Emily dies
Tobe lets the townspeople into Emily’s house after Emily’s death
Emily tells the town her father is not dead at all.
Tobe walks out the back and disappears
Emily lets them bury her father
Emily meets Homer Baron
Emily’s funeral
Emily is thirty years old
They find a man’s desiccated body on a bed in the house
The town believes Emily to be a “fallen” woman
Emily buys arsenic

8. Emily’s father dies
The town calls Emily “Poor Emily.”
Colonel Sartoris remits or stops collecting Emily’s taxes
Emily buys a set of men’s clothes
Homer Baron disappears
The new mayor sends Emily a tax bill
Emily is forty years old.
The deputation (acting deputy) visits Emily’s house
Emily gives lessons in china-painting
Emily dies
“the smell”
Tobe lets the townspeople into Emily’s house after Emily’s death
four men sneak into Emily’s house and spread lime in the cellar.
Tobe walks out the back and disappears
Emily tells the town her father is not dead at all.
Emily’s funeral/The town goes to Emily’s funeral
Emily lets them bury her father
Emily meets Homer Baron
Emily is thirty years old
They find a man’s desiccated body on a bed in the house
The town believes Emily to be a “fallen” woman
Emily buys arsenic
Homer says he “likes men”; is seen drinking with younger men at the Elks club

9. Plot Therefore, it might be more accurate to define plot as:
plot= the organization of the sequence of
events in a story
However, that organization is often arranged according to what is happening in the story (although not always, as in Faulkner).

10. So, it might be most accurate to say:
plot = the organization in a story of
events into a sequence based on
cause and effect

11. And generally, a plot contains these elements:
1. Exposition
Introduces characters
Introduces background information important to the story
Conflict or complication
Can be within a character
Between a character and society
Between two characters
Crisis
Conflict intensifies and forces the characters into a choice
Climax
The moment of greatest tension in the story
Characters make a choice and deal with the consequences
5. Denouement (dan-noo-mahn)
Resolution or non-resolution to the conflict

12. In order to figure out what the conflict is, you must be able to identify a story’s protagonist and antagonist.
Protagonist= who the audience is rooting for, sometimes heroic, sometimes not so heroic.
Antagonist = the character or force working against the protagonist.

13. For example, what is the central conflict in a “Rose for Emily”?
Who is the protagonist?
Who is the antagonist?

14. Why does Faulkner order the story the way he does
Why does Faulkner order the story the way he does? How does that order help communicate the story’s overall meaning?