A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner Feature Menu Introducing the Story Literary Focus: Setting Reading Skills: Making Inferences About Characters

A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner

A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner If one judges love according to the greatest part of the effects it produces, it would appear to resemble rather hatred than kindness. François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld Do you think there is a grain of truth in this cynical statement? What kind of “love” might lead to harmful effects?

A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner This story is set in the small town of Jefferson, Mississippi. The story begins with the funeral of Miss Emily, a woman who inspired a mixture of respect, pity, and curiosity. Proud and eccentric, Emily kept to herself—especially after the man she loved disappeared. She also, it turns out, kept a horrible secret. [End of Section]

A Rose for Emily Literary Focus: Setting The setting of a story includes the time and location in which the story takes place the customs and social conditions of that time and place

A Rose for Emily Literary Focus: Setting The setting of this story is a racially segregated town in the rural South at the beginning of the twentieth century. Some of the characters use offensive racial slurs that reflect the social conditions of the time. As you read, keep in mind that Faulkner’s aim was to portray the setting as realistically as possible. [End of Section]

A Rose for Emily Reading Skills: Making Inferences About Characters Miss Emily creates a fantasy world to escape the harsh realities of her life. As you read about Miss Emily, think about whether her bizarre behavior is merely madness or an extension of qualities admired in her community.

A Rose for Emily Reading Skills: Making Inferences About Characters As you read the story, take notes on Miss Emily’s characteristics your ideas about the motives for her strange actions Characteristics Motives emotionally fragile denied her father’s death because she’d become totally dependent on him [End of Section]

A Rose for Emily Background Faulkner knew the old American South and its powerful social traditions. It’s all here in “A Rose for Emily”: the small-town social castes the changing social values the politeness with which people go about daily life the struggles they undergo to find joy

A Rose for Emily Background Miss Emily’s story is as sensational as any headline in a supermarket tabloid. What makes this tale literature is the relationship between the plot and its setting. Faulkner reveals important truths about Miss Emily’s community—and about the Old South he knew so well. [End of Section]

Vocabulary

A Rose for Emily Vocabulary Previewing the Vocabulary remitted v.: canceled; refrained from enforcing payment. archaic adj.: old-fashioned. vindicated v. used as adj.: proved correct. pauper n.: extremely poor person. circumvent v.: avoid by cleverness or deceit. virulent adj.: full of hate; venomous.

A Rose for Emily Vocabulary Previewing the Vocabulary tranquil adj.: calm; quiet. perverse adj.: odd; contrary. acrid adj.: bitter; irritating. inextricable adj.: unable to be freed or disentangled from.

A Rose for Emily Vocabulary Vocabulary Activity Choose the Vocabulary word that describes each of the following. acrid archaic inextricable pauper tranquil __________ someone who has only rags to wear __________ the smell of a harsh chemical __________ the language of seventeenth-century poets __________ yarn knotted up in a ball __________ a lake on a sunny, windless morning pauper acrid archaic inextricable tranquil [End of Section]

Meet the Writer

A Rose for Emily Meet the Writer William Faulkner (1897–1962) didn’t try his hand at fiction until he was about twenty-seven. He completed his first novel in five months and thereafter wrote with tireless energy. Eventually, he received the Nobel Prize in literature for his powerful and unique contributions to the American novel. More About the Writer [End of Section]