Plot Structure of

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Plot Structure of A Rose for Emily

• Essential Question
• What did Faulkner accomplish by writing his story
  nonlinearly?
• (YOU WANT TO BE ABLE TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION BY
  THE END OF THESE NOTES!)

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Plot of Plot of A Rose for Emily

• By taking apart Faulkners story we are able to
  see the genius of the plot structure

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Plot of Plot of A Rose for Emily Linear
Timeline

• Section II Her father dies, and for three days
  she refuses to acknowledge his death.
• Section III Homer Barron arrives in town and
  begins to court Miss Emily.
• Section IV She buys a mans silver toilet seta
  mirror, razor, brush comband mens
  clothing.
• Section III The town relegates her to disgrace
  and sends for her cousins.
• Section IV The cousins arrive, and Homer
  leaves town.
• Section IV Three days after the cousins leave,
  Homer returns.
• Section III Miss Emily buys poison at the
  local drug store.
• Section IV Homer disappears.
• Section II A horrible stench envelops Miss
  Emilys house.
• Section II Four town aldermen secretly
  sprinkle lime on her lawn.
• ect(see you flow chart for the rest)

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Plot of Plot of A Rose for Emily

• But reconstructing the plot in a linear fashion
  renders Faulkners masterpiece an injustice
• Lets find out why

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Plot of Plot of A Rose for Emily

• Lets look at the central events chronologically
• Miss Emilys Father dies and she wants to keep
  his body
• Miss Emily buys poison
• Homer Barron disappears suddenly
• A horrible stench surrounds the house
• It is apparent why she buys the poison, and what
  causes the stenchshe killed Homer!
• There is no mystery about what happened to Homer
  and what the smell is

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Plot of A Rose for Emily

• When we continue to look chronologically at the
  remaining events after Homers death, the story
  is quite dull
• Emily isnt seen for 6 months
• Emily gives china painting lessons
• Men see her about her taxes
• She dies

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Plot of Plot of A Rose for Emily

• When we take the plot apart, the only surprise we
  are left with is at the end and the shocking
  realization that Miss Emily has slept for many
  years in the same bed with her dead lovers
  rotting corpse.
• The horror of this knowledge makes the murder of
  Homer almost insignificant when compared to the
  necrophilia.
• Necrophiliaa morbid attraction toward corpses

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Plot of Plot of A Rose for Emily

• If the story was written in a linear fashion,
  half way through the story, the reader would know
  that Emily obviously murdered Homer
• But because we only get bits of the story at
  random times, the story acts like a murder mystery

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Plot of Plot of A Rose for Emily

• At the end of the story, the reader is not only
  shocked that Emily murdered Homer, but they are
  horrified to find she was sleeping with his dead
  body as well
• The end is dual--climatic (double whammy climax)

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Plot of Plot of A Rose for Emily

• The greatness of the story lies not making the
  plot linear
• Instead it is great because Faulkner leaves us
  horrified as we discover, bit by bit, the mystery
  of Emily Griesons life
• The reader experiences an epiphany (an ah ha!
  moment of realization)

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What Does the Title Mean?Why Plot of A Rose for
Emily

• Let me hear your ideas

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• William Faulkner speaks on A Rose for Emily in
  1955
• I feel sorry for Emily's tragedy her tragedy
  was, she was an only child, an only daughter. At
  first when she could have found a husband, could
  have had a life of her own, there was probably
  some one, her father, who said, "No, you must
  stay here and take care of me." And then when she
  found a man, she had had no experience in people.
  She picked out probably a bad one, who was about
  to desert her. And when she lost him she could
  see that for her that was the end of life, there
  was nothing left, except to grow older, alone,
  solitary she had had something and she wanted to
  keep it, which is bad--to go to any length to
  keep something

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• but I pity Emily. I don't know whether I would
  have liked her or not, I might have been afraid
  of her. Not of her, but of anyone who had
  suffered, had been warped, as her life had been
  probably warped by a selfish father . . . . The
  title was an allegorical title the meaning was,
  here was a woman who had had a tragedy, an
  irrevocable 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.

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Complete you C-Notes

• 4 Level One Questions
• 3 Level Two Question
• 2 Level Three Questions
• Use the column provided
• Space your questions throughout the entire length
  of your notes
• Write a 5 sentence summary and make sure you can
  answer the essential question from the front page!