Looking Back, Emily Forward
William Faulkner beings A Rose for Emily with Emilys death and funeral as the present, where the townspeople discover Homers 40 year old corpse and an indention on a nearby pillow. Faulkner arranges his short story in chapters, each one a different flashback that influenced Emilys mentality and emotions.
The author uses the ending to imply that Emily is insane, and demonstrates other events to support it. After Emilys fathers death, she met the door with no father was not dead,, and maintained the charade for three days (Faulkner 32). Emily believed her father was alive and kept the corpse in her house for three days. The flashbacks influenced Emilys mentality, but also her emotions.
Events in Emilys past caused her to become desperate and obsessive, Emilys father felt his family lineage was far more superior than anyone in the town and None of the young men were quite good enough (Faulkner 32). Her fathers beliefs caused her to be thirty andstill single, which made her desperate for a companion after her fathers death. Emilys desperation caused her to settle for Homer and become obsessive. She bought toilet sets with his initials, mens clothing, and a night shirt. Emilys emotions were influenced and she became desperate and obsessive.
The flashbacks show how Emily became insane, desperate, and obsessive. Those events help the reader understand Emilys actions at the end of the story. This shows that all actions have consequences even if the actions arent yours. Emilys fathers actions contributed to the murder of Homer.
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