Title: Faulkner's Grasp
Thesis: Faulkner's diction in "A Rose for Emily" heightens the mystery surrounding Emily Grierson's life.
Topic sentences:
1. One great puzzle in "A Rose for Emily," highlighted by Faulkner's language is the exact nature of Emily's relationship with Homer Barron.
2. Although he is at times intentionally ambiguous, Faulkner can be conversely minutely precise with his diction without diminishing his secrecy.
The introduction of this paper very effectively "funnels" into the thesis, which promises to elaborate on just one of the many ways Faulkner uses language skillfully: to create a sense of mystery. The first topic sentence is about the relationship between two main characters, the second topic sentence is about Faulkner's precise use of words, and both are clearly related to the "mystery" idea in the thesis. The two supporting paragraphs provide very detailed support for their topic sentences. The author obviously assumes that the reader is familiar with "A Rose for Emily," which is appropriate because everyone in this HON 102 section had read the story; had this assumption not been appropriate, a brief summary of the story would have been needed . This paper is very narrowly focused; it goes into considerable detail on two specific points, which nicely illustrates the principle that depth and detail are preferable to broad generalities, even in short papers!
The conclusion paragraph gives (but does not provide detailed support
for) some interesting general comments on Faulkner's use of language.
What is the difference between a small child and a child that is puny? Technically, puny and small are synonyms, but the imagery that each conveys is vastly different, and therefore the meaning of each is altered. An author's choice of words can have a massive effect on the reader's interpretation. Someone who realized this and manipulated it to his full advantage was William Faulkner. One way that an author can increase a reader's enjoyment of his work is by choosing language which creates suspense and mystery. Faulkner's use of language is discussed in both Alice Hall Petry's "Faulkner's 'A Rose for Emily'" and Hal Blythe's article of the same name. Faulkner's diction in "A Rose for Emily" heightens the mystery surrounding Emily Grierson's life.
One great puzzle in "A Rose for Emily," highlighted by Faulkner's language is the exact nature of Emily's relationship with Homer Barron. That is because Homer himself remains such an enigma. With an initial reading of the story, Homer appears to be an average kind of man. Those things about him that Faulkner reveals to us, such as his being "a Northerner [and] a day laborer"(279), while highly uncomplimentary in the eyes of the people of Jefferson, warrant little attention from a modern reader. We are glad for Emily and do not begrudge her the companionship, but contrary to Hal Blythe's view of Homer in his article, he never appears to be an "aristocratic and . . . chivalric . . . courtly lover"(49). He is, in fact, a construction worker whom the little boys of Jefferson followed to hear shout at the "niggers"(Faulkner 279). Little about him is aristocratic or chivalrous, because his relationship with Emily is highly criticized. Almost as far-fetched as this interpretation of Emily's beau is the antithetical assertion consequently raised by Blythe that Homer is a homosexual. However, Faulkner's description leaves enough room for such an argument to be supported without explicitly stating it. Blythe explores in his article how his name, "Homer Barron," can connote very different images. The name Homer, which calls to mind the poet of Ancient Greece, when coupled with the character's relationship with the young men of Jefferson, puts his sexuality in question. Faulkner admits, "The little boys would follow [him] in groups"(279) and that "he liked men, and it was known that he drank with the younger men in the Elks' club"(280), but the rest is left for us to infer. We can accept him merely as a confirmed bachelor, trying to hold onto his fading youth by socializing with men you are his juniors. Or we can read more in the Greek allusion, as Blythe quotes Hans Licht as stating in Sexual Life in Ancient Greece, "the Homeric epos abounds in undoubted traces of ephbophilia [a man's love for a young man who has passed puberty]"(49). Did Faulkner call Emily's beau Homer so that we would assume him to be gay, or is it simply coincidence? Little that Faulkner did was coincidental. Blythe goes on in his argument to cite passages which attack Homer's fertility and ostensibly prove that it is Homer's sexuality which motivates Emily to murder him, so that she can save face in front of the town(50). In the end, however, it is not Homer Barron's sexual preference which is proven, but rather the depth of the mystery created by Faulkner through suggestive language and deliberate obscurity.
Although he is at times intentionally ambiguous, Faulkner can be conversely minutely precise with his diction without diminishing his secrecy. An example of this precision is the sentence from "A Rose for Emily" discussed in Alice Hall Petry's article: "Thus she passed from generation to generation - dear, inescapable, impervious, tranquil, and perverse"(280). In this sentence Faulkner summarizes Emily Grierson's character and her relationship with her community in five adjectives. While probably overlooked by the casual reader, Petry explores how closer examination reveals Faulkner's organization and manipulation of language. Placed near the end of the fourth section just before the announcement of Emily's death, the adjectives are both a chronological summation of the previous four chapters and foreshadowing of surprise uncovered in the fifth. The first adjective is double-edged and pertains to opening section of the story. Just before her death, Emily may have indeed seemed "dear" to the people of Jefferson, because she stayed quietly in her decaying piece of antebellum which thankfully no longer smelled, but in Part I of the story Emily was "dear" to the city in that she refused to pay taxes and was a costly citizen. The second adjective, "inescapable," is a reference to the situation surrounding the stench described in Part II, and it is in Part III that Emily buys the rat poison, remaining "impervious" to the law. The tranquility of Emily's in the years before her death is discussed in Part IV and summed up in the fourth adjective. Petry describes the dual interpretation of the fifth adjective in this sentence by saying, "'perverse' might be interpreted in a benign, general sense as meaning 'stubborn' or 'out of step with the community;' but . . . one should fully expect that Part V will illustrate Emily's 'perverse' nature in the most specific sense of the word - moral and\or sexual perversity . . . "(53). Emily' perversity until now has manifested itself only in minor ways, remaining unmarried, being reluctant to bury her father, refusing to pay taxes, and being reclusive, but realizing the double meaning of the word "perverse" may prepare us for the discovery of Emily's secret. Understanding Faulkner's concise and forceful language, we can anticipate to some extent the shocking ending because of the fifth adjective in this sentence. The power of Faulkner's words is only slightly undermined by his subtlety. This sentence is easily missed because it sits quietly in the paragraph with all of the other less profound sentences. That is where the mystery lies. The clues that Faulkner leaves regarding Emily's true character are well concealed and that is why we are so taken aback at the story's conclusion.
As a writer who did not confine himself to one area of creative writing, William Faulkner understood the nuances of each. Evidence of his grasp of language is apparent, regardless of the genre, and there are mysteries to uncover in all that he wrote. Deborah Clark says of his novel Light in August, "Faulkner's manipulation of sexual dynamics and gender roles . . . illustrates the full complexity of his . . . power and authority"(398). However, it is in the short story that the full force of his authority over language is felt. As Petry reveals at the conclusion of her argument, he "himself remarked in 1957, [that] the short story as a genre demands precision of language: 'In a short story that's next to a poem, almost every word has got to be almost exactly right. In the novel you can be careless but in the short story you can't'"(54). When a writer in so conscious of the power which he possesses, it should surprise us little that he is so successful in creating emotion and mystery with his pen.
Works Cited
Blythe, Hal. "Faulkner's 'A Rose for Emily.'" The Explicator 47 (1984): 49-50.
Clark, Deborah. "Gender, Face & Language in Light in August."
American Language 61
(1989): 398-413.
Faulkner, William. "A Rose for Emily." The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. Shorter 5th
ed. Ed. R.V.Cassill. New York: W.W. Norton & Comp., 1995. 275-83.
Petry, Alice Hall. "Faulkner's 'A Rose for Emily.'" The Explicator 44 (1980): 52-54.
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