Dissolution in "A Rose for Emily" Anonymous 11th Grade

Communities normally yield an exclusively physical connection that may not cause any emotional impact. American modernist William Faulkner incisively outlines this situation one of his short stories, in which the protagonist is continuously alienated by the fellow members of her town’s society. Within that story, “A Rose for Emily,” point of view and specific motifs are used to convey his meaning of distancing one individual, Miss Emily, from a well-defined group, the citizens of Jefferson.

Upon reading “A Rose for Emily,” one will take note of the fact that the point of view is in the uncommon first person plural, which Faulkner utilizes to dissociate Miss Emily from the other townspeople. After Homer Barron, the man Miss Emily is frequently seen with and that the citizens predict she will marry, moves in with her, the people of Jefferson take careful note as always. The narrator explains that “she had blood-kin under her roof again and we sat back to watch developments” (161-162). The narrator is depicted as “we” rather than the more typical “I” or simply a character’s name. The “we” can be classified as the citizens of Jefferson, where the short story is set. This categorization is used to divide and separate Emily from the...