A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner

Foundations

Brock

“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner

Questions for small groups:

1. Share your timeline of Miss Emily’s life, and try to a clear chronology of the events in the story. (At what points does the chronology become uncertain? Are there gaps? How is the issue of chronology related to larger thematic designs?)

2. Where can you find examples of foreshadowing in the story?

3. Examine the physical descriptions of Miss Emily. How do they change? How do they contribute to your understanding of her character? Do these descriptions also reveal something about the narrator?

4. Why does Miss Emily kill Homer?

5. What is the “Rose” in the title?

6. How might Miss Emily seem like another person if Tobe had told the story? Why do you think he stayed all those years? Why do you think he disappeared after he let the townspeople into the house?

Questions for whole-class discussion:

1. How does the final paragraph affect you, as a reader? How does it change your attitude towards Emily and her fate?

2. In an interview, Faulkner said that "A Rose for Emily" was a kind of "ghost story." How does it compare to the other ghost stories we have read?

“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner

Questions for small groups:

1. Share your timeline of Miss Emily’s life, and try to a clear chronology of the events in the story. (At what points does the chronology become uncertain? Are there gaps? How is the issue of chronology related to larger thematic designs?)

2. Where can you find examples of foreshadowing in the story?

3. Examine the physical descriptions of Miss Emily. How do they change? How do they contribute to your understanding of her character? Do these descriptions also reveal something about the narrator?

4. Why does Miss Emily kill Homer?

5. What is the “Rose” in the title?

6. How might Miss Emily seem like another person if Tobe had told the story? Why do you think he stayed all those years? Why do you think he disappeared after he let the townspeople into the house?

Questions for whole-class discussion:

1. How does the final paragraph affect you, as a reader? How does it change your attitude towards Emily and her fate?

2. In an interview, Faulkner said that "A Rose for Emily" was a kind of "ghost story." How does it compare to the other ghost stories we have read?