Periods 4 and 6/7: American Literature

Answer the following questions; due Thursday.
You can read the story HERE.

A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner
Part 1
1. Why is Miss Emily Grierson described as “a fallen monument”?
2. What could Miss Emily’s house represent? Comment on the narrator’s description of the house in the first and the fifth paragraphs.
3. What may the father’s portrait, as mentioned in the fifth paragraph, represent? Does the narrator mention about the portrait anywhere else in the story? If yes, in what ways could this be significant?
4. What could Miss Emily’s ticking watch symbolize? What does it tell us about Miss Emily? How does the watch contribute to our understanding of the themes of the story?
Part 2
5. Find the paragraphs in which the narrator mainly mentions about Miss Emily’s father and Miss Emily’s reaction towards her father’s death. Then examine the relationship between the daughter and the father.

Part 3
6. Part 3 opens with the following paragraph: “She was sick for a long time. When we saw her again, her hair was cut short, making her look like a girl, with a vague resemblance to those angels in colored church windows–sort of tragic and serene.” What might be the reason for the narrator’s emphasis on her looking like a girl?

7. What do we learn about the attitude of the community towards the relationship between Homer Barron and Miss Emily in Part 3?

Part 4

8. “When the town got free postal delivery, Miss Emily alone refused to let them fasten the metal numbers above her door and attach a mailbox to it. She would not listen to them.” Why not?

Part 5

9. In what way(s) could the crayon face of Miss Emily’s father be significant? Can you find a similar reference to her father in earlier sections of the story?

10. After Miss Emily’s death, what do we discover in the room “which no one had seen in forty years”? Why is the second pillow on the bed important? What does it show to us? Discuss Miss Emily’s motive for her action.