1.Why does the author choose “we” as the narrator?

The “We” are the ordinary people of the town, representing the gossip of the town. They are, most of the time, not participants but observers of the events. They are rather detached from Miss Emily and therefore different from the “ladies” or “older people” mentioned in paragraph 31 who are more socially involved with Miss Emily and thus tending to be more judgmental. The townspeople are mainly interested in keeping track of the events and sharing the information with people coming from outside the town. Yet, as people living in a small town in the South, they have their own values and attitudes. On the whole “we” should be regarded as a reliable narrator. However, “we” are unable to tell the story in a straightforward and systematic manner. As non-participants of the major events, this collective narrator does not know everything, and thus the narrative point of view is limited. For instance none of “us” have been inside Miss Emily’s house until her death. So inevitably there are gaps in the narration that are bound to cause confusion on the part of the reader or the listener of the story. That leaves a lot of room for reader participation. As readers, we have to fill in the gaps and piece the scattered bits of information together by ourselves. This is the burden the author places on us readers, and at the same time, it is part of the fun of reading such a story.

2.Why does paragraph 58 only contain one sentence?

We can imagine that after giving a detailed description of the mysterious bridal room, the story-teller makes a pause here, takes a breath and then comes to the final secret, saying, “The man himself lay in the bed.” This one-sentence paragraph is a very effective way of holding the reader in suspense for the climax of a murder story.

3.What is the story about?

The author intends to invite us readers to join him in finding the meaning of the story. Thematically, “A Rose for Emily” is a very rich and complicated text. We can see the plot of the story evolves around many conflicts—the conflict between Mr. Grierson and his daughter, the conflict between Miss Emily and Homer Barron, the conflict between Miss Emily and the community of the town, and the conflict between the past and the present. The readers’ different focus on these conflicts may lead to different conclusions about the meaning of the story. In other words, there may be different interpretations. On one level, for instance, the story may be read as a murder story in which the disappointed bride-to-be killed the bridegroom. But we know this would not be the great writer’s sole purpose of writing this story. On a symbolic level, the conflict between Emily and Homer Barron may be viewed as a clash between the South and the North, represented by Miss Emily and Homer Barron respectively. However, with such an interpretation one runs the risk of oversimplifying the thematic richness of the work. On a psychological level, the story explores the inner world of a human being, the main character’s conflict with the established codes of conduct and her conflict with her own heart. Still on another level, the story shows how the past and present clash and what a great impact the past has made on the present. It tells what it is like to live in the American South between the 1860s to the 1930s when the South had to digest the loss of the war and cope with its legacy in a changing society.

4.How do you understand the five adjectives that author uses to describe the feeling of townspeople about Miss Emily in paragraph 51?

The author uses five adjectives to describe how the townspeople felt about Miss Emily. These words are precise, but these are usual adjectives that don’t fit comfortably together. They reflect the townspeople’s ambivalent attitude toward Emily. She was dear because she represented the Southern heritage to a certain extent. She was inescapable because she was “a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town”. she was impervious and not affected by any changes taking place in the town, and her imperviousness was well reflected by her ignoring the tax notice and her refusal to pay taxes. She was tranquil. Though she was tragic, she remained calm and free from disturbance. Her tranquility as her rigidity was portrayed by her motionless silhouette in the window. She was certainly perverse, always behaving in an unreasonable way and regularly doing the opposite of what people expected her to do.

5.How to understand townspeople’s comments “Poor Emily”, not “Poor Miss Emily”?

The absence of the word “Miss” reveals the change of attitude of the townspeople toward Miss Emily after her dating Homer Barron. Instead of respect they felt pity toward her now.