What do you infer to be the author’s attitude toward Emily Grierson? Isshe simply a murderous madwoman? Why do you suppose Faulkner calls his story “A Rose . . . ”?
What will be an ideal response?
- However fascinating or well-written this story may be, some readers may object: how can anyone wish to pay tribute to a decayed old poisoner who sleeps with a corpse? The narrator patiently gives us reasons for his sympathy.
As a girl, Emily was beautiful, a “slender figure in white,” fond of society. But her hopes were thwarted by her domineering father, whose horsewhip discouraged suitors from her door. The narrator notes that after her father’s death, the townspeople begin to pity her: “being left alone, and a pauper, she had become humanized” (par. 26) and “we knew that with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her, as people will” (par. 28). Her strength and pride vanquished all who would invade her house: the new Board of Aldermen who tried to collect her taxes, the Baptist minister sent to lecture her on her morals, the relatives from Atlanta who eventually departed. “It is important,” Ray B. West Jr. writes, “to realize that during the period of Emily’s courtship the town became Emily’s allies in a contest between Emily and her Grierson cousins, ‘because the two female cousins were even more Grierson than Miss Emily had ever been’” (“Atmosphere and Theme in Faulkner’s ‘A Rose for Emily,’” Perspective [Summer 1949]: 239–45).
Having satisfied their natural interest in the final horror of the story, students can be led to discuss why “A Rose for Emily” isn’t a mere thriller. Discuss the story’s title with your students: after all, no actual rose ever appears in it. Perhaps Emily herself is the white rose of Jefferson (like the heroine of The White Rose of Memphis, a novel by Faulkner’s grandfather). The usual connotations of roses will apply. A rose is a gift to a loved one, and the whole story is the narrator’s tribute to Emily.
Years ago, Joanna Stephens Mink of Illinois State University, Normal, divided her class into several groups and conducted a mock murder trial of Emily Grierson, which ended, after spirited debate, with an acquittal of Miss Emily by reason of insanity. For Professor Mink’s full account, see “We Brought Emily Grierson to Trial” in Exercise Exchange, Spring 1984: 17–19. Inspired by her example, Saul Cohen of County College of Morris in New Jersey later tried a similar experiment. In this instance, enough suspicion was raised about the actions of Miss Emily’s servant to create reasonable doubt, leading to a straight acquittal. Professor Cohen’s account appears in Exercise Exchange for October 1990.
Your students might enjoy another view of the story expressed in this limerick by the celebrated bard Anonymous:
Miss Emily, snobbish and cranky,
Used to horse around town with a Yankee.
When she’d wake up in bed,
With the dust of the dead,
She would sneeze in her delicate hanky.
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Com’è il televisore che vuole Caterina?
Ascoltate il dialogo e rispondete alle domande con una frase completa. (Answer the questions with a complete sentence.)
(1) In the United States today, an estimated 25 .9 million men and 22 .8 million women are smokers. Every day, about 3,000 people under the age of eighteen become smokers. Still, though, four out of every five smokers wish they could quit. For a number of reasons, every individual who smokes should try very hard to kick the habit
(2) One obvious reason to stop smoking is to save money—quite a lot of it, as a matter of fact. The cost of a pack of cigarettes is now about $5, so a two-packs-a-day smoker will pay $304 per month and $3,650 per year to support his or her habit. This is money that could be stashed away in a savings account and spent on a home, a car, or a dream vacation. Americans often have inadequate savings accounts, and they could improve their finances by paying saved cash rather than charging the cost of purchases on credit cards. (3) The most important reason to stop smoking, though, is to improve health. Smokers are more likely than nonsmokers to suffer from colds, headaches, and insomnia. A third of smokers complain of debilitating fatigue, chronic bronchitis, and other respiratory disorders. Worst of all, though, smoking causes a host of deadly diseases; in fact, it is a major cause of heart attack, stroke, and cancer. Every year, 400,000 people die from tobacco-related diseases. (4) Smoking causes bad breath and yellows teeth. It also leaves a foul odor in the hair, clothing, and surroundings of not only the person who smokes but also everyone in close proximity to the smoker. Smoking ages the skin, too, making smokers look older than their years. (5) Because smoking harmful in all of these respects, the best thing smokers can do for themselves and their loved ones is quit. They should try all of options available, such as nicotine patches and smoking cessation programs. Quitting is difficult thing to do, but it's worth it. Which of the sentences in paragraph 2 does not belong in that paragraph? A) The cost of a pack of cigarettes is now about $5, so a two-packs-a-day smoker will pay $304 per month and $3,650 per year to support his or her habit. B) This is money that could be stashed away in a savings account and spent on a home, a car, or a dream vacation. C) Americans often have inadequate savings accounts, and they could improve their finances by paying saved cash rather than charging the cost of purchases on credit cards.
He '(a) took' a dull, dead-end job summarizing business articles for low pay. Although he '(b) kept' that job for 19 '(c) years'. He never gave up on his literary dreams.
Select the letter of the underlined part that contains an error.
Lisez le passage suivant sur le cimetière du Père Lachaise à Paris.
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