A Rose for Emily

            
             Throughout the story A Rose for Emily William Faulkner takes his readers on an emotional roller coaster in regards to their feelings toward the main character. He starts his readers up a track along which they build feelings of sorrow and pity for Emily Grierson, only to rip those feelings away and send the readers" views of her plummeting downward. This slow and meticulous climb is similar to the click, click, click, of those first few seconds aboard most any modern roller coaster. Each click inches the passenger one-step closer to the top, as does each new pitiful fact that is revealed about Emily's life. These facts pile upon one another and eventually leave the reader with a real feeling of sorrow for her. Once the reader has formed a heartfelt opinion of Emily as a lonely old woman with a tragic life, the freefall begins. Faulkner beautifully accomplishes this sudden drop in the readers" opinion of Emily in the closing line of the story. Within this line he reveals a whole new Emily and the reader is left to ponder her in a completely new light. The change is such a sudden and extreme one that it causes our opinion of Emily to plummet just as fast and furiously as any roller coaster.
             The growth or change that Faulkner implements upon Emily is not really a change in her character at all. By introducing us to Emily through her death we are instantly distanced from her as readers. Because she is dead we don't actually get to know Emily as we would a character that is alive and interacting within the context of the story. The only way we as readers get to know Emily is through the narrator's recital of facts about her. This method of interaction only widens the gap between her and us. This gap hinders the formation of independent thoughts and ideas of who Emily Grierson really is to us. Thus, the narration becomes our only source of information upon which to base any feelings we have.