Time Is Not Always Linear In William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily
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Time Is Not Always Linear When reading a story there is a clear succession of time. Whether it goes forward or backwards, time is still moving in a straight line. In the short story “A Rose for Emily,” William Faulkner takes the progression of time and skews it. Time moves from the present to the past, then back to the present. The narrator explains the life of Emily Grierson by recollecting on important life events. The way Emily’s appearance changes helps the reader understand what point in time the story is being told. When Emily is not present, her Negro manservant ages in a similar fashion. The house in which Miss Emily lives in once was this monument of Jefferson becomes old and decrypted. In the beginning of the story, everyone in town is at Miss Emily Grierson’s funeral. While at the funeral everyone begins to discuss Miss Emily’s early life. The new generation of town…show more content… Emily Grierson has a man in her life that is always present. It is her Negro servant. At Emily Grierson’s funeral, the narrator states, “no one save and old manservant-a combined gardener and cook-had seen in at least ten years” (516). Along side Emily her manservant grew old as time passed. The narrator goes back in time when explaining Emily around the time her father passed away. No one saw Emily after her father died. Many of the ladies would call Emily’s house but no one answered. It gave many people the impression that no one was alive, “the only sign of life about the place was the Negro man-a young man then-going in and out with a market basket” (517). As time moved on and Miss Emily was not seen, only her manservant left the house. The narrator it was years before Emily was seen again and as the time passed, “we watched the Negro man grow grayer and more stooped going in and out with a market basket” (521). It is after Emily passes away that the manservant is seen. The time period of the end of the story meets the