A Point of View Analysis of A Rose for Emily

【Abstract】： This thesis makes a point of view analysis of William Faulkner’s short story A Rose for Emily based on “Fowler-Uspensky model”.Through discussing about the narrative mode and approaches to point of view of this fiction， the essay aims to find out the narrative features and explore the stylistic effects that they achieve.

【Key words】： point of view； Fowler-Uspensky model； stylistic effects； A Rose for Emily

1. Introduction

A Rose for Emily was written by William Faulkner in 1930， and it was one of his famous short stories. William Faulkner was one of the prominent writers in American literature， having his unique style for writing. Point of view is one of the important categories of narrative characterization. The theoretical basis Fowler-Uspensky model is a composite framework to do analysis of approaches to point of view ofA Rose for Emily in an innovative way and make the readers understand the novel from another perspective. Qualitative specific analysis is selected as the appropriate methodology to do the research.In this study， it not only concerns the narrator， reflector and the narrative mode in this novel， but also studies the approaches to point of view on the temporal plane of whole story and on the psychological plane in interpersonal function of a typical excerpt.

2. Multi-angle in A Rose for Emily

Point of view explores the relationship between mode of narration and a character’s or narrator’s angle （Simpson， 2004， 21）.The author can do the characterization， can tell the events， and express the theme by choosing point of view to narrate.Multiple-point of view is often prominent in Faulkner’s novel to make the narration with a combinative aesthetic sense of story and theme.

2.1 The Third Person Omniscient Narration

Atsome part of the story， the author used a third person omniscient point of view， which is zero focalization to narrate Miss. Emily’s funeral and some events. For Emily’s funeral， this perspective explains that Miss. Emily is strange and mysterious for the people of the town， showing the complex group life in the town and the relationship between Miss. Emily and other people in the town. Later， at paragraph four in Part one， the mayor received a paper that only the omniscient narrator can see the words init， so it is narrated by omniscient narrator.Then the author changes the angle into the deputation of the Board of Aldermen to describe the image of Emily.

Hence， at some part of the story in Part one， the narrator is the omniscient narrator who tells the story， and the reflectors change from all people in the town tothe mayor， and finally the deputation of the Board of Aldermen. From this third person omniscient narration， the story is more objective and impartial， and readers can feel the emotion of the author， like sorry and melancholy， and learn the story or background in a more comprehensive way.

2.2 The First Person Narration with We-witness

At most parts of the story， it was narrated by “we”， which is external focalization and situated in the witness of the story. “We” represent people inwhole town， who are in support of the traditional value.However， sometimes the narrator refers to part of the people， like the people who see Emily through the window when they sprinkled lime at the cellar of Emily’s house in Part two. And also the love relationship between Emily and Homer in Part three is seen or speculated by “we”， who are some of the citizens in thetown.The reflector refers to the character in which the narrator moves the consciousness， sometimes can beall people in the town， and sometimes can be some specific persons in the town. However， the author avoided making Miss. Emily as a reflector in whole story to leave the readers with suspenses and to make the story more mysterious， because we can only search the truth through the angle of witness.

Through the We-witness point of view， readers can get closer to the characters and have the feelings that each characters experience in the whole story. It also makes the story more believable and intuitive.Readers can see the protagonist more comprehensively and relatively rational， and they can alsocommunicate with the narrator’s thought directly.The speculations by the witnessalso make the story a Gothic story and strengthen the terrifying atmosphere of death.The combination of multiple-point of view makes the narrator in and outside the story， not only narrates from the perspective of witness， but also from the angle of omniscient， making the story more authentic and enriching the style of the novel.

3. Approaches to Point of View Base on Fowler-UspenskyModel

Point of view on different plane helps to sort out different components in narrative organization. Combining the idea of scholars Boris Uspensky and Roger Fowler， the composite model is proposed to analyze the approaches to point of view on four categories： the ideological plane， the temporal plane， the spatial plane， and the psychological plane. The thesis intends to choose two categories of approaches to analyze： the point of view on temporal plane of the whole story， and the point of view on psychological plane of a typical excerpt.

3.1Point of View on the Temporal Plane

The expression “temporal point of view” refers to such a dimension that readers get impressed by the narrating time， and also the time relationships that are related or occurred. It involves some stylistic techniques to explain time relationship in narrative.

3.1.1 Anachronies

Anachronieswas named by a French narratologistGenette，which means the temporal order of the narrative compares the time order of the narrative event and the time period of the occurrence order.Anachronies is typically used in A Rose for Emily.At Part one of the story， it narrates Emily’s funeral， describing what happenednow in the occurrence order without the reasons followed the result. Then the narrative time order changes into the time nearly Emily’s death， when she was collected taxes by the deputation of the Board of Aldermen. Then it dated back to the “smell” events around 30 years ago. At Part three， it told her father’s death and her love relationship with Homer about 32 years ago. At the last part of the story， the narration back to present again， and all suspenses are explained by what “we” see in Emily’s house. That’s Faulkner’s narrative techniques to make the time period of the occurrence sequence does not match with the narrative time order.

The purpose of this kind of mix temporal point of view is to strengthenthe theme and carry a foreshadowing of later parts of the novel. It attracts readers following the narrating time to find out the realoccurrence order of the event （PuZhenwei Jiang Shan， 1982， 59）.The funeral of Emily which is not only the beginning of the story but also the end of the story， forming a circle of the narrating time， makes the beginning echo with the end.

3.1.2 Analepsis （Flashback）

The narrative of A Rose for Emilybegins in the narrating present， and it relives the bulk of the story before the present also as flashback. It tells the Emily’s father’s death and the “dead smell” of Homer before the relationship between Homer and Emily. At last part of the story， the narration gets back to present， revealingthe truth that Homer’s disappearance was caused by Emily’s murder. And what shocked most was that Emily slept with the dead body for years.

The analepsis or flashback used in the book functions to leave the readers with suspenses and attract readers’interest to explore the truth of the story.According to the narrating sequence， the abnormal psychology of Emily which is revealed in the end makes readers more impressive and shocked， and causes them to think deeply about the theme.

3.1.3 Duration

Duration， as a temporal technique relates to the temporal span of a story and accounts for our impression of the way certain events may be accelerated or decelerated （2004， 21）. In Part one of the story， the first two paragraphs described the funeral of Emily when she was around 75 years old at the narrating present， then the third paragraph dated at 1894 when she was collected taxes by the new generation of the mayors and aldermen. Then in Part two， the time accelerated to 3o years ago about the “smell” event， and then accelerated to 32 years ago about her father’s death， which was a big blow for her and carried aforeshadowing of her mental breakdown.

The accelerated of time leaves the story the most important and focusing part， and encompass the structural segments to attract reader’ attention and make the readers easily to follow the narration and cause the maximum impact when the truth revealed.

3.2Point of View on the Psychological Plane

Point of view on psychological plane is marked out by the interpersonal features. The term modality always refers toattitudinalfeatures of language.Central to modal patterning on the psychological point of view is the concept of modality （Mclntyre， 2006， 29）. The modal patterning includes positive shading， negative shading， and neutral shading.

An excerpt in Part one is selected to analyze the modal patterning and its stylistic effects. It is about the image of the protagonist Emily， which is so important for readers to understand the characterization of the author and the image of the character. It is also a typical writing style of the story.

“Her skeleton was small and spare； perhaps that was why what would have been merely plumpness in another was obesity in her. She looked bloated，like a body long submerged in motionless water， and of that pallid hue. Her eyes， lost in the fatty ridges of her face， looked like two small pieces of coal pressed into a lump of dough as they moved from one face to another while the visitors stated their errand （Faulkner， 2012， 58）.”

This excerpt embodies the epistemic and perception modal systems. The modal adverb “perhaps” on the first line is used sentence-initially. The bewilderment and estrangement derive from within the narrator’s consciousness. And “would have been” also on the first line is epistemic modification or modal auxiliary following the proposition of Emily’s look. Evaluative adjectives are included in the second and third line， expressing the reflector’s perception. Expressions based on human perceptions like “lookedlike” is also included in the excerpt. Though there are some categorical assertions like the beginning part at the first sentence， the narrative is rich in “words of estrangement” and the narrator’s uncertainty about events. The epistemic modality is concerned with thespeaker’s confidence or lack of confidence in the truth of a propositionexpressed， using for signalingjudgments of belief， certainty or truth（2004， 125）. Here the epistemic modality is used to make sense of his perceptions. The epistemic modality which concerns about the narrator’s struggles to make sense of the world refers to the type of modal patterning as negative shading. Therefore， the dominant type of modal patterning is negative shading.

The impact of negative shading， which is rich in perception and speculation， shows the narrator is a person with subtle and sensitive emotions to express such events which they witness. This kind of inner world makes the narrator and the readers communicate with each other， and functions of informing， playing up senses of horror and sharing perceptions with readers. Readers can only follow the character’s consciousness， and they may perceive from the scene as the character，so they may feel bewildered as well. As for the uncertainty， it leaves the readers with suspenses and adds atmosphere of horrific. This kind of negative shading often characterizes “Gothic” style in narrative fictions.

4.Conclusion

Using multiple-point of view， Faulkner achieves his artistic quality and taste in A Rose for Emily. The narrator is “we”， who can be all people or some specific persons inJefferson Town. The reflector can also be the whole town or some specific characters. The narrative modes used in this novel contain the third person omniscient narration and the first person narration with We-witness. As for temporal point of view， stylistic techniques include anachronies， analepsis or flashback， and accelerated of duration are typical features in this book. The dominant type of modal patterning of the excerpt which is important and typical in this book is negative shading. Through these narrative traits， William Faulkner leads to different and significant stylistic effects which are respectively discussed above. And the narrative features achieve making“Gothic” style and help Faulkner makes his unique and excellent writing style.

References：

[1].Faulkner， W. （2012）. Selected Short Stories of William Faulkner. Beijing： Foreign Languages Press.

[2]. Mclntyre， D. （2006）.Point of view in Plays.Amsterdam： John Berjamins Publishing Co.

[3]. Simpson， P. （2004）. Stylistics A resource book for students. London： Taylor Francis e-Library.

[4].卜珍偉江山. （1982）. 福克納《獻給艾米麗的玫瑰》的時間關系.外國文學研究， （4）， 59-61.