The indirect work of William Faulkner, “A Rose for Emily”

So for two class sessions, we’ve been talking about the piece called “A Rose for Emily” and how the chronology was presented in this. To me, the effect of this sequencing was quite interesting. It makes the reading a bit more difficult but the author can give more of an interesting way of learning about a specific person, group or even the whole story, like the one we read so far. The order of this piece was a confusing one but if read more thoroughly, one can understand and find that it is an attention-grabber for most of us. As for me, this definitely got a hold me and I would rather see more of this kind of non-linear narrative. Non-linear narrative, also called disrupted narrative, is where events are out of chronological order or does not show direct patterns towards the events happening. It is often used to mimic the structure and recall of human memory but has been applied for other reasons as well. Maybe some of you guys can share if you would want more of this type of narrative and try to challenge ourselves in the slightest way?

This piece was portrayed nicely with the sequence of events, Faulkner wrote “That was two years after her father’s death and a short time after her sweetheart–” which is mentioned in the second section of the second page. He comes back to this event in two parts, with the father and later on, with Homer Barron. Basically, we are going through her life and it was since it started with her already dead. I think this is one of the ways that can be a good attention-grabber for most of us, getting to know Emily but also seeing how it all down to her dead. The effectiveness of this piece wouldn’t be good but that’s if people do not prefer this type of narrative. Having it linear would’ve completely turned around the story, having her alive and just basically being said by others, in which, would be another type of narrative. Even movies can be portrayed in non-linear very nicely like “Kill Bill 1 & 2” and “Pulp fiction” and t.v series such as “Lost”. Some of you guys can share your opinions and tell me if you found this piece interesting. If so, was it the type of narrative we have here?