The original story, “A Rose For Emily” is told in first person plural, my retelling is told in first person singular. The retelling gives a clearer view of Miss Emily and her servant Tobe’s relationship. The retelling is in Tobe’s point of view. I felt Tobe was an important character in the original story because the town didn’t know much about him, also he was the only one around Miss Emily at all times. The retelling is told in order of the events that’s happened.
The original is told in first person plural, specifically in the town’s point of view. Since it’s first person plural, the reader only knows what the town people know. We didn’t know much about both Miss Emily and Tobe. The town even thought his voice has faded because he never spoke. “He talked to no one, probably not even to her, for his voice had grown harsh and rusty, as if from disuse.” The retelling is told in Tobe’s point of view that way the reader has an idea of what type of relationship Miss Emily and Tobe had. Also so the reader has somewhat an idea of both of they’re personalities. Miss Emily in the original story, is a difficult character because we don’t know if she’s the way she is because of everything she’s been through or it’s just the way she is. “She carried her head high enough–even when we believed that she was fallen. It was as if she demanded more than ever the recognition of her dignity as the last grierson, as if it had wanted that touch of earthiness to reaffirm her imperviousness.”
In the retelling, Miss Emily’s negro servant, Tobe, is the narrator in the story. I thought it would be great for readers to know a little a bit about both of them. Mostly Tobe because no one knew anything about him, aside from knowing that he worked for Miss Emily, and walked in and out of her house with a market basket. Tobe is a mystery to the town. Miss Emily on the other hand the whole town knows as a “Grierson”, the woman who didn’t have to pay taxes. In the original story, the reader has limited access to what Miss Emily thinks and feels because she doesn’t talk to anyone in the town. With tobe as the narrator, the retelling explores thought’s and feelings of not only Tobe and Miss Emily, but some people from the town as well. In the retelling, Tobe doesn’t talk to anyone from town, just like in the original, but we have access to conversation he overhears. In my story, Tobe and Miss Emily get along with each other. Its more than a servant, house owner relationship. Tobe has been there for Miss Emily for years, and comforted her when she needed it. The original is a bit limited so the reader doesn’t know Miss Emily and Tobe’s relationship. William Faulkner touches on alot of detail, for example, “It was a big, frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily light some style of the seventies, set on what had once been the best street.” Faulkner has alot of details in the original story when it comes to objects, and Miss Emily’s figure. But we don’t know what Tobe looks like aside from being black.
There’s not much of a difference between the original and the retelling except we see more of Tobe. Although Tobe is black and a servant, In my retelling, Miss Emily treated him as an equal. I personally didn’t like the story being told with the events all over the place. In the retelling, i told my story in the right order, not the same order as the original. I did it like that because i didn’t want to create confusion for the reader. First time i read the original piece, i was kind of confused a little because it starts off with the towns people going to Miss Emily’s funeral to show respect for her death. Would of been better to start off with the agreement Colonel Sartoris and Mr. Greirson had. One thing i did like about the original, was the detailing Faulkner described. “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.” In my retelling, i tried using a bit of detailing as well. ” I heard chatter that concerned Mr. Baron. There were two light skinned women, one was wearing a light blue dress with a matching hat, the other had a yellow dress, with matching ribbons in her hair.”
To conclude this project, my idea was to give the reader a chance to look into Tobe’s character since we don’t know much about him. I gave him a voice that only Miss Emily has heard. I gave him thoughts so that my readers can know what he’s thinking.
