Category Archives: Project #2

Retelling Comparison “A Rose For Emily”

The original story, A Rose for Emily” = 1st person plural, which transitioned to a 3rd person Omniscient retelling. The writings in the retold piece had very few changes in comparison to the original story. But most importantly the perception varied through intro and remains constant during high facts and important details. The retold gave Miss. Emily the honor she deserves and most of all treated her like the GODLY character she is depicted as by the other members of her town. But the retelling only focused on the first paragraph; the setting events leading to understanding Miss Emily.

The original story was written in a way in which reader must define words to get a clear understanding. From a 3rd person you can easily see the character and understand whom is talking at any given moment based on context. The original story kept Miss Emily life a secret. Miss Emily the main character played a very important role in the story. It may seem as if the story is being told by someone in her vicinity at all-time; yet, never gave any true feeling or show any affection towards Miss Emily. Miss Emily role represent a scroll, special in a way that she must be cared for and treated with sympathy. Readers can easily notice that Emily is a very hard character tot access.

Tobe, her servant created amnesty for us, the readers. I believe Tobe played importantly as a server and has the narrator of this story. The reason for this is because, fourth paragraph he had full access to the room that the Alderman met Emily in. It depicts exactly how she was position and most of all the description of the room setup, including the Alderman. This insight is from someone at the scene that knows how to describe Emily. Paragraph sixth, “they rose when she entered- a small, fat woman in black, with a thin gold chain descending to her waist and vanishing into her belt, leaning on an ebony cane with a tarnished gold head. Her skeleton was small and spare; perhaps that was why what would have been merely plumpness in another was obesity in her”. This description explains a lot about Miss Emily, it may seem as if the narrator was checking her out, when the comparison was made.

The retelling mainly focuses on changing text to acquire the point of view of the writer. The writer narrowly executed this by focusing on the understanding of 3rd person Omniscient. Emily went from being a character of interest, to understanding why she’s the character of interest. Paragraph two, “It was a big, frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies, set on what had once been the best street. But due to development of garages and cotton gins even the august names of that neighborhood have vanished; only her house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps-a degradable sight to see”. The writer found it necessary to spare is readers the details and cut straight to chase. In the retelling, the writer main focus was changing the reader perspective, and importantly giving Tobe a role as a character without any race association. With that being said, it can either create a problem later on in the story or cause confusion. As the writer I want to changed Tobe role from Negro to just servant primarily because, if Tobe was the narrator has everyone may think, would his perception changed from how Emily was described in the sixth paragraph?

The story started in both pieces the same way. As a writer changing views there was not any significance or words to emulate a similar understanding; so I utilize caution during retelling. What I’ve done was portray Emily as the person of importance with the support of Tobe, just like the original piece. Tobe in the retelling change drastically as a character, he became someone that can attain respect due to the fact that he was no longer a Negro, and he was just a servant. That detail alone creates a new story line. Tobe can now speak freely if needed to and most of all represent Miss Emily more whenever necessary. The Negro in the south does not stand a chance in society alone. So Emily servant was safe as long as Emily was alive; but the story started with Emily being buried in a cedar- bemused cemetery. Not only was the story told in flashback, but it also creates a diversion for important details and how it shall be play out.

To conclude, the first section retelling seem somewhat complex due to the fact that the reader revisit for information during the story due to the flashback effect by William Faulkner. The author brought the reader on a twist before given them a clue that other events led to all of this. But most of all my retelling gave Tobe life. He was no longer a Negro with a negative cognizant for the time period. The retelling gave Tobe a second chance cause now if we think about it, does Tobe still have to run after the burial; when the whole town was digging through the big, squarish frame house that once house the most feared lady of Jefferson or can he obtain documentation to get the house in his name and live his own life.