A Brief Analysis of Time In A Rose for Emily

A Rose for Emily tells a gothic story full of mystery， death and horror. The major feature lies in its time sequence. Instead of narrating the story according to its natural order， William Faulkner rearranged the sequence of plots and applied the technique of anachronies， suggesting the inconformity between story and discourse. This theory was put forward by a French critic， Gérard Genette. According to him， the narrator often doesnt narrate the story in line with the natural order that story happens. There is a discrepancy between the time of story and the discourse. The natural order of the story is fixed while the way or the order we narrate the story is various. A Rose for Emily is a remarkable story to illustrate this.

The story does not follow the chronological sequences. The story begins when people attend the funeral of Emily， who is regarded as “a tradition”， “a duty” and “a monument”， and ends when Emilys long-closed door was opened. In between， narration flashes forward or backward to present the whole life of Emily. The story takes death of Emilys father as the turning point. The narration flashes from Emilys funeral to the death of her father and then comes back to Emilys death. The fact that Colonel Sartoris gave Emily favorable policy not to pay her taxation leads us to know her father. Her father enjoyed high respect and made the Grierson well know in the town. Thats why Colonel Sartoris gave exceptional right to Emily. However， the new mayor of the town required Emily to pay the tax and paid a visit， but Emily refused to do so. The Grierson belonged to southern aristocrats so the father would not allow anyone from lower class or from north to marry Emily. And her father declined all of Emilys suitors and in consequence， Emily was not yet married in her 30s. Her father was the only male Emily knew deeply and after his death， Emily denied and refused to accept the fact.

Two years after fathers death， people complained about the smell from Emilys house and four men slipped into her house and sprinkled lime secretly. The narrator keeps the reader in suspense about the smell until the end of the story. The smell came from Homer Barrons dead body. Homer Barron was the only man Emily loved most except her father. Barron was one of the Yankees who came to the town to pave the sidewalk. Townspeople certainly couldnt accept the love affair between them and often said “Poor Emily”. Emily was crazy about Barron and ordered mans toilet set in silver， with the letters H.B on each piece and bought an outfit of mens clothing. They were preparing to get married. However， after Emilys cousins left， people in town never saw Barron again. This was because Barron refused to marry Emily. For Emilys part， she couldnt accept the fact of being abandoned by her lover so she  poisoned Barron to death with arsenic. And to everyones horror， she has slept with Barrons dead body for about forty years. Six months later when people saw Emily again， she became fat and her hair was gray. She gave lessons of china painting at about the age of 40.However she closed her door forever when no one sent their children to her. Emily died at the age of 78. After her death， people came into her house and found the dead body of Barron and their curiosities had been satisfied. By then， the story comes to an end.

On the surface， the whole story seems to be fragmented， illogical. But such arrangement makes it possible to narrate many events about Emily in such a short length.

【作者簡介】吴燕梅，贵州财经大学商务学院 。