Blog Post #2: "Rose for Emily"

2nd Blog entry--What is the significance of "time"in "Rose for Emily?" How does it fit into the theme(s)of the story? How does it work in the narration? What is your sense of time as you're reading the story?

In "Rose for Emily," time is another element that Emily Grierson wishes to control. Emily is a proud woman who is seen as an "idol," placing herself on her own pedistool, and carries her own air of importance. Emily heavily controls her own life by subjecting those around her under her will. For example, when the entire neighborhood was given individual mailboxes Emily simply refused to have one stationed in front of her house and thus she didn't receive a mailbox. Another example is when Emily buys poison and refuses to state the reason for her doing so, even though it is required by law to state your reason.
 
Emily wishes to control time just as she does with everything else in her life. Emily gets a "girly" haircut in order to project herself as a younger woman since her youth was robbed from her when she was a child living with her father. Emily even poisoned her husband in order to prolong her wedding night for eternity. Emily does achieve control over time, and this ties into the timeline of the short story.
 
"Rose for Emily" is narrated from a third person point of view and has a fragmented time sequence. Different events in different time periods are sporadically placed in the narration. This unchronological time sequence fits into Emily's character perfectly. Emily controls her own time, placing events where she wishes them to be, just as the narration is done. The irregular timeline allows readers to look further into Emily's character and enhance her personality of wanting absolute control of her life.
 
As I read "Rose for Emily" I disregarded the exact dates of events. Trying to piece together the events in a flowing timeline seemed too challenging to mentally prepare. In the end, after I read through the entire story, I created my own timeline in order to correctly list the sequences of events in the short story.
 
The narrators timeline:
CHAPTER 1
-Emily's funeral
-1894 Colonel Sartoris remitted Emily's taxes
-Colonel Sartoris dies
-A generation later, Emily is asked to pay her taxes (she refuses to pay, of course)
-Talks about China painting lessons 8 years previously
CHAPTER 2
-Explains how her house smelled 30 years previously
-2 years after her father's death people complained about her smelly house
-Went further back in time to days after her father dies
CHAPTER 3
-Emily meets Homer Barron the summer after her father's death
-Emily buys poison
CHAPTER 4
-Emily's relations in Alabama visits Emily and stays for a while then left
-Emily vanishes for years
-Emily is now seen as fat with gray hair
-Years passing, her hair is turning more grey
-Emily refuses mailbox
-Emily dies
CHAPTER 5
-Emily's funeral
-Found Homer Barron dead in bed
 
Correct timeline:
-Emily's father died
-Remitted her taxes
-Meets Homer Barron
-Relations come to visit and leave
-Emily buys poison
-Kills Homer Barron
-Stays cooped up inside
-China Painting lessons
-People come to make her pay taxes (she declines)
-Emily dies
-Emily's funeral
-Find Homer Barron dead upstairs