When talking about, “A Rose for Emily,” by William Faulkner, it is easy to see that the stories point of view is of extraordinary importance. If we consider what the story would be like if written from the views of either Tobe (Emily's servant) or Homer (Emily's sweetheart) then we would undoubtedly get two very different story.
If the story were told from Tobe's perspective then, rather than being held in dark for the majority of the story, we would have an insiders view of what happens in the house. As well as not knowing anything about Emily's distant past (As the narrative would likely begin at the commencement of his service to Emily), we would know immediately that she killed Homer. This seems to rather defeat the purpose of the story, or, at the very least take a lot away from its meaning as the main revelation that ties everything together comes from when we finally learn of Homer's murder.
Likewise, there probably wouldn't be much of a story anyway if it were told form Homer's point of view. Aside from also not learning about Emily's past, or future for that matter, the story would abruptly end when Emily kills him. We wouldn't even be able to speculate as to why she does this if all we has is Homer's view. I mean, if he knew she was going to kill him, he probably wouldn't have come to her house. The only thing we could possibly gain from Homer's point of view is the intimate details of his and Emily's relationship.
Ultimately, if told from either point of view, the meaning of the story would most definitely change. From Tobe's point of view, we wouldn't know why Emily did what she did, only that she killed Homer and, at most, how it effected Tobe. And from Homer's point of view, we would probably be as puzzled as he was when he finally died of arsenic poisoning, leaving us with no meaning besides, maybe, that you shouldn't trust reclusive southern women.
No comments:
Post a Comment