Analysis of Faulkner's A Rose for Emily and Kafka`s The Metamorphosis - Essay Example

The short story by Faulkner “A Rose for Emily” is a brilliant example of structurally right text which is created accordingto all the peculiarities of a genre. Writing short stories is often difficult because it is important to keep the reader interested and concentrated until the very end. It is also necessary to portray the heroes in such a way so they would look real with the limited number of words. So every word should be chosen accurately and carefully by the author and every plot twist must go in accordance with the overall story. Faulkner is the genius of prose and his “A Rose for Emily” is very interesting and exciting. Faulkner decided to create a story in new genre for him- Southern Gothic for which mysteries, secrets, and different deviations were a common thing. This style was borrowed from Europe and then became popular among American writers. So in the story “A Rose for Emily” Faulkner describes a weird woman who refused to accept death as part of life and decided to live her life in her own terms. This is the story about death- it starts with death, it has death as a turning point in the plot and it ends with death. It was rather difficult for the author to keep suspense throughout the text but structuring it in a special way and mixing events in time he managed to keep a reader in suspense until the last passage of the story. I decided to pick the first two passages for analysis and examine how and why they were written. Introduction passage is the most important part of the text because it is here a reader must decide if he would like to continue reading or not. Faulkner starts by describing the death of the principle heroine. It looks very surprising because once having read the title of the story a reader learns that the main protagonist is out of game already. It leaves a lot of space for curiosity. What will happen next if Emily is already dead? It is noteworthy that the death of Emily is described almost unemotionally; Faulkner simply states the fact without mentioning the reason or expressing condolences. Here we learn that death is a trivial thing and not much can be said about it actually. Then the author describes the house of the main character which turns out to be a matter of great interest to women and men in the town. It is possible to say that Faulkner makes us understand that there will be no real events in the story- the main things will happen inside human souls. He also makes a reader understand that death and a house will be the principle topics of the text apart from inner life of Emily which we will be able to understand only from her relationship with people and things. So Mrs. Emily turns out to be rather eccentric woman- having been raised by a strict father who thought that no men would be good enough for his daughter – she grew up self-sufficient and weird. She was beautiful and many men wanted to marry her, she also had an influential father. When Emily`s father dies she refused to accept this fact for three days until the horrible smell started spreading around the town. Later she was very close to one of the workers of the town-Homer whom she decided to marry much to disappointment of local community. Another time when Emily was close to death was when she decided to buy poison to kill herself unable to cope with public opinion. But something stopped her. It is important that these events are told in a wrong order by the author- and this serves as a great device for the story composition. Faulkner does not try to create linear sequence of events ad that is why many traits of character, motivations, and internal intentions of the heroes remain unclear up to the very end of the story. Flashbacks help a reader to picture what is going on in a life of a main heroine- but we have a possibility to trace her life from a very young age to the age of an old woman. It is also possible to witness how the disease of Emily progresses through years- first her deviant perception of reality is revealed through her strange relationships with her father, then her relationships with community, and eventually her affection to Homer even after his death. Another thing that is told vice versa is Emily`s progressing detachment form social norms. It is very unexpected for a woman of her class and age. As we learn in the very beginning that she refuses from paying taxes as well as we learn that Emily manages to neglect social opinion throughout years. The way Faulkner tells us the story- from the death of Emily through her young years and to the death of her beloved man is brilliant. The mystery that is hidden beyond the walls of the house seems unbearable for us as we as the neighbors of Emily seem to want to come into her house and see this strange woman. The house itself is a very powerful image. It is not a surprise that the second passage of the story is dedicated to the description of the house. It symbolizes Emily`s inner personality- reclusive but very strong, and probably dead inside. It is also interesting how the author leaves many questions unanswered to a reader. It seems that it is impossible to find out why Emily was so attached to death and why she exchanged her life for slow dying. Another story for analysis that was chosen by me is “The Lottery” just because the composition of Jackson`s story seems opposite to the composition of Faulkner`s story. The title of the story suggests something positive, fortunate and very bright. Lotteries are for winners and lotteries often bring happiness and wealth. This story starts very trivially I would say. The author decides to describe the setting of the story starting just from the date. He mentions that the weather was very nice and pleasant and tunes the reader on something pleasant ahead. As people start gathering the atmosphere of the story still remains very positive and encouraging. Jackson uses linear events and it seems that everything is predictable and very logical. One by one we learn about all the dwellers of the village being given their names and learning about their families. The only thing that catches one`s attention is the stones that were prepared by the boys beforehand however when talking about boys and stones nothing seems very disturbing. Jackson uses a lot of dialogues in her short story and it helps to portray he heroes accurately: young people start progressing against the lottery and the reader just thinks that it is the opposition of new generation to anything conservative. It is very exciting how the author makes readership feel what she intends them to feel- sympathy towards a man who had ever been a winner of the lottery for 77 years, impatience and irritation towards the mother of the family who seems to be very nervous and lustful for victory. And then at once a reader learns that his feelings were manipulated because the winner of the lottery receives nothing but beating with stones. In such a nice and elaborated structure Jackson creates an example of brilliant story which keeps the reader ignorant untl the end. Kafka`s story “The Metamorphosis” is another good example how the structure of the text and formalization can influence its perception by a reader. Kafka was a genius of structure, he created the texts that composed out of many different parts which were like little jigsaw puzzles falling into place one by one eventually in the end. The complexity that Kafka often was nevertheless simple and understandable. In “The Metamorphosis” I have decided to choose the first passage because it is the most shocking and still looks the most trivial in the story. In the very first sentence Kafka informs the reader that Gregor Samsa has turned into a bug. In the same introductory passage Kafka describes this creature without emotions as if he is a zoologist who has found an interesting representative of species. This introduction is provocative and absolutely weird but creating it Kafka makes the reader attached to the story till the very end. Moreover, he makes a reader associate himself with Gregor and a bug because later he describes Gregor`s struggles, fears and efforts from within. Everything a reader sees and hears belongs to Gregor. They say, that a good introduction is the best hook for a reader, but I would not say that Kafka concentrates only on the introduction. He shocks but then he makes this initial shop deeper and deeper telling about the hardships of the hero. So all three writers use text structure in different ways. Kafka and Faulkner prefer to surprise the reader and then play with his initial shock. While Jackson raises the pressure in the story until the last passage. Read More