Third Person Omniscient in a "rose for Emily" by Kate Chopin

An Expected Death

In William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”, third person omniscient is used to connect the reader to the story. Faulkner was born on September 25, 1897, in New Albany, Mississippi. His parents inherited a railroad company, which was sold prior to their move to Oxford, Mississippi. He discovered his talents in high school, where he enjoyed writing, reading, and art. Even though he did not graduate high school, he still went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature in 1949. Before his death in 1962, Faulkner was able to publish over three hundred books, including his famous short story, “A Rose for Emily” (Minter). William Faulkner uses many examples of third person omniscient in “A Rose for Emily”.

“A Rose for Emily” is about Emily Grierson, a woman who lives in a small southern town named Jefferson. She resides in a ‘tax-free’ home that her father left to her, before he passed away. Although Ms. Grierson believes she does not have to pay taxes, the townspeople think differently. At first she does not have a lover but she soon begins dating a builder, Homer Barron, from an outside town. Ms. Grierson ends up killing Homer with arsenic poison from a druggist, which was lead to believe it was going to be used for rats. By the end of the story, she dies in a downstairs room, in the same house as Homer’s dead corpse.

One benefit of Faulkner’s use of third person omniscient point of view, is that it shows us how delusional Emily Grierson is. The narrator says, “She told them that her father was not dead” (Faulkner). When Emily’s father dies, the women of the community go and pay their condolences and respects. When she answers the door, her face lacks grief, even though her father had just passed away. Usually when you lose a loved one, your emotions and body language are sad. Instead, Ms. Grierson did not show any emotions after her father’s death. At this point, it is obvious that Emily is delusional.

Another benefit of the use of third person omniscient is how we are shown a connection between Homer Barron and Emily Grierson. The narrator says, “For a long while we just stood there, looking at the profound and fleshless grin” (Faulkner). It is obvious from the moment that Homer comes to town, he is going to play an important role in Ms. Grierson’s life. Ms. Grierson has the same attachment for Homer that she has for her father. She is desperate to prevent the loss of another person in her life. She already lost her father, and will not allow for that to happen again. Ms. Grierson poisons Homer with arsenic, and leaves him dead, in a bedroom upstairs. This makes it an unusual connection between the two, but it is a connection that even death cannot break.

A final benefit of third person omniscient is that it shows us how Emily is not in touch with reality. The narrator says, “See Colonel Sartoris, (Colonel Sartoris had been dead almost ten years.) I have no taxes in Jefferson” (Faulkner). The readers know that she is distant from reality because of her response to the city’s authorities that come to collect her tax money. Her response denied having any taxes. The way this shows us she is distant, is because a person cannot pay their taxes. At the moment of her response, Ms. Grierson is labeled as a women that is not in touch with her surroundings.