hi i wrote the first essay for the book "a rose for emily"
the topic is - why does the story seem better told from his point of view than if it were told from the point of view of the main charactor?-
i got really low grade for this essay and i have to revise the essay please help me.
Different Point of View and Different Story
While people live their lives, they may read a lot of books and there are several types of point of view. According to the book Literature by X.J Kennedy, it says that there are several types of point of view. It divides by two part which is Narrator a participant and Narrator a Nonparticipant (24). Nowadays, many of authors usually choose that the main character describes the story by main character's view or the author's view. However, what types of point of view the author chooses may cause change whole story. Not only that, but also reader may feel different from different point of view. The short story "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner has unique style of point of view. It narrates from "we" which means people who live in the Emily's town. There are few reasons why the story is better told from his point of view than point of view of the main character.
First of all, telling the story by the town's people, it made me one of the town's people which means that I could keep thinking how the story will go instead of just be crammed the story. Most of books that I've read have first person or third person's view. In this case, people usually listen what the narrator says without thinking. However, the short story "A Rose for Emily" is different than most. What the narrator says arouse reader's interest. For example, when the narrator says that "The day after his death all the ladies prepared to call at the house and offer condolence and aid, as is our custom. Miss Emily met them at the door, dressed as usual and with no trace of grief on her face. She told them that her father was not dead," (31). The sentence that the Emily said that her father was not dead, if the point of view was main character or someone in the third person's view, there may have been some explanations why Emily had to act like crazy woman. However, since there was only guess that the narrator said "We believed she had to do that. We remembered all the young men her father had driven away, and we knew that with nothing left, she would have to cling to cling to that which had robbed her, as people will."(31), I became one of the town's people and sympathized Emily.
Another reason is that developing the story by the narrator could make the story more horror and reversal at the end. That is the one of the most important point of the A Rose for Emily. While the story has developed the happening with the guy Homer Barron such as meeting him, buying the poison, buying something for Homer Barron for the wedding life, the narrator, town's people, said their guesses which they thought they were getting married but they didn't. The narrator gave the reader only their guesses. However, at the end of the story "The violence of breaking down the door seemed to fill this room with pervading dust. A thin, acrid pall as of the tomb...Upon a chair hung the suit, carefully folded: beneath it the two mute shoes and the discarded socks. The man himself lay in the bed."(34). If point of view was Emily, reader could already know the man was dead by Emily. However, through the narrator unfolds the story, the author could maximize reversal.
To sum up, what type of point of view the author chooses affect directly to the reader. In the story, A Rose for Emily, Faulkner chose the story is unfolded by the narrator which is townspeople. At the beginning of the story, it was little frustrated because the book didn't tell reader why the Emily did all those suspicious acting. However, it, as a result, maximize the story more horror and reversal.
Actually, I quoted all of those steps from Ready to Write, Longman books, By Karen Blanchard and Christine Root. I only know they are good steps for writing essay.
Please my dear, could you correct my essay? I will appreciate that.!
I can't write your thesis, but I can offer suggestions
I have attached my comments; let me know what you think.
I have crossed out everything that doesn't make sense or
is unrelated to the topic. In a short paper, the key to writing
is to stay very focused--almost to the point of being narrow-
minded.
The *** areas with capital letters are places where I want you
to add something.
Questions:- What is the purpose of the short story? Major themes?
- Does the point of view tie in to any of the themes? How?
- How close do you think the townspeople were to Emily?
- Was the narrator a participant or nonparticipant as you
- put it?
