1. This story is told by "we": who do you imagine this narrator (or narrators) to be? Young or
old? Male or female? Both? What is their attitude toward Emily? How is this represented
by their calling her "Miss Emily"? What do they remember about her? How does this
shape your attitude toward her? Do you find yourself sympathizing with her situation as
the center of the town's attention (and gossip)?
2. How crazy was she? Think of that ending...
1) I believe that "we" narrating the story, includes some of the townspeople of Jefferson. They are sort of respect Emily, but on the other hand they also see her as very unpredictable and often gossip about her. They remember her as being rather crazy, possibly suicidal, very bold, and reclusive. I agree with this, and I also view her as also very obsessive over the ones she loves, like how she was in such denial for three days over her father's death. I don't really sympathize with her that much, but I do understand how and why the town sees her as just a "crazy, old bat." If someone in your neighborhood was as different and suspicious as Miss Emily, I'm sure you'd gossip about them too.
ReplyDelete2) I think she was just very obsessive, holding on to her lover's body long after death and sleeping with it as well. It's pretty creepy and scary. #necrophilia?
1. The "We" that is narrating the short story are people who knew Emily and attend her funeral. (People of Jefferson) I think the narrator is old and a male also, he speaks for the town. The Townsfolk talk behind her back and find Miss Emily a bit too private and non-social. The townspeople respect Miss Emily because of her father and his contributions. They remember that she wasn't very social and as she grew older, she didn't leave the house and had her African American servant ran errands for her. Also, the townsfolk speak about her appearance like her hair color and weight. This just makes me feel like she is creepy, shallow, frightening, probably ugly too. like mad ugly. I don't sympathize with her situation because the townsfolk can say anything they want about her. But I guess it would be better if they said these things to her face instead of behind her back. 2. To tell you the truth in modern terms she would be called "bat shit insane" which means she is extremely crazy like an abnormal type of crazy. Why did she sleep with that dead body? That NAAAASSSSTTTTYYYY! And mad creepy. Even if she loved that person. -_-
ReplyDelete1. The narrator is representative of the town. While I don't have a guess if the narrator is male or female, they must be old because it seems they speak for more than one generation. Although they pity Emily (I think?) always saying "poor Emily", she's kind of an unwanted obligation they must respect because of what her father did for the town years before. "Miss Emily" is used out of respect. The narrator remembers the death of her father and how she didn't want to get rid of his body, her purchasing of poison, how she secluded herself from the town and her relationship with Haron. What the narrator remembers of her makes me think she's definitely crazy. I also don't pity her at all. Her own weird actions are the reason the town gossips about her.
ReplyDelete2. She's obviously really crazy. Who keeps dead bodies and sleeps next to them....?!?!
The 'we' appears to be some of the town members, old enough to compare generations. I think that there were many people that made up the 'we' so both male and females were narrating. I think that they respected her to some degree- they called her Miss Emily- but were also a little wary of her because of her strangeness and haughtiness. The narrator opens the story with the conflict of Miss. Emily and her taxes. This establishes the generation gap and also the creepiness of Miss. Emily. The story continues by giving a background of when her father was alive and of his death. Then ominously describes Miss.Emily's visit to the drugstore to buy poison for undisclosed reasons. (which we can later assume she used on Haron) As the narrator tells the story and inserts all the speculation and gossip being done and of how the town was initially jealous of Miss. Emily and happy when unfortunate things befell her, made me sympathize with the woman. Living in the center of the spotlight could not have been easy, especially when all her personal issues were discussed by everyone she knew. Miss Emily comes off as creepy as a result of the narrators tone and diction. And the end of the story highlights how strange,unusual and sick Miss. Emily was.
ReplyDelete1) I think the narrator is some of the townspeople. They are a mixture of both male and female and they have to be old to know what Emily was like throughout the years. I think they feel pity for Emily but also respect. The narrator calls Miss Emily that to show some respect for her but they also say "poor Emily" showing pity for her. They remember the losses of her father, her love, how she never left her house and how she was the gossip of the town. I do sympathize with Miss Emily. She went though many losses in her life and never had any privacy. 2) She is pretty crazy though. The ending was super weird. Who sleeps with a dead person? The smell must have been horrid...gross
ReplyDeleteThe narrator uses "we" to represent the people of the town who lived in Jefferson while Emily was alive. Considering this, I think that the narrator is old and speaks on behalf of both male and female citizens. While they seem to respect Emily, saying how she "had been a tradition, a duty, and a care," they also sympathize with her, repeatedly saying "Poor Emily." This respect is shown through their calling her "Miss Emily," for she had been a respected talk of the town. The narrator remembers key events of Emily's life, including the death of her father, the smell from her house, her relations with Baron Homer, her buying poison, the Negro man from her house, her seclusion inside her home, and her death. They also remember her after her death, recalling her funeral and the opening of her home and the creepy room. While I sympathize with Emily for being the center of the town's gossip, I believe that she brought it upon herself because of her actions. I mean, who buys poison and then doesn't tell anyone what it would be used for? That is an easy target for town gossip.
ReplyDeleteEmily is pretty crazy, I'd say. Sleeping with a dead body that she maybe poisoned (not sure if she poisoned him or not) is really messed up. This fact and the fact that she denied her father's death just shows her struggle with accepting death and change, I guess. But it is still disgusting and creepy, haha
1. The narrators for this story seem to actually be the people that live in Jefferson. I see them as actually old men and women because of the fact that they are able to talk all about the many family members of the Grierson family. What is interesting about these narrators are that they have a sense of pity and sorrow for Emily (hence they call her Miss Emily) for she continues to suffer in numerous ways throughout the story. There are multiple moments where they do express a feeling of sorrow and pity for Emily, but these narrators are also quite cruel to Emily too. They seem to be the ones who tell all the gossip around the town. Anything that happens to Emily, whether it's Emily buying poison or Homer disappearing for a bit, seems to spark a rumor in the town about Emily. It’s a shame too because these rumors are the things that the narrators actually care about and remember about Emily. I find myself sympathizing with Emily a bit for she does go through a lot of unfortunate events in the story (especially with town gossip). But with the narrators’ method of presenting the story, I find myself more and more freaked out and disturbed by her actions and presentation. Emily seems to be almost like a monster that is locked in her prison (home) all the time and overall I just don’t like her that much because of it.
ReplyDelete2. Let's be completely honest, Miss Emily is ridiculously crazy. Sleeping with a dead man is just plain weird and disgusting no matter what. I get the fact that she is having trouble accepting the truth and all that, but it’s just kind of uncalled for.
The narrators are seem to be older men and women who lived in the same town and personally knew Emily. The people seem to respect her, calling her Miss Emily but they also pity her, always saying Poor Emily. The way the narrator describes Emily, she seems to be an ugly, fat, old lady. I sympathize with Emily because of all the unfortunate events that she has to go through, but my sympathy ends when she sleeps with a dead body that she most likely poisoned. Emily is extremely crazy and if she was alive today she should check into the 5th floor (psych ward).
ReplyDelete1). The "we" seems to be a person who is maybe a generation younger than Miss Emily. The narrator outlived Emily and also seemed to have gained knowledge about her past from secondary source as a posed to having been there. Also the fact that the narrator referrs to Emily as "Miss Emily" hints towards the fact that the narrator is younger. I imagine the narrator being a girl. She definitely feels compassion towards Emily as the narrator frequently points out the reasons for Emily's state without judgement, this allows the reader to sympathize with Miss Emily
ReplyDelete2). Miss Emily definitely has some issues, sane people do not keep dead bodies in their house. She has possibly been traumatized by her fathers death as she wanted to keep his dead body as well .
I believe that the narrators are the town people, but more specifically the elders of the town since they know so much about her past. I also think that they are majority women becauee of all the gossipig and rumors that seem to spread around. It seems to me that the only reason that thy call her Miss Emily is because they feel bad for her, after all the things she keeps going through. Reading all the thigs that she goes through in the story I do sympathize with her because it seems that she never gets a break, its just one bad thing after alother, plus bein the center of attention must not have made all the suffering Miss Emily had to go through any easier.
ReplyDeleteI would say that Miss Emily has lost her mind, there are just certain things you just dont do, and she did them. I do feel sorry for her even though shes cray
1.) "We" is probably a collection of the townspeople of Jefferson who know pieces of Miss Emily's story, who bring their collective memories together to put together what each person remembers. The collective identity of the town remembers Emily's eccentricities and unusual or interesting moments. The narrator(s) seem to be older and younger men and women, as the story is told from multiple perspectives and time periods in Emily's life. Since they refer to her as "Miss Emily" and "Poor Emily," it is clear that the town simultaneously pities and respects Emily. This, of course, makes the reader feel sympathy towards her, especially since she is the center of the town's gossip.
ReplyDelete2.) Emily is, for lack of a better word, just flat out crazy. I don't even want to know the name of the mental illness that makes one feel ok with sleeping in a bed with a dead body. The worst part is that she probably killed him, so the fact that she feels absolutely no remorse makes her seem even more insane than before.
I found that, when reading, the story was almost being told to me or like I was reading a journal that someone wrote with these "Memories" that you talk about. I feel that the idea of Miss Emily's situation is entertainment for the town and excitement for the town of Jefferson.
Deletethe "we" is probably someone speaking on behalf of the town's people. this person is most likely old and male because there's really no emotion put into it and mostly just the talk of the town and facts. it seems like the people don't really know a lot about her it seems to just be rumors and like no facts. I don't really sympathize with her being the talk of the town because she seems like a sketch ball. the people seem fascinated by her because they don't know her and she's illusive. the fact that they call her Miss Emily to me seems like a formal thing because no on is familiar with her.
ReplyDeleteMiss Emily is definitely crazy, death doesn't make a person go that crazy to kill a person ans then keep their body she obviously has issues.
1.) The narrators, I believe, are the people of the town. I think they are a group of younger people who respect and pity her. These younger people make assumptions about what will happen with the people in her life, or how she will cope with a certain situation. They must have connections with the city because they know many details about Emily's life and even how she dies. I find myself sympathizing for Emily because she seemed to be very sad and lost without her Father. When she fell in love with Homer, I was happy for her and hoped she would finally stay with him for life. However....
ReplyDelete2.) I think that ending was twisted. I think though, that when Homer died, Emily acted the same way as when her father died. She stayed in her house for weeks or months, refusing to talk to anyone. When finally, she died and they found the dead, decomposed body on her bed. Why? Why Emily, why? If she loved him so much she would have given him a proper burial in the ground! Maybe she thought the world was cruel and only wanted to keep him for herself instead of letting others touch him. I really cannot tell what she was thinking when he died. She was obviously Crazy Possessive.
The narrator is some of the townspeople. At least some of them must be older, as they have knowledge of Emily spanning decades. I have no hypothesis regarding the gender(s) of the narrator. The narrator seems to hold Emily in a position of respect, as they refer to her as "Miss Emily," while viewing her as a burden, a "hereditary obligation upon the town." Additionally, the narrator sympathizes with her through the repeated use of "poor Emily." The narrator recalls her bizarre behavior and the horrific smells that rose from her property. The events recalled by the narrator lead me to believe she is nutty and eccentric. I do not sympathize with her at all, as I have no attachment to the story and its characters beyond that mandated by the teacher. It would suck to stay in a house all the time and have people talk about you behind your back solely because of your different lifestyle though.
ReplyDeleteShe's pretty crazy. She denies her father's death for days and she lies next to dear, dead Homer, who may have arsenic poisoning...
Well just like everyone else, I believe the narrator is the townspeople. I'm assuming both genders? Considering they know a lot about Miss. Emily I'm assuming they're adults... "Poor Emily" was repeated many times on page 6, though they began to gossip about her, It's assumed they felt sympathy although, the narrators didn't seem to have pity for her considering; "we all said, ''She will kill herself"; and we said it would be the best thing". I mean since she met Homer I kinda expected she would be happier, but at the end "...second indentation of a head...we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair,..." I'm sorry... What? Wait, no seriously, what? Did she... just. STOP. I'm not going to say anything cause we obviously know what happened, crazy? Check! I'm just sayin' it's not okay to be doing that with a dead body... Before I go any further; did she like... you know it with the body? I mean it describes in the paragraph before that how the clothing were dispersed and neatly placed... Sure; "what was left of the nightshirt..." but you know, can't leave any ideas out right? HAHAHA, this is getting weird... (;;/ ' w ')/
ReplyDeleteThe narrator seems to be the a person in the town and possibly a variety of different people in the town including old people, men , or women. I get the sense that the narrators of each part are trying to tell an outside person something about "Miss Emily" because that outside person if seeking for that information. For instance, maybe it's a young girl or boy who heard of "Miss Emily" and her mysterious ways and would like to research her more in depth. Thus, that researcher would look for details that the towns people would know such as people of her town or heard stories as well. I feel that the narrator(s) admire her mysterious ways and unique situation that they have some weird obsession with the context of her story. Furthermore, this attitude demonstrates a curiosity or a suspicion, rather, that "Miss Emily" is not the person she really is. I feel that the way the narrator(s) perceives her is suppose to take away what is bound to found out in the end. She seems like an nice, respectable person but, contrarily, she is in a state of mental instability and is inevitably crazy. The ending proves that she is a crazy women and is a freak of nature. First, she tries to "postpone" her fathers death and keeps a creepy, dead person around. Then, she has arsenic poison delivered to her house and the town assumes she is going to kill herself, then when Homer disappears it is very suspicious. Then in the end, when the town finds Homer decaying body on a bed where "Miss Emily" seemed to lay by, creating a spooky, eerie feeling that this person had massive amounts of problems.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to go out on a huge limb here and say that these blog posts might suspect that Miss Emily was crazy. I think that the story is told by an observant in the town, old enough to know about most of "Miss Emily's" life most likely, and it might be a group of people also from the constant 'we' mentioned. They seem to sympathize towards Emily because of the solitude she experiences throughout her whole life. All they seem to remember and mention are her father's death and sorrow moments of her life, which probably means that they only view her in pity. This could be why they never really got around to her with the tax issue because the town just thought it would be best to leave it alone. I sympathize with her to an extent because her situation does provide for a lonely lifestyle and it's even harder when the entire town speculates your every movement. The dead people brings up a whole different argument, however.
ReplyDeleteWhile she is obviously not right in the head and 'crazy' would only scratch the surface in describing Emily, even crazy people have motives. I think that due to the solitude (I think it was solitude at least...) that her father forced on her earlier in her life made sure that she would always be lonely, and going to the extremes of 'preserving' Homer and the wedding (not sure if that's what it was) might say how much she wanted to keep that moment alive, not just in her head, but in actual reality for the rest of her life, which could have been done in so many other non-illegal, creepy ways, but what's done is done.
1. I believe it's possible that maybe the town's officials (30-50 year old men) are narrating the story. It would explain how they know so much of Miss Emily's past as they also grew up with her. They try and show respect for her, yet don't necessarily want her in the community as she won't pay her taxes and because of her pride. So they're kind to her face, acting as cordial as possible yet thinking differently when not with her. They focus on bad aspects of her past rather than the good, stating how reserved she is and how weird she is as well. This doesn't exactly make the reader like Miss Emily, but it doesn't make the reader hate her either. She just seems as someone who'd rather be alone. However, I don't sympathize with her because she is extremely prideful and enjoys being alone. She has the opportunity to socialize and yet refuses to do so, subjecting herself to the gossip as well.
ReplyDelete2. I don't even want to think of it honestly. She definitely has some problems with being alone and needing the love of a man. When she loses her dad, she searches for another source of affection to fill the void. Because her dad also refused all potential husbands, Miss Emily sees her only option as doing what she did... She definitely didn't have to go to these lengths, yet I believe she thought she had to because she thought she'd always be alone. Her actions and thought process definitely qualify her as crazy and her actions would definitely have landed her in an asylum if it had been found out earlier.
1. i dont think the "we" are specific people, i feel like they're just the town in general. The attitude they have towards Emily is extremely judgmental; they watched her every move for forty years or whatever trying to predict what she's going to do. They call her Miss Emily because she has a high status, and to be polite and respectful they refer to her properly. I also kinda feel that they could be calling her "Miss" in a sarcastic way, like she thinks she's better than everyone so they call her "Miss" to outcast her. They remember mostly everything about her, but choose to focus on the bad things, like crazy running in her family. I feel like this would be a terrible town to live in because everybody is too nosy; who cares if she likes to be secluded from the town. I dont blame her because this town seems like its full of nasty people, who magically become your best friend once you're dead. I do sympathize with her because she obviously only had her family, and once she lost them, even if she tried to fit in with the townspeople all they would have done was constantly judge her no matter what she did.
ReplyDelete2.Yes, shes a little loopy. But maybe if the people weren't judgmental jerks she could have dealt with her grief another way, but no everybody had to be in her business
The narration was probably done by the one of the townspeople of Jefferson. As to what gender he was, i'd assume a old male, as he/she was old enough to accurately recount that of Emily's history, and speaks as though he's trying to be as objective as possible, a trait more commonly found in men than in women. Their attitude towards Emily is that of pity. Throughout the entirety of her life, she's been wronged, such as when her father turned away any possible suitors, or when he himself died, or even when homer turned her down as a causality of his homosexuality (big mistake buddy). They believe her life story is a tragedy, and sympathize with her because of it. The townspeople recollect several of the big, life-changing events that occurred within Emily's life, and the aftereffects that followed. I don't blame Emily for who she became, and what she'd done, as the shaping of herself throughout her life had, at every point in time, taken a turn for the worse; Homer's rejecting her being the finale. 2. No, not at all. I might have if she hadn't murdered Homer for rejecting her confession, as everyone's entitled to their opinion.
ReplyDelete1. While I was reading I imagined the narrator to be a single person, speaking on behalf of the townspeople, which is why they used the word "we". I am not sure if the narrator is male or female, however I think that they're older because they seem to have a lot of knowledge about the things that happened in the town years before. The narrator's attitude toward Miss Emily is one of respect, which is why they refer to her as "Miss Emily". Although the town views Miss Emily as strange I also believe she commands respect and is given it by the townspeople. When her cousins visit the narrator even says that they "had her back" more or less against her cousins, showing that they accept her as a part of their town despite her oddities. This led me to sympathize with Miss Emily. She is clearly lonely and probably insane, and the town is obsessed with her life. 2. However, I do feel that she is extremely crazy. I mean she murdered her lover with arsenic and kept his dead body in a bed in her house so...
ReplyDeleteBy saying "we" the narrator must be the townspeople themselves. Its probably both male and female, but they all have the same sort of opinion towards her. When they call her "Miss Emily" it shows that they have some respect for her although they judge her constantly. Although they feel bad for Miss Emily because of the rough experiences she endures, they only seem to focus on the negatives which leads the reader to believe that that is all Miss Emily is about. 2. I think that she isn't crazy. I feel like she's traumatized from her fathers death which led her to act like this. Especially being lonely all the time must bother her too.
ReplyDeleteBy calling themselves "we", I believe that there were townspeople who were narrating Miss Emily's life, probably both male and female. The townspeople show respect towards "Miss Emily" by the way they call her, but I also believe there was some speculation as to her life and how she acted as her years grew. I did feel sorry for Miss Emily while reading this. All her life, her father had taken things away from her. He had sent away suitable men and so she tried to keep his body with her after he had passed on. When Miss Emily went to the druggist for rat poisoning, I believe that she ended up using it on Homer Barron, though regretted is afterwards. As he people entered the room in her house and found him, rotting away on the bed, there was wedding stuff everywhere. I believe that Homer had called off the wedding realizing that since he liked men, he could not be true to Miss Emily, and she had one of those "You can't leave me like everyone else. If I can't have you, no one can" moments. After he had died in his sleep, she had laid with him, knowing that he was hers for the rest of her life. No one knew what had become of him so she could keep him there with no one suspecting a thing. I don't think Miss Emily was crazy, in fact I think she was as sane as anyone. I believe that she really loved Homer Barron and just wanted to be with him. I feel like she's been surrounded with death and people leaving her for all her life. She's always been alone. Her father pushed the men away from her, her family was split and she barely every got to see them. No one even came to her father's funeral, and now the man she loved was trying to leave her. I think she did what any sane woman in love would do; anything to keep her love beside her. Being alone wasn't an option for her anymore. The single iron-gray hair left on the pillow was a symbol that she slept with him all night, being together with her love. Then, I believe she knew her time was coming, so she left his side to die alone. What woman want's to die right next to the man she loves. She did not want him to see her weakened. Miss Emily was not crazy, she was tired of being alone and abandonded.
ReplyDeleteThe narrator is "we" because it's the perspective from several people. I think that it is the towns people. I think that they must be younger than her. I think this because of how they refer to her as "Miss Emily." Throughout the story I pity her, shes obviously lonely. I feel bad that she is so alone. I also get annoyed that everyone is up her a**, like go away and live your own lives. I do think that she is crazy,however i don't think she's just crazy for no reason. She was driven to be that way because she had no one and she finally found someone she was in love with and he didn't love her back. The loneliness drove her crazy. I was very disturbed by the ending, but i felt bad for her, that she was so lonely and desperately in love that she had to go to that extent just to fill that void.
ReplyDelete1. There is no one single narrator or one single group of people who describe the story. The narrator is the town. It's a variety of people young and old. Emily is a suburban legend. She is known by the older generation who actually came in contact with her, but she is also known by the younger generations, the ones who have only heard about her through gossip and through the passed down words. They do not have their own opinion of her, but they carry the group opinion overall. Emily is regarded as different things to different people. Some parts in the story detail happier and normal points in her life, others focus on parts where she seems strange and distant. Different narrators have different opinions and, thus, share different memories of her. The woman was made to be an archetype, it is overlooked that she is, in actuality, human. She made mistakes and did some things that were out of the normal, but she does not deserve to become an infamous legend. Therefore, I sympathize with Emily.
ReplyDelete2. There's no doubt about it, Emily was crazy. But her insanity was driven by her emotions. She was so lonely that she couldn't think rationally about what she was doing. She was in such denial that she could not let go of anyone that she loved.
1) It is highly possible that the narrator is a group of people of Jefferson, maybe at her funeral (?), discussing about her, or just the town in general, sharing their opinions about her. I honestly can't tell if the narrator is a male or a female, considering it is a group of people, it's possible that it can be both. The town calls her "Miss Emily" to sugar coat the fact that they're trash talking her; they're "showing respect" by adding "Miss" to her name. The majority of Jefferson perceived Emily as an outcast, therefore making the readers feel somewhat sympathetic of her and her life.
ReplyDelete2) If I were to describe the ending in one word it would be "no".
1) I believe that the narrator is just a collection of the group of people at the town, sort of like they all got together and agreed on one story. The gender of the narrator is generally unimportant in this situation, however, it is important to note an apparent bias the narrator has towards what Miss Emily has done. By calling her Miss Emily it seems sarcastic, because they don't respect her enough to consider her "Miss." The townspeople only really remember the bad, and all the grotesque details, and this helps bias the reader to make them much less inclined to be sympathetic towards Miss Emily.
ReplyDelete2) although what Miss Emily did is horrible, I obviously could never condone this kind of activity, but it is also quite hard to say this is the most horrible thing someone has ever done. It is one of those things that you'll never know, as a 17 year old high school student, i have no idea what kind of emotional greif would come over me from losing a loved one I've had all my life, or losing my father, I simply cannot know what she went through, therefore I have no basis to chastise her.