Faulkner’s Treatment of Time: An Analysis of the Non-Chronological Narrationin“A RoseforEmily”

Abstract

William Faulkner is reputed for his treatment of time as one of the most intriguing and perplexing elements in his works. The non-chronological narration in Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” leaves readers with a jumble of “incidents” related through the ramblings of memory. With Meir Sternberg’s theory of narrativity, this paper analyzes three types of narrative interests applied by Faulkner in this short story. It is concluded that Faulkner’s nonlinear approach to time works as a rhetorical-communication with the readers on his complex feelings towards the decaying southern traditional culture and values after the Civil War.