Narratological and Stylistic Analysis of Point of View in Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”

Abstract

Up till now, there have been numerous articles and papers concerning the issue of Point of View in Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”, most of which are focused on the analysis of narrator’s function in the construction of narrative structure or the presentation of thematic meanings. Despite some articles’ application of linguistic/stylistic research methods to the study of the story, few of them involves the analysis of point of view. Therefore, by clarifying and combining theories relevant to point of view proposed by both narratologists and stylists, the paper focuses on the analysis of point of view in Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” from both narratological and stylistic perspective through the exploration of three aspects: uniqueness of first-person point of view, transition and transgression of point of view, and omission of point of view, with the findings that the use of first-person plural narrator “we” serves the narrative function and involves community issues and racial problems deep in the south after the civil war, that the transition of teller-character to reflector-character influences narrative structure as well narrative distance of the story, which are closely related to the narrator’s authority and reliability, that the oscillation between third-person limited perspective and focal characters’ perspective helps to achieve the effect of omniscience within limitation, that the transgression of the narrator’s limited point of view into the realm of omniscient point of view creates double-layer effects of foreshadowing and self-exposure, and that the omitted point of view of Emily, Homer, and the negro servant are in close relation with the social, historical, and cultural background at the south in the first half of 20th century. Generally speaking, the paper verifies that the integrated theories of narratology and stylistics concerning point of view are of significance and innovativeness to the understanding of aesthetic effects and thematic meanings of fiction.