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

Wang Xiaokang

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ellc.20210603.16

| Peer-Reviewed

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

Wang Xiaokang

Published in English Language, Literature & Culture (Volume 6, Issue 3)

Received: 16 August 2021 Accepted: 25 August 2021 Published: 31 August 2021

Views: Downloads:

Download PDF

Share This Article

Twitter
Linked In
Facebook

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.

Published in	English Language, Literature & Culture (Volume 6, Issue 3)
DOI	10.11648/j.ellc.20210603.16
Page(s)	91-96
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily, Narratology, Stylistics, Point of View

References

[1]	Dilworth, Thomas. (1999) A Romance to Kill for: Homicidal Complicity in Faulkner's “A Rose for Emily” [J]. Studies in Short Fiction, Vol. 36 (3), Summer, 251-262.
[2]	Helen E. Nebeker. (1970) Emily's Rose of Love: Thematic Implications of Point of View in Faulkner's “A Rose for Emily” [J]. Bulletin of the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association Vol. 24, Number, 3-13.
[3]	Kim, Ji-won. (2011) Narrator as Collective ‘We’: The Narrative Structure of “A Rose for Emily” [J]. English Language & Literature Teaching, 17 (4), 141-156.
[4]	Sullivan, Ruth. (1971) The Narrator in “A Rose for Emily” [J]. The Journal of Narrative Technique, Vol. 1 (3), Sept., 159-178.
[5]	Song, Zijiao. (2013) Transitivity Analysis of A Rose for Emily [J]. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, Vol. 3 (12), December, 2291-2295.
[6]	Tezcan, Tuncay. (2014) A Stylistic Analysis of A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner and its Turkish Translation [J]. Social and Behavioral Sciences, Vol. 158, 364-369.
[7]	Petry, Alice Hall. (1986) Faulkner’s a Rose for Emily [J]. The Explicator, Vol. 44 (3), 52-54.
[8]	Prince, Gerald. (1987) A Dictionary of Narratology [M]. Lincoln& London: University of Nebraska Press, P73.
[9]	Genette, Gérard. (1983) The Narrative Discourse [M]. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, P31.
[10]	Friedman, Norman. (1955) Point of View in Fiction: The Development of a Critical Concept [J]. PMLA, Vol. 70 (5), 1160–1184.
[11]	Genette, Gérard. (1983) The Narrative Discourse Cornell University Press, P189-190.
[12]	Shen, Dan.(2018) Narrative, Style and Subtext: Rereading British and American Classic Short Stories Beijing: Peking University Press, P101-102.
[13]	Halliday, M. A. K. (1971) Linguistic Function and Literary Style: an Inquiry into the Language of William Golding's The Inheritors. [J]. Literary Style: A Symposium, edited by Seymour Chatman. London and New York: Oxford University Press, P330-368.
[14]	Simpson, Paul. (2004) Stylistics: A Resource Book for Students [M]. London: Routledge. P126-127.
[15]	Leech, Geoffrey; Short, Mick. (2007) Style in Fiction: A Linguistic Introduction to English Fictional Prose [M]. Pearson ESL, P142.
[16]	Faulkner, William. (1930) A Rose for Emily [J]. The Forum, P233-238.
[17]	Stanzel, Franz K. (1981) Teller-Characters and Reflector-Characters in Narrative Theory [J]. Poetics Today, Vol. (2), P5-15.
[18]	Ferguson, M. W., Salter, M. J., Stallworthy, J. (2004) The Norton Anthology of Poetry [M]. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, P1430.
[19]	Jakobson, R. (1960) Closing statement: linguistics and poetics [A]. In Style in language [C], (ed) T. A. Sebeok. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Cite This Article

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Wang Xiaokang. (2021). Narratological and Stylistic Analysis of Point of View in Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”. English Language, Literature & Culture, 6(3), 91-96. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20210603.16

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Wang Xiaokang. Narratological and Stylistic Analysis of Point of View in Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”. Engl. Lang. Lit. Cult. 2021, 6(3), 91-96. doi: 10.11648/j.ellc.20210603.16

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Wang Xiaokang. Narratological and Stylistic Analysis of Point of View in Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”. Engl Lang Lit Cult. 2021;6(3):91-96. doi: 10.11648/j.ellc.20210603.16

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ellc.20210603.16,
  author = {Wang Xiaokang},
  title = {Narratological and Stylistic Analysis of Point of View in Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”},
  journal = {English Language, Literature & Culture},
  volume = {6},
  number = {3},
  pages = {91-96},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ellc.20210603.16},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20210603.16},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ellc.20210603.16},
  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.},
 year = {2021}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Narratological and Stylistic Analysis of Point of View in Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”
AU  - Wang Xiaokang
Y1  - 2021/08/31
PY  - 2021
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20210603.16
DO  - 10.11648/j.ellc.20210603.16
T2  - English Language, Literature & Culture
JF  - English Language, Literature & Culture
JO  - English Language, Literature & Culture
SP  - 91
EP  - 96
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2575-2413
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20210603.16
AB  - 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.
VL  - 6
IS  - 3
ER  -

Copy | Download

Author Information

Wang Xiaokang

School of Foreign Studies, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China

Download PDF

Sections

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Wang Xiaokang. (2021). Narratological and Stylistic Analysis of Point of View in Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”. English Language, Literature & Culture, 6(3), 91-96. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20210603.16

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Wang Xiaokang. Narratological and Stylistic Analysis of Point of View in Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”. Engl. Lang. Lit. Cult. 2021, 6(3), 91-96. doi: 10.11648/j.ellc.20210603.16

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Wang Xiaokang. Narratological and Stylistic Analysis of Point of View in Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”. Engl Lang Lit Cult. 2021;6(3):91-96. doi: 10.11648/j.ellc.20210603.16

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ellc.20210603.16,
  author = {Wang Xiaokang},
  title = {Narratological and Stylistic Analysis of Point of View in Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”},
  journal = {English Language, Literature & Culture},
  volume = {6},
  number = {3},
  pages = {91-96},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ellc.20210603.16},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20210603.16},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ellc.20210603.16},
  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.},
 year = {2021}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Narratological and Stylistic Analysis of Point of View in Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”
AU  - Wang Xiaokang
Y1  - 2021/08/31
PY  - 2021
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20210603.16
DO  - 10.11648/j.ellc.20210603.16
T2  - English Language, Literature & Culture
JF  - English Language, Literature & Culture
JO  - English Language, Literature & Culture
SP  - 91
EP  - 96
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2575-2413
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20210603.16
AB  - 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.
VL  - 6
IS  - 3
ER  -

Copy | Download