A Rose for Emily

A Rose for Emily
The Author’s Sympathy

In William Faulkner’s short story "A Rose for Emily,” the author uses sympathetic writing so a character can be viewed with deeper knowledge. The main character, Miss Emily, commits a horrible crime which isn’t spotted until the end. Faulkner’s storytelling prior to this creates a very sympathetic atmosphere for Miss Emily, and one can’t help but feel sorry for her, despite the terrible offense that occurs. Miss Emily is described to be a helpless, broken-down woman whose life has been very hard.
To begin with, Faulkner explains that Miss Emily had been quite damaged by her father’s strictness. He was very discriminative, and chased away every man that she ever had interest in. Faulkner includes this to show how lonely and sad Miss Emily had b...