Thuan Nguyen Dr. Robert Janusko English II 2/17/13 A Rose for Emily & & The Lotto Many short stories use a method where they conceal the ending of the story while preparing the reader for the ending. In order to do that, the author uses techniques of viewpoint and foreshadowing.
In “A rose for Emily” written by William Faulkner and “The Lotto “composed by Shirley Jackson, the authors utilize both approaches. The viewpoint utilized by William Faulkner in “A Rose for Emily” is in 1st person narration where the storyteller is the observer of the protagonist.
In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” she uses 3rd individual point of view in which the storyteller is not involved in the story. Like a lot of stories, “A Rose for Emily” and “The Lottery” both use a literary gadget called foreshadowing in which both of the authors give clues and tips throughout the story that lead the reader to upcoming happenings in the story and prepare the reader for the ending. In “A Rose for Emily”, the storyteller is the observer of Emily Grierson who is the protagonist of the story.
Narrative in first individual viewpoint keeps the reader questioning what is going to happen next because it controls the perspective which enables more surprises. The author also utilizes foreshadowing in which hints and hints are offered throughout the story to prepare the reader for expectations in the story. An example used in the story is how Emily Grierson was in rejection and refused to admit that her daddy is dead. The story likewise says how Emily’s dad was actually protective of her and didn’t allow Emily Grierson to date any men because no one was great enough for her.
Another example offered was that the person that Emily Grierson has been dating, Homer Barron was a Northerner and Emily Grierson understood that her family would not authorize of her dating a northerner. Both of these examples gives the reader the tip that the factor Emily Grierson had eliminated Homer Barron was due to the fact that she needed a male in your house with her to secure her which is why she did not quit her daddy for 3 days. Also, the fact that she enjoyed Homer Barron however felt guilty that he was a northerner since her family would not approve of her dating a northerner.
The author also hid the ending when he tossed the reader off by informing the reader that while Homer is out of town Emily bought a toxin known as Arsenic. This triggered the reader to anticipate that she was going to eliminate herself because Homer Barron left her although he was only heading out of town for a couple of days. Then the narrator went on to inform the reader how Emily bought men’s items and a toilet set with Homer Barron’s preliminary on it to distract the reader away from the poison. This distraction was the author’s technique of trying to conceal the ending while preparing the reader for the ending.
The story also hint how there is an odor of decay around her house which normally suggests a dead corpse. At the end of the story Emily Grierson dies and up in the locked up 2nd floor was a skeleton which was Homer Barron’s body. Beside Homer’s Body was a pillow with an imprint of a head and a stress of Emily’s hair. It was obvious that Emily had eliminated Homer Barron because Arsenic, which Emily purchased earlier, has adverse effects of edema. In “The Lotto”, Shirley Jackson composes the story in a 3rd person perspective which enables the reader to understand the scenario from all sides.
Given that the story was in 3rd person viewpoint not all of the villagers thoughts were not revealed, which the reader eventually learns from the villagers’ argument that this is not something the people of the village would want to win. If the story were in 1st perspective from Mr. Hutchinson’s viewpoint then the storyteller would need to describe how Mr. Hutchinson felt about the lotto, easily distributing the ending that someone was going to get stoned. Third person viewpoint allows the storyteller to give little bits of information though the actions and conversations of the villagers and not give away the ending.
An example of this is when the narrator stated “Bobby Martin had actually already stuffed his pockets full of stones”. The details provided could probably mean anything or simply something worthless. They could be playing a game with the rocks that he packed in his pockets. The story then reveals that the rocks were utilized to stone somebody to death at the end. Some other ideas and hints given up the stories was the saying by Old male Warner “Lottery game in June, Corn be heavy quickly” and the story likewise discusses a ritual. The saying “Lottery in June, Corn be heavy soon” is saying that population control is needed since Old an Warner likewise mentioned how there would be difficulty if this tradition stopped due to absence of materials. The term “Ritual” usually could mean death. The story was then easily given away that somebody was going to be stoned when Tessie Hutchinson argued against her own spouse for winning the lotto. It wouldn’t make sense to argue with your own spouse if they would win the lotto. Once again, the story keeps you questioning what is going to occur next when they had to redraw the card and ends with Tessie Hutchinson being stoned to death.
In conclusion, the authors utilized various perspectives and likewise foreshadowing to conceal the ending while preparing the reader for the ending. “A Rose for Emily” utilized first individual point of view successfully and just allowed the reader to be the observer of Emily Grierson instead of remaining in her point of view which assisted hide the ending of the story. “The Lottery game” utilized 3rd person point of view effectively and hid the ending by not revealing the villager’s ideas.