A Rose for Emily

"When she had first begun to be seen with Homer Barron, we had said, 'She will marry him.' Then we said, 'She will persuade him yet,' because Homer himself had remarked-he liked men, and was known that he drank with the younger men in the Elk's Club-that he was not a marrying man." pg 287
A Rose for Emily
William Faulkner 


For this story I'll answer number 6:
"How is the point of view related to the plot structure? What might be the rationale for diving the story into five distinct sections and for violating narrative chronology?"

The point of view of this story is first person plural. It is most likely said by the viewpoint of the townspeople observing Emily's life. This point of view does not help to give in-depth insight into why Emily acts the way she does. Although, the structure of the story is divided into 5 different sections to foreshadow the reasons as to why Emily poisoned Homer with arsenic. Section 1 describes her initial anger at having to pay taxes when she didn't used to have to pay them. The second section goes into the detail of the foul smell surrounding her house. This smell is most likely the dead human body that has been decaying in her house. She kept the body in the house because, as concluded above, "she would persuade him," to be with her even if it was by killing him. Section 3 describes how she would get Homer to forever be with her, because she buys the arsenic. Section four shows Emily's old age, greying hair, and death. Section five reveals that Emily was the criminal, because her grey hair is found on the bed where the body was. These five sections show Emily's motives for her actions. When things don't go her way, she makes sure they do, even if it involves killing someone.