In William Faulkner’s short story, “A Rose for Emily”, Faulkner chooses to use the community as a narrator because they are not only telling Miss Emily Grierson’s story, they are also observers of Emily’s life. Using the town as the narrator is crucial to the story because it gives the reader a positive outlook on Miss Emily, the narrator recalls past events that took place in the town, the narrator gives the reader insight into Miss Emily’s problems, and the view of the narrator gives the reader a feeling of pity for Miss Emily.
By Faulkner telling “A Rose for Emily” from the townspeople’s point of view, it allows the readers to have a more positive view of Miss Emily. The townspeople viewed Miss Emily as their “property”. “Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town” (Faulkner 75). The community regards Miss Emily as “tragic and serene” (Faulkner 77). This shows readers that the town Miss Emily lives in respected her and her family.
Another purpose of using the community as the narrator is the recollection of past events by the narrator. Without knowing Miss Emily’s history, the reader would just assume Miss Emily was born crazy

crazy. Instead, the narrator gives the reader past events that give the reader insight into why Miss Emily is so strange. The narrator tells how Miss Emily’s over-protective father was responsible for Miss Emily’s solitude after his death. “We remembered all the young men her father had driven away, and we knew that with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her, as people will” (Faulkner 77). After Miss Emily’s father’s death, Emily has no one to turn to because Miss Emily’s father has not let Miss Emily live a “normal” life. The townspeople also recall that Miss Emily did not have to pay taxes in the town. After her father’s death, Colonel Sartoris felt pity on Miss Emily for being alone so he “invented an involved tale to the effect that Miss Emily’s father had loaned money to the town, which the town, as a matter of business, preferred this way of repaying” (Faulkner 75). After Colonel Sartoris death, a younger generation comes to collect Miss Emily’s taxes, but Emily’s tells them she does not have to pay taxes due to an agreement between her and Colonel Sartoris. The city deputies said they had no record of the agreement, so Miss Emily tells them to ask Colonel Sartoris, even though he has been dead for twenty years. The city deputies left Miss Emily alone out of pity for her. A narrator who had been an outsider would not have been able to tell the pas