The first-person narrator, who represents and reports the consensus view of the townspeople, assumes that Emily is what she appears to be: a fusty, antiquated Southern Belle. These are all legitimate, even inevitable questions, but, as most teachers of the story no doubt point out, Faulkner's choice of narrator precludes our ever providing unequivocal answers. Perhaps the most intriguing, if unanswerable question raised by the story is, what happened between Emily and Homer? Were they lovers? Did they agree, as we are led to suppose, to marry? If so, did Homer get cold feet, or did Emily simply take preemptive measures against that eventuality? Yet another question, or mystery, is why did Homer Barron, a rowdy extrovert, take up with the spinsterly Emily Grierson in the first place? Homer Barron, a bluff man with a "big voice"who "cuss the niggers"and despoils Southern womanhood, gay? What in the world-or in the text-could prompt such an anomalous reading, and does this reveal more about the story or our students? And many of these same students conclude, strangely, that Homer Barron, Emily Grierson's suitor in Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily, "is gay. Most first-time readers of "Araby"recognize that the tale concerns juvenile infatuation, yet few appreciate, on their own, how the boy's feelings are colored and conditioned by his religious environment. Few, for example, figure out (unless their literary roommate has told them) what the man and woman in "Hills Like White Elephants"are debating-though, when told, they find it very ironic that "Jig, "the woman, consumes so much alcohol despite her apparent concern for her child. Though surprises, good and bad, occur, one becomes pretty adept at anticipating students' reactions and deducing their readerly assumptions and habits. One of the numerous, underappreciated advantages of being a teaching assistant or lecturer is the opportunity to teach anthologized stories over and over again to more or less recalcitrant freshmen. Submitted by Jim Barloon, University of St.
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