Cruise

Travis Cashbaugh

Dr. MelanÐ"§on

English 1102

14 September, 2006

The Misleading Truth

“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and “How to Tell a True War Story” by Tim O’Brien are two admirable short stories that share some differences and similarities. “A Rose for Emily” is fiction while “How to Tell a True War Story” is about O’Brien’s life in Vietnam. Each author uses their own unique strategies to engage the readers’ interests. Both stories have many events that create different effects and cause different responses for the reader form a historical and formalist point of view.

The order in which events are told in a story can create suspense while letting the reader use their imagination. Faulkner’s events are by far not ordered chronologically. He starts off by telling the death of Emily Rose who is the protagonist of the story. Throughout the rest of the story he describes Emily’s life and the changes that accompany it. “Miss Emily was a women deeply admired by the community in which she lived” (Faulkner 80). The death of her father, although years before her death, brought her grief, but also gave her hope. While her father was around, Emily was never allowed to date. Her father thought that no man was good enough for Emily. Once her father passed away Miss Emily became somewhat desperate for human love.

Faulkner first tells that shortly after her father’s death Miss Emily’s sweetheart left her. Everybody in the town thought that Emily and this sweetheart of hers were going to be married. After her sweetheart left her the people of the town saw her very little. Faulkner then tells what might be viewed as the climax of the story next. He explains that one day Miss Emily went into town and bought rat poison. By revealing this so early on in the story it challenges the reader to use their imagination. The readers’ view of Miss Emily could now possibly be changed. It has changed from feeling sorry for this woman to thinking she is going to murder someone.

Near the end of the story, after describing Miss Emily’s life, Faulkner catches up to present day where Miss Emily has died. He explains how Emily’s cousins came once they heard of her death and buried her. The cousins all walk into Miss Emily’s room which greeted them with a bitter smell. Next Miss Emily’s bed, they noticed the clothes of a man. The clothes were covered in dust as if they had been there for years. The bones and flesh of the man himself lay in the bed. On the pillow next to the brail body, lay the indention of another head along with a single gray hair.

Faulkner’s story has much to offer from a formalist stand point. A formalist point of view focuses on the tone, structure and language of a story. Faulkner’s story keeps the readers guessing what will happen next. The structure of the story is very different. A formalist would look for events that foreshadow the ending of the story.

By the order of Faulkner’s events the reader can realize first, her lover never left her. Second, she did buy poison for a reason. She bought it to murder her lover. She had become so desperate for love she had to kill for it. If the person she loved would not be with her, she was going to make sure that he did not leave. She murdered him and slept with the carcass for years. By doing this she had broken her tradition. “She was trained not to kill a lover, but to marry a lover” (88).

By arranging the events as Faulkner did, he challenges the. He makes the reader pay attention to every detail because he always jumps around in the story.

Like Faulkner, Tim O’Brien starts “How to Tell a True War Story” at the end. Unlike Faulkner there is nothing to predict in O’Brien’s story. He tells the story before you know exactly what has happened. From a historical point of view, O’Brien’s story has a lot to offer the reader. By writing this story O’Brien is explaining to the reader what was going on in the past. O’Brien’s story is a window to the past. He uses great detail to explain what was going on back then, and lets the reader imagine the past.

O’Brien begins with saying that his story is true. He describes a buddy of his named Rat Riley. Rat always would be around his best friend Curt Lemon. One day Rat and Curt were playing a game they had made up dealing with smoke grenades in the shade of some tree. Lemon stepped out of the shade into the sunlight onto a rigged mound. He immediately died. After his death, Rat wrote a letter to Lemon’s sister telling how much of a hero her brother was. Honor is portrayed in this part of the story. Rat shows honor by writing Lemon’s sister, as well as showing honor to his fallen friend. Rat waited two months for a return letter, but the letter never appeared.

While Faulkner goes into detail about the life of the person who died in the story, O’Brien goes into detail about the events that took place in the story. By telling the story of Lemon, O’Brien is carrying on tradition, the