Various forms of ambiguity are common in literature. Authors may do this on purpose to improve the reader’s reading experience, or such ambiguities may result from linguistic ambiguities. William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily, set in Jefferson during the decades preceding and following the start of the twentieth century, depicts how an innocent girl, Emily Grierson, is driven to madness. The author exploits ambiguity in his text by describing Emily’s life as “incredible”, general definitions of which range from “unlikely to occur or be true” to “too unlikely to be believed”. The author conveys by this ambiguity that she is “isolated” from her community and, in fact, from her family as well as from the patriarchal society depicted in the story. It dictates that the only acceptable way a young woman like Emily can escape a selfish, overbearing father is to get married. Mr. Grierson, the overbearing father, believes he has the exclusive right to Emily and her future. He made important decisions about Emily and limited her choices. Many of his decisions about Emily have profound consequences in her life, often negative ones. “And Father had rebuilt the house too, on the same blackened spot, over the same cellar, where the other had burned, only larger, much larger”. This dream story is also ambiguous, since it can mean both the restoration of dependence and, vice versa, renewal and getting rid of it.
In The Man Who Was Almost a Man after the whole Jenny ordeal, Dave is feeling unhappy. He got his gun, just like he wanted, but everyone still treats him like he belongs at the kiddie table. This makes Dave feel more like a man. He shoots off his last remaining bullets and this time, “the gun still in his hands” after he fires. Dave’s increased skill represents his growing maturity: He might not be a man yet, but he’s taken the first step in the right direction.
Works Cited
Faulkner, William. (2017) A Rose for Emily. The Modern Short Story.