"A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner (p.89)

Temerity

pg. 91 1^st paragraph 1^st line

“A few of the ladies had the temerity to call, but were not received, and the only sign of life about the place was the Negro man- a young man then- going in and out with a market basket.”

Definition:

·        Reckless boldness; rashness

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/temerity

Temerity in this sentence is a word that is only able to grasp the understanding of if you know about the town ladies. You can gain a better understanding of the word once you have read the whole story. This word is the beginning look at how the town women are towards Ms. Emily.

Before this sentence, the town women are at her funeral. They only come to the funeral because they are nosey. Then unknown secrets of what was in that house had wore at their beings for ten years. Pretending to show their respect was their devious way of getting into that locked-up information. Before this sentence, the town had taken over Ms. Emily’s tax debt, which the nosey town women must have known about. Right after the sentence about their phone calls, the town women talk about the Negro and his housekeeping abilities. This shows that the women did not like Ms. Emily’s choice in having a man to keep up her house.

Once you read the rest of the story you really get the understanding of the word temerity. This word stresses how the women of the town had the nerve to call when they never took an interest in being there for Ms. Emily when her father died, her aunt went crazy, or when her sweetheart disappeared. Before, the ladies of the town felt the need to call Ms. Emily, information about her, or for better terms, gossip about her, were all over the town. So the ladies felt no need to know more than they were already concocting themselves. Once things became secretive, it was all the town ladies could do to find a way back into Ms. Emily’s world. Their behavior was reckless and bold and did not come from true concern.

I think Faulkner uses this word temerity, to keep from completely giving away the personalities of the town women so soon into the story. Even if you have prior knowledge of the word’s meaning, it’s still not clear the true reason why the women’s calls were unreasonable. The pieces start to unfold about the town women’s judgments of Ms. Emily as the story proceeds.

Reviewing this sentence after reading the complete story helps you see the effect that Ms. Emily’s lifestyle, her family status, and her secretiveness had on the others in the town.