story. In Faulkner’s story, the reader is told of many events that seem absolutely ludicrous when they are shared, such as Emily’s buying the arsenic (par. 34), and her reclusiveness (par. 47). By mid-story, the reader begins to believe the townspeople’s opinion of Emily—She’s plain crazy. However, the reader is finally allowed to share the epiphany with the narrator that Emily was not crazy, just frightened of the idea of being alone. Only then can the reader realize that killing Homer and keeping his body in her bed was Emily’s twisted way of never being alone (par. 60).In Carver’s story, the reader fully understands the main character. In the story, the reader gets insights into the narrator’s view on the blind man. the reader can tell by the narrator’s comments about listening to the blind man’s tapes (par. 5) that the narrator dislikes the entire idea of the blind man being a part of his wife’s life because the narrator feels the blind man in not “normal.” The first person narration allows the reader to watch the narrator’s progression into the realization that his preconceived notions of blind people were incorrect. At the closing of the story, the narrator shares every detail of his epiphany with the reader (par. 130-136).The author’s choice of point of view in the stories, “A Rose For Emily” and “Cathedral,” enable the reader to fully experience the epiphanies of the narrators. Without those choices of point of view, both stories would lose their deep felt meanings. Although both stories have different point of views, both author’s chose the point of view that would best enable the reader to “experience” the story....
