The reader’s perspective of William Faulkner’s, “A Rose for Emily” would be different if it were narrated in first person singular by Tobe. All throughout the story the narrator constantly mentions Tobe, who is Miss Emily Grierson’s servant, as the only one who comes in and out of Emily’s house. This is important to notice because it cause the reader to have suspicions of Tobe. Thus, if Tobe were the narrator, the reader would be able to see his point of view of why he was the only one from the house to be seen and what was actually happening inside.
As the narrator Tobe would be able to answer questions that the reader might have. For example, why doesn’t Emily come out of her house? Since Tobe has access inside her house and he takes care for her, he knows what is internally destroying Emily. The point of view of the story would not be from the outside and the reader would not wonder what goes on inside. Instead, the story would change from the neighborhood questioning what is wrong with Emily; to Tobe explaining her tragic situation. Another change in perspective would be that the reader would get more information or details about Tobe’s feelings towards Emily. For example, whether he likes or dislikes her and most importantly he could answer why he just left once she died? However, if Tobe were the narrator then there would be no input of what people around Emily’s house speculate, which results in ambiguity.
Furthermore, the themes of the story would change from death and love to racism and misery. This is so because Tobe being a “Negro” servant implies the typical social class status during slavery. Thus, a change in narration would partially move the spotlight from Emily to Tobe.
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