Unnamed Jefferson Townspeople 2

One of the narrative devices that Faulkner regularly deploys is using the larger population of Jefferson as a kind of chorus to provide commentary on the characters or events of a specific story. In each case it seems fair to say that the "townspeople" he uses this way are implicitly the white people, but it seems more accurate to create a separate "Character=Jefferson Townspeople" for each text in which the device occurs. "A Rose for Emily" brings the townspeople as a collection onstage in the story's very first sentence, where the narrator refers to "our whole town" (119). Most frequently the story uses the first-person plural for them, "we" rather than 'they.' The descriptions of their actions and opinions suggests a homogeneous group. They are fond of gossip and quick to make moral judgments. Given the way they enjoy the discomfiture of the haughty Griersons, they seem mainly middle class.