Contrast the order of events as they happen in "A Rose for Emily" with the order in which they are told in the story, and discuss what impact the plot order has on the meaning of the story and the reader's understanding of the story.

The narrator of Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" tells the story in a non-chronological order. The story is divided into numbered sections, but within those sections we have flashbacks. We already know the title character is dead when the story begins.
Section I of the story tells about Emily's death and what she represents in the town: "a fallen monument." Later in this section, we hear some examples of why Emily and her family name are considered important in the town, even though they have lost their wealth and Emily's home is dilapidated in the present day. These past examples take place 30 years before the main event mentioned at the start of Section II: "the smell." Neighbors complain about the smell coming from Emily's house but nothing is officially done. Section III discusses Emily's appearance when she was sick. Her meeting with Homer Barron, two years after her father's death, is detailed. At the end of this section, Emily goes to buy poison from a druggist. Section IV opens with the narrator's speculations about what Emily would do with the poison. They discuss rumors about Homer's disappearance and his relationship with Emily. Her appearance is described as it changes over the next several years. Section V returns to the present, when some of the townspeople are allowed into Emily's home. This is when they find the long-dead body of Homer in Emily's bed. In terms of the actual timeline, not reflected in the narrative order we are given, at the beginning of the story Emily's family is powerful and revered in town and even given special privileges. Then, Emily's father dies, the town progresses, and Emily loses her wealth and influence. Emily meets Homer, buys poison, Homer mysteriously disappears. A smell is noticed coming from Emily's house, and when Emily dies years later Homer's body is found.
The reasons for this nontraditional narrative style are up for debate, but here are a couple of strong possibilities: the narrative timeline creates suspense and contributes to the shocking ending, and the timeline matches the gossipy secondhand nature of the story's details. First, let's consider suspense and the shocking ending. If you go back and reread the story, you will see that the author has set out the path to the story's conclusion (like the rat poison, Homer's disappearance, and the suspicious smell). However, because we know from the start that Emily is dead, we aren't trying to learn about her death; that isn't the point. The character study of Emily does not need to take place while she is alive. However, because we are not expecting to hear about the death of another minor character, the revelation at the end is a surprise. The long gray hair found on the pillow next to Homer's decayed body indicates that Emily has slept with him, and recently. This tells us more about her character that we did not know earlier since there was no access into her house or personal life. That leads us into the second possibility: the timeline reflects the gossipy narrative style. The narrator relates rumors and secondhand information on Emily. As though he/she is telling the story to a friend, he/she remembers connected details and includes these even when they are out of order in terms of the actual series of plot events.