Compare and contrast literary elements in "A Rose for Emily" and "A Hunger Artist."

There are similar literary elements in "A Rose for Emily"
and "A Hunger Artist" as well as some contrasting ones. A literary element is one kind
of two literary devices. Literary elements are components of literature that are not
optional: they must be part of a piece of literature. This contrasts with the second
kind of literary device, that of literary techniques. These are optional and may be
chosen from by the author at will. Literary elements, necessary parts of literature,
include storyline, plot, conflict, structure, setting, tone, mood, characters, point of
view, language, style, and theme. Contrast these to some literary techniques such as
symbolism, irony, personification, allegory, allusion, alliteration, rhetoric, diction,
foreshadowing, and flash backs.

The storyline in both short
stories reflects a by-gone era. In "A Rose for Emily," the by-gone era is the opulent
and regal era of the privileged Old South, which has given way to a more democratic and
egalitarian city government.  In "A Hunger Artist," the by-gone era is when hunger
artists and entertainment artists were popular and drew large crowds of onlookers who
paid handsomely for the privilege of watching a hunger artist sit without eating or
drinking--watching him fast. Both stories have a similarity in plot because the central
character in each finds her-/himself at odds with society as a result of changing
communal ideas clashing with  unchanged personal ideas, such as Emily's need to hang on
to dead bodies and the hunger artist's need to continually
fast.

The stories contrast with each other on the
chronological order of events. "A Rose for Emily" is told with fragmented time, with
nothing given in chronological order. "A Hunger Artist" unfolds according to a straight
chronological string of events. Another contrast is that in "Emily," death is
unrelentingly clung to, as shown in the last scenes of the story, whereas in "Artist,"
death, when it comes the the artist, is unhesitatingly buried and done away with.
Another contrast is that just before death overtakes him, the hunger admits that society
was right all along whereas Emily herself dies staunchly holding onto her oppositional
view about relationships continuing past death. The themes of the stories thus also
contrast. The theme brought forward in "A Hunger Artist" is the freedom of robust life
while the theme of "A Rose for Emily is the decay of life.