Roselily

“Roselily” is a stream-of-consciousness story that represents the inner monologue of its main character. Much of what happens in the story happens as an internal reaction to Roselily’s surroundings, which introduces commentary on the marriage ceremony and also diverges from it to focus on Roselily’s past and her place in society. The effect is of listening to someone whose mind is racing and conflicted. Walker uses this narrative style to produce “theory of mind” in her readers: the ability to empathize with and conceive of another person’s interiority. The story takes place within the temporal boundaries of two sentences of a wedding ceremony, yet its narration style enables it to encompass Roselily’s entire life. The stream-of-consciousness style combines with the third-person narrative voice (“she,” not “I”) to emphasize Roselily’s self-consciousness: in this moment of ceremony, she is well aware that she is being perceived from the outside by her family, the preacher, and the groom, and the story models that feeling by presenting her thoughts in third person.