Emily Grierson Symbolism

William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily” commemorates the bizarre and pitiful life of Miss Emily Grierson, an isolated woman overcome by desperation and fixated on the past. An unnamed member of this southern community narrates the pivotal events in Emily’s life that contribute to the development of her character and ultimately her psychotic act depicted in the story’s final scene. Time is a crucial element within the story. Not only are the events told out of sequence, but Emily herself seems out of place in modern times and she is lost in the past. During the progression of the story, the reader encounters three major symbols- the house, the bodies, and the watch-all of which Faulkner effectively uses to reveal the story’s central

theme: that people have difficulty letting go of the past and often resist change, but all attempts to control time are futile.
The earliest symbol in the story, the house, helps to exemplify this theme. The Grierson house is a monument to the Old South and represents how Emily almost literally lives in the past. In the second paragraph, the narrator describes the architectural details of Emily’s house as the last remnant of the old Southern aristocracy: “It was a big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies,” (Faulkner 243). This description of Emily’s house is juxtaposed by modern elements of cotton gins, garages, and gasoline pumps to show how it appears out of place and certainly out of its time (Faulkner 243). After her father’s death, the house was the only thing left to Emily, so naturally it holds significance for her, but literary critic David Madden discusses how the house represents something important to the Jefferson community as well by memorializing the antebellum period. The house symbolizes old southern values, such as “chivalry”, “tradition”, and “duty”, all of which appeal to the narrator; but as time passed and new ideas took over creating a new South, both the house and these old beliefs withered and decayed (Madden). Not only is Emily herself guilty of withdrawing from the reality of the present, but the community also looks onto her house as an escape from modernity. Therefore, Faulkner seems to suggest that people in general seek some sort of nostalgia or remembrance of better times.
Additionally, the human desire to cling on to the past is reinforced by the symbolism behind the bodies of both her father and Homer Barron.

The symbolism of the bodies alludes to the concept of preservation and Emily’s refusal to accept change. Initially, Emily denies that her father is dead and tries to cling on to his body for several days before her emotional breakdown (Faulkner 246). When Homer Barron refuses to marry her, Emily tries to preserve that moment in her life by burying his body in a dusty, bridal tomb “lain in the attitude of an embrace” (Faulkner 249). Although a poor coping mechanism for her lack of fulfillment in life, retaining the bodies allows Emily to have these men, and her relationships with them, frozen in time and enables her to continue living in the past. Madden makes the excellent point that Emily also “preserves all the dead, in memory if not literally” when she fails to acknowledge that Colonel Sartoris has been dead for nearly ten years (Madden). By denying their deaths and preserving their bodies, Emily essentially stops time, at least in her mind. The degree of Emily’s desperation, loneliness, and disillusionment is first illustrated in the scene after her father’s death when she reluctantly gives up the body: “we knew that with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which robbed her, as people do” (Faulkner 246). Here the narrator expresses sympathy for Emily’s misfortune and suggests that her behavior was a natural human reaction

to sudden change, considering the townspeople “did not say she was crazy then” (Faulkner 246). Clearly Emily refuses to accept death and she has difficulty adapting to change; however, her attempts to control time and preserve the past remain unsuccessful.
The watch acts as the strongest symbol of the story demonstrating the continual passage of time in spite of Emily’s attempts to control it.

Early in the story, Faulkner draws the reader’s attention to “a thin gold chain descending to her waist and vanishing into her belt” as well as “the invisible watch ticking at the end of the gold chain” (244). The watch is “vanishing” and “invisible” to all characters present in this scene, yet the city authorities clearly hear the audible ticking sound coming from her pocket (Faulkner 244). This shows how time goes on although Emily is stuck in the past. Literary critic Milinda Schwab explains the significance of the placement of the watch. According to Schwab, having the watch in her pocket has dual meaning: “Emily removes from sight that which makes one conscious of time’s passing”, and “Emily demonstrates her effort to subjugate the clock to her own will” (Schwab). One meaning implies the out of sight, out of mind mentality to deny that change occurs, while the other indicates an attempt to control and manipulate change. Nonetheless, both meanings effectively support the theme of “A Rose for Emily.” Schwab also describes Emily’s perception of time in relation to the watch: “Time for Emily does not move forward; it merely drones on in endless repetition, like the absurdly loud tick, tick, tick of her invisible watch” (Schwab). Based upon Schwab’s analysis there are two ways to interpret the ticking of the watch: from Emily’s

disillusioned perspective and the perspective of the city authorities, which is reality. As Schwab mentions, Emily may hear the watch ticking in repetition with the movement of the clock’s hands out of view and one tick no different from the last; For Emily, time stands still. However, others hear the watch ticking like the countdown of her biological clock, noting the passing of the years, and mirroring the growth of her “iron-gray hair” (Faulkner 250). Emily simply cannot accept the fact that change, loss, and death are inevitable aspects of life. While Emily may try to deny her father’s death and Homer Barron’s refusal to marry her by withdrawing from reality, the watch hidden in her pocket continues to tick, the times change, and there is nothing she can do to stop it.
In “A Rose for Emily,” William Faulkner uses symbols to reveal the story’s central theme: that people often have trouble letting go of the past and are resistant to change, but all attempts to control time are futile. The old Grierson house symbolizes the values of the Old South and how they are dying out and being replaced by modern ideas. The bodies of both Emily’s father and Homer Barron represent Emily’s attempt to preserve the past and the human struggle to finally just let go. On the other hand, the watch signifies than time goes on, and change alone is unchanging. Although Emily was unsuccessful at controlling time and holding on to the past, the narrator ironically manages to preserve the memory of the tragic protagonist by retelling her life story (Madden).