Emily Grierson Symbolism

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Daily, the average person comes across a multitude symbols every day. Symbolism can best be described as “the practice of representing things by symbols, or of investing things with a symbolic meaning or character.” (Dictionary.com) Colors are amazing samples of symbolism. The color gray symbolizes sorrow and anxiety whereas the color black symbolizes death and agony. Lifeless objects also do present symbols, a chain represents a link in marriage or relationships and the sun signifies spirits and visibility. In the story, A Rose for Emily, the townsfolk get together and yearn over the death of Miss Emily Grierson. As they gather each person ponder on a collection of memories with the lady, whether they were valuable or awful. Emily Grierson was very well established and lived with her muted servant and her over protective father. Emil was never allowed to date or flirt with a man as her father kept her isolated from the outside. On the day of the father’s passing, Emily could not let her father go; therefore, she kept her father with her for three …show more content…

All the down falls she has experienced have happened in her home and Emily wants nobody to get near her: she has isolated herself. “As the narrator continues to tell his story, he builds an increasingly wider between himself and Emily’s anxietys.” (Garrison Jr. 1) The dust, gray and messy, in a way, can be said that it represents a similarity to the dead bodies within such as Homer and Miss Emily’s father. The dust also symbolizes a cover up of hidden secrets. The layers of dust also suggest the cloud of obscurity that hides Emily’s nature and the secrets her house contains. These “layers of dust” is basically a cover up of all the secrets of Miss Emily as well as a cover up of herself and the events taking place. After Emily’s death, many men passed through her “monument” or house just out of curiosity, as she stayed isolated from her townspeople. (Garrison Jr.

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