Miss Emily Change

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Tradition and change are two opposing ideas that have fought each other for thousands of years. Many believe in preserving successful and effective customs, while others strive to revolutionize them and move forward to improve society. In “A Rose for Emily”, William Faulkner writes about a woman who clings to her past in fear of the future. Faulkner uses setting, character, point of view, structure, and symbolism to expose examples of human nature, which teach us important lessons about life. William Faulkner takes us to his fictional town of Jefferson, Mississippi at the turn of the 20th century, a time when the ways of society were changing dramatically. His fictional character, Miss Emily, is a prime example of one that is fearful of change and lives in the past in order to resist the changes that are occurring around her. When the Board of Aldermen met to confront Miss Emily about her tax notice, she informed them that she had no taxes in Jefferson. An agreement made about a decade ago by a mayor, now dead, was long forgotten, and no longer applied. Miss Emily simply refuses to accept the changes and sends the men away. Although this part of the story seems to be irrelevant to the plot, it is significant in understanding the nature of Miss Emily and how she responds to change. The relationships that Miss Emily has with characters such as her father, Homer Baron, and the townspeople all have significant value in the story. While there are many important characters in A Rose for Emily, it can be argued that the true antagonists seem to be time and change. Nearly every struggle that Miss Emily faces can be traced to the presence of time and change in her life. The modern customs of the town she lives in, the death of her father,... ... middle of paper ... ...er isolation. Therefore her house is a symbol of her loneliness and solitude. Finally, the most important example is the lifeless body of Homer Baron, which seems to symbolize the empty void in her life that was never satisfied. Because of the tragic life that Miss Emily lived, she used the walls of her home to live in a world where she could resist change, control the presence of time, and ultimately contain the one she loved in attempt to gain her the happiness she never had. The elements that William Faulkner uses to develop Miss Emily’s character and tell her story all contribute to his theme that resisting change can lead to one’s own isolation. It is important to accept the past and move on with the future. However when given a person’s circumstances, like those of Miss Emily, resistance is the natural way of defending ourselves when change becomes our enemy.

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