Post-Civil War Traditions

First, the traditions of “heritage” in the south have isolated people from the most of the American country during the past. This happened because there were a quite a few Post-Civil War traditions in the south that did not change after slavery left from agricultural livelihood. There were many aristocrats that had old money in the south for hundreds of years. Aristocrats had money and considered upper class because of their history with money. The south was mainly agriculture and used slave labor back in the day to do a lot of work farming. Later, the money had left when times have changed with the Civil War, but the deep south kept a lot of older American traditions.
Electricity came last to the rural areas because it was expensive but,

people still wanted it in the rural areas to communicate, to stay warm, run machinery, and other necessities. Also, there are different types of southern cultures Knoxville is not as southern compared to Chattanooga because there is a richer southern mythology in the deep south that keeps the stories and culture of the past alive. There is a cultural heritage where people are from, what food they eat, how they talk, what activities that are involved in, and music they play. Some parts of the south people are uneducated too. Furthermore, the is an association in the deep south focused on the past and some consider it better than the present.
However, in “Rose for Emily” there is a troubled relationship with the past and present because Emily does not have any money anymore. However, she still has a high status, she does not have to worry about taxes, and the people of the town are nice to her because of her status. She gets away with little things like the smell of rotting flesh because the townspeople do not want to mess with her because she is old fashioned and has a high class and they respect the old ways and doings.
The old and new south have changed because slavery has vanished from society. Emily family is not rich anymore but they still hold the title. Her family had lots of money long ago because of the plantation, but she did not have money while the story took place. I think they also have sympathy for Emily because her father is dead and they understand she has a lot of remorse going on. They give her some slack to do what she wants because they feel obligated by traditional old ways.
Secondly, “Everything That Rises Must Converge” shows this conflict with past relationship with the present because of the penny on the bus incident. People use to give money to the poor to show a status that they could afford to take care of other people as a nice gesture. However, things have changed in the last several decades after the civil war and civil rights movement. Black people are no longer slaves or separated through segregation. Black people have just as good jobs as anybody else in this time and make about the same amount of money as Julian’s mother. Julian’s mother gives a penny to a young black child to make him happy, but the mother sees this going on and sees it as a weakness toward herself and feels offended. Julian has told his mother not to do so but she does it anyways because of her old traditions.
Furthermore, there seems to be a difference between the old south and the new south because people no longer pay people to show status and people are treated equally. Julian mother is behind the trend of treatment. Julian, however, understands what is going on in the world and how to act respectfully probably because he is exposed to the outside world more. People have changed because treatment and manners are slightly different compared to when segregation took place. It seems rude to do the same things as the past because things have changed socially. I understand there is a change especially when Julian’s mother was hit with the purse of the little boy’s mother on the bus because we can obviously understand that the little boy’s mother was furious about what was going on.