Resistance To Change In William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

Often, people are bombarded with the possibility of change, but in many cases, “People don’t resist change. They resist being changed” (Peter Senge). In William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily”, Faulkner discusses the upbringing and demise of Emily Grierson through many life altering events. Her Father died, the world around her has changed, and her lover abandoned her all throughout the course of the story. In addition, Faulkner purposefully constructs the story to provoke certain ideas and assumptions. Ultimately, Faulkner utilizes foreshadowing details through narration to represent Emily’s deterioration and resulting resistance to change. Throughout the life of Emily Grierson, the town witnesses the decomposition of what was

After he was gone, “She would have to cling to that which robbed her, as people will” (Faulkner 3). This statement was spoken by “we” who also states “We did not say she was crazy then”, which provides insight and foreshadowing towards what is going to happen to certain characters down the road and more importantly the overall plot of the story (Faulkner 3). The “we” is a constant influence throughout the story and provides the reader with inside information about Emily and the Grierson family. With this inside information the reader can predict the deterioration of Emily and ultimately her depreciating mental state throughout key areas of the story. The “we” is constantly interpreted differently, but the real beholder stated by the first criticism is: “a smaller group whose members have personally seen the tableau of daughter and father with upraised whip” (Nebeker 5). The whip symbolizes the social status of the Grierson family name and the protective personality of Emily’s father. All of these characteristics that she was exposed to as a young woman created the perfect storm for an unstable lifestyle. After her father’s death, Emily refused to accept his passing and held onto his body telling everyone “Her father was not dead. She did that for three days” (Faulkner 3). Emily

Emily has known nothing more than her Fathers strict values and the heavy responsibility of the Grierson name to live up to. People in the town remembered, “How old lady Wyatt, her great-aunt, had gone completely crazy at last, believed that the Griersons held themselves a little too high for what they really were” (Faulkner 2). The great aunt is in many ways the same as Emily and this proves to be true because of the climactic murder of her lover Homer. However, the reader is unable to make any inferences towards the resolution of the relationship up until Emily purchases the poison which is labeled for “rats”. The narrator goes on to show that Emily provided no suitable need for the poison but was sold it illegally. The story is summed up with the entire town learning of the murder of Homer and finding the grey hair of Emily next to him. This leads to the symbolic ending of the story by showing that Emily had been sleeping with the dead body up until her unending sleep. Most importantly, the hair was strategically placed at the end of the story leaving the reader room to manipulate Emily’s character. Although different motives for committing the murder may surface, it can still be inferred that her poor mental state was the quintessential factor shown by all of the foreshadowing and symbolism leading up to that