A Rose for Emily is a southern gothic short story about an elderly woman stuck in her ways. When we are first introduced to Emily it is at her funeral where the entire town has come to falsely pay their respects. The men only went to Emily’s funeral because they viewed her as a fallen monument and the women only went out of curiosity to peer inside Emily’s house, which had been closed up to the world and shrouded in mystery for decades. Throughout the story, the narrator gradually describes Emily’s descent into madness and her unwillingness to accept the change happening around her. The central theme of A Rose for Emily focuses on the never-ending battle between tradition and change, which is expertly portrayed by William Faulkner’s use of …show more content…
Faulkner uses Emily’s house to symbolize Emily living a life in stasis. Emily’s home is similar to a time capsule, a place forever unchanging and untouched by time. Within her time capsule, Emily can live in a timeless, unchanging world where death does not exist. Death is strategically used to as a symbol for change throughout the story from the start of the story at Emily’s funerals to the end when the townspeople discover Homer Barron’s body in the upstairs bedroom. Death was the only change Emily couldn’t fight, but that didn’t stop her from accepting its ever-present presence in her life. They first become aware of this when Emily initially refuses to admit the death of her over-bearing father. Stating multiple times to the townspeople who came to console her that her father was not dead. In the end, the reader gets a final and a disturbing understanding of Emily’s denial of death with the skeletal body of Emily’s possible suitor Homer Barron laying on a bed, dressed in a suit, and placed beside him was a single strand of Miss Emily’s hair. Lastly, Emily herself is the living embodiment of tradition. Emily is referred to as a monument in the first paragraph, also, in paragraph three the narrator states, “Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town.” William Faulkner didn’t just use Emily as a symbol of tradition, he also used her character illustrate the constant struggle between those of tradition and those of
With the description given of Emily, readers might conclude that it symbolizes her inability to change. He describes Emily’s physical appearance, stating that her clothes are worn out and deteriorating, as so it seems that her views on life are as well. Her appearance may also symbolize Miss Grierson’s refusal to be modern because she’s constantly living in her past. Some may say this because the first description readers see about her is “.a small, fat woman in black, with a thin gold chain descending to her waist and vanishing into her belt, leaning on an ebony cane with a tarnished gold head” (Faulkner).
William Faulkner wrote A Rose for Emily in five different parts. The story begins with a description of Emily’s funeral and then moves into the “near-distant past.” Rather than writing this story in a chronological fashion, Faulkner shifts and manipulates time by stretching the story over several decades. We learn about Emily’s life through flashbacks. However, because the town of Jefferson is the narrator of the story, the reader is limited to only what the town knows. Faulkner wrote this story as if it were in a cloud of dust; many things are not clear. He once said: “given a choice between grief and nothing, I would chose grief.” Although this story is not about him, he details the loneline...
Miss Emily’s house is one of the important symbols which represent the past because it rejects updating like Miss Emily. The “… house had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies, set on what had once been our most select street” (209).Then it ages with Emily an “eyesore among eyesores” (209). She had once been “a slender figure in white” (211) and later she looks “bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water... her eyes lost in the fatty ridges of her face...” (210). She represents the Old South by her actions. She avoided to believe that time were changing and did not join the new society. She even does not come out. One example of Emily lives in the past is when she refuses to pay the tax.
She is also somebody that the townspeople feel they have the need to care for because they see her as part of the town’s history, the narrator describes her as, “Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town…” (Faulkner, I) She was “tradition” and “duty”, they felt an obligation of keeping her and not letting her go because she was a historical figure to them. She also represents death because even though she wanted everything to be left the same, she was physically changing and getting old, the older you get the closer you get to death. Her hair was turning gray and the narrator says her body, “looked bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water…” (Faulkner, I), a “motionless body” makes you think of a death person. When her father died, she was not able to believe that he was dead and wanted to keep him in the house. She could not let go of her death
“A Rose For Emily” by William Faulkner is a story of the life of an odd lady named Emily Grierson. William Faulkner describes Emily as an strange woman through specific details by using foreshadowing throughout the story. He mentions of Emily from when she was young to where she died as an old lady cooped up in her house. After analyzing all the details from the story the reader will realize that it creates mystery and slow pacing throughout the story. William Faulkner uses foreshadowing in “A Rose For Emily” to create mystery and suspense within the story.
William Faulkner used a great deal of symbolism in this story. His use of symbolism captivated the reader until the shocking end of the story. Some of the symbolism was blatant while some was vague and disguised. While Faulkner’s use of the color white in this story wasn’t obvious at first it soon becomes clear that the color white represents innocence and youth. The Grierson house was white and when Miss Emily was a young girl she wore white dresses as opposed to the black attire she wore in her latter years. This represents the innocence of Miss Emily before she becomes a victim of herself and her refusal to change. The yellow color of the wheels of the buggy Miss Emily and Homer Baron rode around town in represented Homer’s cowardice toward marriage. Another color Faulkner used as symbolism was the color red. Red is the color of love and the bedroom in the upstairs of the house was decorated in red symbolizing her love for Homer. Homer was symbolic too. He represented the North so even though he was Miss Emily’s love he was also her antagonist. When the druggist writes “for rats” on the arsenic it is symbolic of Homer. He was a “rat” that came into town and took advantage of Miss Emily because he had no intention of marrying her or staying with her because he was a non-secretive homosexual or bi-sexual ‘Homer himself remarked—he liked men”. Miss Emily’s hair was symbolic in several ways. First, after her father dies, she cuts it short symbolizing her freedom from her father’s controlling ways. When she is old, it becomes iron gray symbolizing strength and strong will since iron is a very strong element. Miss Emily got that strength from her father. When...
At the beginning of the story when her father died, it was mentioned that “[Emily] told [the ladies in town] that her father was not dead. She did that for three days, with the ministers calling on her, and the doctors, trying to persuade her to let them dispose of the body” (626). Faulkner reveals Emily’s dependency on her father through the death of her father. As shown in this part of the story, Emily was very attached to her father and was not able to accept that fact that he was no longer around. She couldn’t let go of the only man that loved her and had been with her for all those years. While this may seem like a normal reaction for any person who has ever lost a loved one, Faulkner emphasizes Emily’s dependence and attachment even further through Homer Barron. After her father’s death, Emily met a man name Homer, whom she fell in love with. While Homer showed interest in Emily at the beginning he became uninterested later on. “Homer himself had remarked—he liked men” (627) which had caused Emily to become devastated and desperate. In order to keep Homer by her side, Emily decided to poison Homer and keep him in a bedroom in her home. It was clear that she was overly attached to Homer and was not able to lose another man that she
“A Rose for Emily” written by William Faulkner is about a strange middle-aged woman, raised in the south with a deep-rooted Southern upbringing. Emily portrays the antagonist in “A Rose for Emily” because she refuses to accept that the world is changing all around her. Emily is haunted by her past and becomes a prisoner of her mind, body, and soul. She refuses to accept the changing times in her life and the world we live. Emily continues to carry herself in a very dignified manner where she lives, even when her world is collapsing in front of her. Emily’s way of life is different from most; however, when traumatizing events take place in a person’s life you can easily lose your mind. In this short story, we will see hurt, despair, death, and how Emily becomes a prisoner in your own home.
One of the most prominent symbols in the story is Emily’s house. The house represents the destruction of the primitive Southern families and aristocracy that surrounded the neighborhood. The author describes the house as “a big, squarish frame…decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies” (Faulkner 668). Contrary to the time period the house was built, the setting of the story takes place much later than the 1870s when everything in the neighborhood has changed. The neighborhood which was once considered “[the] most select street” had “garages and cotton gins [encroach] and [obliterate] the neighborhood” (Faulkner 668). Nonetheless, the reader is able to conclude based on the house’s exterior appearance that it also represents mental illness and death. The house has been left untouched and as one of the very few visitors noted” [the house] smelled of dust and disuse—a close, dank smell” (Faulkner 669). By leaving the interior of the house unchanged for years, Emily had created a shrine of the past. Consequently, the author has instilled another chilling symbol in the story: a single strand of grey hair. The hair, which is found on a pillow next to the decaying body, represents the loss of love and the perverse actions committed by people in order to remain happy. The strand of hair also gives perspective to Emil...
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
William Faulkner's short story “A Rose For Emily” opens the reader into the secluded, odd and depressing life of Miss Emily Grierson as seen through the eyes of people in the town and told through one of the townspeople. The mystery and curiosity from others are highlighted from the very beginning of the story when the the reader is introduced to the death of Miss Emily. From the very beginning sentences, a tone of darkness and curiosity can be felt in the short story. This tone helps to pique the interest of the reader on the reclusive life of the the main character and to enhance the story as it moves along to the climax. Miss Emily lives such a isolated life that very few are a part of. The events that happen and her actions in the story keep the townspeople talking and wondering about her and her home. The people are eager to take a glimpse into the recently departed's house and a tale quickly begins to reveal why people are so fascinated with Miss Emily. Faulkner's use of a inquisitive, gossipy and dark tones help to establish the opinion of Miss Emily to those who live around her and to reveal the already known details she has hidden in her house.
Symbolism can represent an object if it is stated clearly to the to the reader like in the book the rose can be represented as purity as long as the rose is white because white is the cleanest color like Emily from the book she was pure she was un touched also color can be a factor of symbolism because depending on the color of the rose as red can easily be represented as love and black is repressed as death.
Miss Emily's house as the setting of the story is a perfect metaphor for the events occurring during that time period. It portrays the decay of Miss Emily's life and values and of the southern way of life and their clash with the newer generations. The house is situated in what was once a prominent neighborhood that has now deteriorated. Miss Emily's "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 of an earlier time," now looked awkward surrounded by "cotton wagons" and "gasoline pumps." The townspeople consider it "an eyesore among eyesores." Time has taken a similar role with Miss Emily altering her appearance from that of a "slender figure in white" (624) to that of "a small, fat woman in black" (622). The setting of Faulkner's story defines Miss Emily's tight grasp of ante-bellum ways and unchanging demeanor.. Through her refusal to put "metal numbers above her door and attach a mail box" to her house she is refusing to change with society. Miss Emily's attitude towards change is ...
Also, Miss. Emily's house is mentioned as representation on the old south. As the other houses in the neighborhood had improved, and “Miss Emily's house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay” (Faulkner .) The setting of the house shows that she is still stuck in her old way. It becomes an eyesore in the neighborhood, and it reminds the
Emily’s house plays a big part in this story. While the house is in good condition, slavery is still strong. With the house in its decayed state, slavery is about to be abolished. “A tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation” Faulkner writes. Faulkner uses symbolism to connect the house with the current status of slavery during the American Civil