A Rose For Emily Change Analysis

In “A Rose for Emily”, William Faulkner uses imagery and symbolism to both illustrate and strengthen the most prevalent theme; Emily’s resistance to change. William Faulkner seems to reveal this theme through multiple descriptions of Miss Grierson’s actions, appearance, and her home. Throughout the short story it is obvious that Emily has a hard time letting go of her past, she seems to be holding onto every bit of her past. Readers see this shown in several ways, some more obvious than others.

In “A Rose for Emily”, Charles Faulkner used a series of flashbacks and foreshadowing to tell Miss Emily’s story. Miss Emily is an interesting character, to say the least. In such a short story of her life, as told from the prospective of a townsperson, who had been nearly eighty as Miss Emily had been, in order to tell the story from their own perspective. Faulkner set up the story in Mississippi, in a world he knew of in his own lifetime. Inspired by a southern outlook that had been touched by the Civil War memory, the touch of what we would now look at as racism, gives the southern aroma of the period. It sets up Miss Emily’s southern belle status and social standing she had been born into, loner or not.

William Faulkner uses the short story “A Rose for Emily” to depict the social attitudes of the Old South after the Civil War. The main character Miss Emily Grierson epitomizes the failure of the South to adjust to the changes inflicted on it. Prior to the Civil War, Miss Emily belonged to a prominent and wealthy family of Jefferson who was part of the Aristocratic class. The story portrays how she refused to accept her new social status and was in complete denial. An illustration of her inability to face reality was when she kept Mr. Tobe working as her man-servant, even though she had lost her fortunes and could no longer afford such luxury. Another example of Miss Emily being unable to adjust to change was during the death of her father. She acted as if it had not happened and told her neighbors “that her

William Faulkner’s short story, A Rose for Emily, is a dark tale of a young girl damaged by her father that ended up leaving her with abandonment issues. Placed in the south in the 1930’s, the traditional old south was beginning to go under transition. It went from being traditionally based on agriculture and slavery to gradually moving into industrial and abolition. Most families went smoothly into the transition and others, like the Griersons, did not. Keeping with southern tradition, the Griersons thought of themselves as much higher class then the rest of their community. Emily’s father found no male suitable for his daughter and kept her single into her thirties. After her fathers death Miss Emily was swept off of

Miss. Emily has a history of instability in her family “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 311) A delegation is sent to Miss. Emily’s house to tell her that she has to pay taxes now, regardless of what Colonel Sartoris said. Emily simply tells them, “See Colonel Sartoris. I have no taxes in Jefferson.”(Faulkner 309) Miss. Emily, unfortunately, begins to exhibit signs of crazy. She does not seem to comprehend death or the past because later we find that, “”See Colonel Sartoris.” (Colonel Sartoris had been dead almost ten years).”(Faulkner 310) Colonel Sartoris is no longer alive. Miss. Emily does not know this information.

In the short story, “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, there are several instances of Mrs. Emily resisting and showing her overwhelming disdain for the oncoming train of change to many aspects of her life. One such resistance to change is when Mrs. Emily refuses to pay her taxes. She shows her disdain for the unwanted change by saying, “I have no taxes in Jefferson. Colonel Sartoris explained it to me. Perhaps one of you can gain access to the city records and satisfy

Emily Grierson is a very misunderstood individual. She lived her entire 74 years of life in the same house in the same city of Jefferson, Mississippi and yet, only a very small group of people can claim they know much about the woman, especially during the later years of her life. She had a mysterious way about her which intrigued all of those around her. The story of “A Rose for Emily” does not occur in chronological order and as a reader, it almost portrays the illusion of being a newcomer to Jefferson, Mississippi and learning about her story through gossip which plays a huge role in this story. As the story begins, Mrs. Grierson has just recently passed and the town gathered at her residency to give condolences and subdue their curiosities.

In 1930 William Faulkner published his very first story, “A Rose for Emily.” The story emerges with the funeral of Emily Grierson and discloses the story out of sequence; Faulkner brings into play an anonymous first-person narrator thought to be the representation of Grierson’s municipality. Miss Emily Grierson’s life was read to be controlled by her father and all his restrictions. Grierson was raised through her life with the thought that no man was adequate for her. Stuck in her old ways, Grierson continued with the Old South’s traditions once her father had passed. Awhile following her father’s death, Emily aims to put the longing for love to a stop and allows Homer Barron to enter her life. Faulkner portrays the literary movement of Modernism utilizing allegory through the post-bellum South after the American Civil War. In the short story “A Rose Emily,” William Faulkner uses a series of symbols to illustrate the prominent theme of the resistance of the refinement of life around Miss Emily.

“A Rose for Emily” compares the changing times of the current world to an overweight, unchanging protagonist who embodies old south tradition in her looks and the never-changing looks of the things around her. Miss Emily repeatedly shows the readers that she has issues with moving on into a more current and modern society. She shows that she is not ready to move forth in the world by refusing to allow the town to put numbers on her home and attach a mailbox once the city received free postal service ( Faulkner 314). Free postal service is more convenient, however

Falkner's story is about the last breaths of the antebellum south. The narrator of the story describes Miss Emily this way: "Alive Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town"¦" (50). The town of Jefferson is at caught between the future and the past, the diminishing glory of the Grierson home is juxtaposed by a modern, more commercial future. The town had not even taxed Miss Emily's property due to some forgotten arrangement, yet when "the next generation, with its more modern ideas, became mayors, councilman and aldermen, this arrangement created some dissatisfaction." (50). The depth of this struggle is revealed in the fact that though the city leaders served Miss Emily with a tax bill, she chose to ignore it, and they chose to do nothing in response. These issues affirm the town's collective

“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is short story that unknown narrator tells the strange conditions of Emily’s life and her relationships with her father. Faulkner touches numerous problems linked to dark parts of human life and uses a nameless narrator that represents the voice of the town. The story starts with the burial of the main character who is Emily Grierson. In the story, the author uses the life of Emily Grierson as a symbol of the changes after the American Civil War. In order to illustrate the collapse of the post-bellum South, Faulkner uses a series of symbols, such as hair, Emily’s “rose”, dust, Emily’s house and Emily herself, Faulkner illustrate the collapse of the post- bellum South after the American Civil War.

Faulkner mentions that, "Only Miss Emily's house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps" (221). The way Faulkner describes her home gives insight to how she clings on to the past. He also mentions, "Each December we sent her a tax notice, which would be returned by the post office a week later, unclaimed" (225). Miss Emily refusing to pay her taxes shows that she is only

The main character in the story, Emily, is stubborn and refuses to change with the times. Emily tries to hold onto the past, but the town around her is evolving. One example of this occurs when the town gets a mail service. Most of the town is welcoming to the idea, but Emily “refused to let them fasten the metal numbers above her door and attach a mailbox to it” (735). While this action may seem innocent enough, it really symbolic of how the town is evolving and taking up modern ways such as mail service. Emily is the only person who will not change her ways. In this way, the reader is able to understand the theme that the South is changing post reconstruction, the new is coming even when some try to avoid it.

In “ A Rose for Emily,” the entire community conspires to protect both Emily and the small town from the shame and stigma of Emily’s illness and idiosyncratic behavior. The story focuses on Emily Grierson, the last living Grierson. Emily is an older lady living in Mississippi. As new town leaders take over, they make unsuccessful attempts to get Emily to resume payments on her taxes. She says that Colonel Sartoris has told her she has no taxes in Jefferson, though the Colonel had been dead for almost a decade. The main setting of the story is a creepy old house in Jefferson, Mississippi where Emily Grierson, the last living Grierson, lives. The house is not only old, but very run down. The setting of "A Rose for Emily" helps develop a plot line which examines the effects of loneliness and isolation have on a person’s psyche. As a result, the story conveys a true and timeless main theme: one must change with the times; if one does not change with time, then one falls behind.

The story is divided into five sections. In section I, the narrator recalls the time of Emily Grierson’s death and how the entire town attended her funeral in her home, which no stranger had entered for more than ten years. In a once-elegant, upscale neighborhood, Emily’s house is the last vestige of the grandeur of a lost era. Colonel Sartoris, the town’s previous mayor, had suspended Emily’s tax responsibilities to the town after her father’s death, justifying the action by claiming that Mr. Grierson had once lent the community a significant sum. As new town leaders take over, they make unsuccessful attempts to get Emily to resume payments. When members of the Board of Aldermen pay her a visit, in the dusty and antiquated parlor, Emily reasserts the fact that she is not required to pay taxes in Jefferson and that the officials should talk to Colonel Sartoris about the matter. However, at that point he has been dead for almost a decade. She asks her servant, Tobe, to show the men out.