A Rose For Emily Old South Analysis

In William Faulkner’s short story, “A Rose for Emily,” the speaker gives specific details involving the setting. He shares with us the crucial information to understand the story’s true value. In the story, the setting helps the readers comprehend when and where to place exactly why some things in the story happen for a reason and to make it a vivid adventure. Symbolism also plays a part in making the story one to remember. In “A Rose for Emily,” the setting and symbols both act as vital roles by describing important items that symbolize a greater meaning and placing the time period in which it is set.

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

Throughout life people face many hardships, including life and death, letting go is such a hard thing for these people to do. In the story, A Rose for Emily, Faulkner writes about love and the effect it can have on a person . Faulkner writes about how Miss Emily loses her father and he is the only person she has in her life. Later in the story, Homer Barron came to their town to fix the streets. People begin seeing Miss Emily and Homer together and believe that they are going to get married. The time comes for Homer to leave and it was believed that Miss Emily will kill herself if she loses another person she loves. Homer disappears and Emily never exits the house, all everyone sees is the

Although some have and still may argue that this is an unnecessary confusion created by Faulkner, we must ask ourselves whether or not we would have given this symbolism much importance without Faulkner’s particular way of presenting it. Faulkner effectively draws attention to the differences of the South’s old and new generations and to their particular flaws in “A Rose of Emily” using the switching point of view tactic, which is depicted not only in this short story, but also in “Barn

One of the largest cultural revolutions in history occurred after the American Civil War, completely changing the lives of those who lived in the southern United States. Despite the improvements to society these revolutions bring, some people will reject these changes by clinging to their outdated ideologies. In his short story “A Rose for Emily,” William Faulkner focuses on the life and death of Miss Emily Grierson, an aging woman who loathes all forms of change. Throughout the story, Faulkner presents Miss Grierson as the last person to embrace the antebellum culture through her rejection of posantbellum changes, references to antebellum society, and description of the town’s thoughts and feelings toward Miss Grierson. Each time Miss Grierson faces changes, she refuses to accept them, reinforcing the idea that she rejects modern ideas and retraction from reality. When the city asks Miss Grierson to pay taxes, she quickly dismisses the city’s patient pleas by telling the council at her house, “See Colonel Sartoris. I have no taxes in Jefferson” (section I, paragraph 12). She commands the council to see a deceased mayor, reinforcing Miss Grierson’s detachment from the present. Later, Miss Grierson solely refuses to allow the post office to “fasten the metal numbers above her door and attach a mailbox” when the town receives free mail service. Since she is accustomed to the antebellum society and cannot adjust to postbellum improvements, she rejects the new mail system. After

William Faulkner is a well-known author, whose writing belongs in the Realism era in the American Literary Canon. His writing was influence by his Southern upbringing, often setting his stories in the fictional Southern town, Yoknapatawpha County. “A Rose for Emily” was one of Faulkner’s first published pieces and displays many of the now signature characteristics of Faulkner’s writing. The short story provides commentary through the use of many symbols. In William Faulkner’s short story, “A Rose for Emily”, the author uses the townspeople as a representation of societal expectations and judgments, Emily and her house as symbols for the past, and Homer’s corpse as a physical representation of the fear of loneliness.

A Rose for Emily, by William Faulkner shows many different symbolic ideas after the civil war in the south. Emily is a younger close-minded sheltered woman. The only way of life that Emily knows is the life with her father and after her father’s death Emily tries to preserve how she remembers life with her father. The use of the characters in the story shows the change that was happening between the south and north after the war.

Being raised in the south, there are somethings that life teaches a person; you always hold the door, acknowledge someone as they pass you by, and always say “ya’ll”. The southern culture is something that sites in its own niche of history and drags the past into the future. In A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner, the reader gets a taste of the south and the way of southern living through an outside view of Emily Grierson’s life in a strange series of events. Falkner’s character, Emily, symbolizes the conflict of the past and the future in southern heritage though the events of her life.

“The men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old man-servant--a combined gardener and cook--had seen in at least ten years.” Miss Emily and her house had become a monument to the Old South. The entire town went to go see Miss Emily’s burial, to go pay their respects to a way of life meeting its end. The Southern aristocracy had met its end and the time for a new South was now, reborn by carpetbaggers and freed slaves.

The Reconstruction Era pushes away the refinement of Emily’s time and leaves her obsolete in a culture where she feels foreign and ostracized. Because of the Civil War and the following Reconstruction Era, the transformation of society challenges Emily’s strength of character, but she stays true to herself and her upbringing. Out of desperation to preserve her way of life and yet acquire a husband, she attaches her affections basically to the first man who comes along and even murders him rather than risk losing him. Only after her death do the townspeople discover how truly impervious and perverse she has been in her total dedication to forever remain a genteel antebellum Southern belle even though it makes her an anachronism. William Faulkner utilizes his own understanding of the Old South from his Mississippi roots and the stories of the strong southern women in his family to create believable, memorable characters who could not exist in any other place or

The Civil War was fought over the issue of slavery. It was a war that divided the United States in half: the Union and the Confederacy. After the father’s death, Miss Grierson met a Yankee from the North, Homer Barron. Mr. Homer was working outside of her house doing some construction on the pavement. There was rumor of Miss Grierson being interested in the “Northerner, a day laborer”. She went to the pharmacy and asked for the deadliest poison they had. Miss Emily ended up murdering the Yankee, Homer Barron. After all Miss Grierson was recognized as a fallen monument. She had gained affection and respect from her community.

In the Rose for Emily, there is a present struggle between the new south and old south. The two main characters in the story are Emily Grierson and Homer Barron. Emily represents the old south while Homer represents the new south. Emily has been raised by her father who follows the old south rules very strictly, so therefor she acts as if she still lives in the south. Homer on the other hand is a Yankee and is seen as an underclass in the south.

“A Rose for Emily”, written by William Faulkner, tells the story of a lonely woman who is stuck in her own timeframe. Miss Emily refuses to adapt to the new ways of the South and keeps her own traditions instead. The town she lived in spread much gossip about her, they pitted her lost soul. “A Rose for Emily” highlights the traditions of the Old South vs the New, which is told through the life of Miss Emily who refuses to change.

Faulkner uses Emily’s character to represent the Old South in health and death. Her stubborn attitude and her decorum both reflect the characteristics of the Old South. When the men go to her home and confront her about her unpaid taxes and she asks them to leave, she represents that women in the Old South were not argued with and not questioned as not to insult them. The way that the people of the town treat her reflects this even further. The people of the town treat Emily as a monument just as they had seen the Old South. “It was another link between the gross, teeming world and the high and mighty Griersons.” They see her as something to observe and only interfere when she does something they do not like, such as dating a Northerner. Even in death The Old South follows her. “And now Miss Emily had gone to join the representatives of those August names where they lay in the cedar-bemused cemetery among the ranked and anonymous graves of Union and Confederate soldiers who fell at the battle of Jefferson.”

The author uses the town as a symbol of the new South by utilizing the historical context, the overall thematic elements as well as the characterization of the protagonist.