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Theme Of A Rose For Emily

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In "A Rose for Emily", William Faulkner tells the story of an old and lonely lady stuck in her own period. Her controlling father died some thirty years ago, and she has never quite found her own ground. Her house has become the most hideous looking home on the once most select street in the city. Previously elegant and white with scrolled balconies, it was now encroached with dust and decay. The people in Miss Emily's city gossip about her and pity her lost soul. She soon begins dating a young bachelor by the name of Homer Barron, whom is part of the construction company paving sidewalks on her street. After Miss Emily's death the townspeople breakdown her upstairs room that had been sealed shut for some forty years. "A Rose for Emily" tells the story of tradition versus nontraditional and old versus new, which is brought to light through the story's plot, characters, and setting.
Right the beginning of the story surely it will be about old versus new. The writer begins by describing Miss Emily's house, which was once luxurious, is now old and dusty. "It was a big, squarish frame house that had once been white [Now] an eyesore among eyesores" (Faulkner). The house itself stands for tradition, it has aged, and instead of moving along with the rebuilding of the South, it has stayed the same. So much so that when she walks into a room, people are expected to rise in reverence of her. Miss Emily is the old lady that everyone feels pity for. Her father, who sheltered her very

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