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In "A Rose for Emily," why is Emily referred to as a "fallen monument" in the first paragraph?

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In "A Rose for Emily," Miss Emily is compared to a "fallen monument" because she seems like such a stalwart representative of a bygone era. In dying, however, she "falls," proving that time inevitably marches on and that societies and their values change.

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The narrator of the story compares Miss Emily Grierson to a "fallen monument" via an analogy in the first paragraph because she seems to represent an era in historical time rather than seeming like an actual, individual person. Monuments often mark such historical moments. Emily and her family have long been reminiscent of the Old South, with their antiquated ideas about class and honor. Even their home, with its now "coquettish decay," was constructed in the 1870s, very shortly after the end of the American Civil War; it now seems "stubborn" and stalwartly old-fashioned in the midst of gasoline pumps and cotton wagons. It will not give way to new ideas or inventions, just as the Griersons would not give way either.

Miss Emily's movements have always seemed rather inscrutable to her fellows in the town. She cannot accept her father's passing and declares that he is just fine for several days after his death. Later, she dates Homer Barron, a Yankee worker of whom her father would never have approved. She purchases poison from the druggist but will not say what for. After the involvement of her family, Homer eventually disappears for good, and Miss Emily becomes rather a recluse for most of the rest of her life. She is not understood and feels as old-fashioned and stubborn as her home, and for this reason she is described as a "fallen monument," something that seemed so strong but which, ultimately, could not stand.

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The description of Miss Emily is primarily a metaphor, in which William Faulkner compares her to a statue or other human-made artifact that has toppled or crumbled from disuse or disrepair. "Fallen" emphasizes the passive or accidental quality by which this occurred. "Monument" emphasizes that Emily was a symbol of a larger entity—in this case, a way of life—that was once prominent and worthy of commemorating. "Fallen," however, is also an old-fashioned term for a woman who has become sexually active without being married, sometimes becoming a social outcast. This may apply to Emily as well.

He goes on to describe the deterioration and decay of Emily's home, which was of an old-fashioned architectural style and had been sorely neglected after her father's death. Its association with decay is furthered when he mentions its unpleasant smell.

Emily herself is described in unflattering terms. She stopped taking pride in her appearance, to the point of becoming obese, and then stopped appearing in public at all.

Finally it becomes clear that Miss Emily had fallen very far. Her sanity was gone, she kept a corpse in her bed, and she was probably a murderer. We cannot know if she had a sexual relationship with Homer, but the townspeople apparently thought so, thus the connotation of "fallen woman."

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As was mentioned in the previous post, Emily Grierson is a vestige of the Old South before the Civil War. She comes from a prestigious, wealthy family who owned slaves and were well respected throughout the town of Jefferson. The Grierson's occupied the upper-class and also inhabited a mansion that depicted their financial success. Following the Civil War, the entire social system of the South completely changed. Slavery was outlawed, the Griersons gradually lost their fortune, and old traditions were eventually forgotten. Emily Grierson becomes a hermit who resembles a corpse, and her family's once magnificent mansion is decaying. Both Emily and her home symbolically represent how the Old South has "fallen." The former Southern aristocracy has lost its wealth and prestige following the Civil War. Similar to a "fallen monument," Emily is a sad reminder of the Old South's former glory. She and her home represent the remnants of the tradition, lifestyle, and society of the Antebellum period. 

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Why is Miss Emily described as a "fallen monument" in the story?

Miss Emily represents the American South as it was before the Civil War.  She comes from wealth that was built on the backs of slaves, and that wealth is now gone.  She is the last of the Griersons. Her house and her person are both symbolic of how the South has "fallen."

The house in which Miss Emily resides is a mansion that has clearly seen better days. It has "cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies...on what had once been our most select street" (1). It is now in "coquettish decay" (1), an "eyesore among eyesores" (1).  When the townspeople go to try to collect the taxes that Miss Emily owes, they are admitted to a house that "smelled of dust and disuse - a close, dank smell" (1). 

Miss Emily herself deteriorates throughout the story. She is obese and "bloated" (1) during this first visit to the house. When her father dies, she shows clear evidence of mental deterioration, denying that her father has died.  Her hair begins to turn gray, and she remains obese.  For the most part, she remains sequestered in her house, with the notable exception of her purchase of rat poison.  She never is financially able to pay her taxes, she has shut off large parts of the house because she cannot maintain them, and she dies alone in a downstairs room, "her gray head propped up on a pillow yellow and moldy with age and lack of sunlight" (5). 

The specter of the Civil War hangs heavy over this story. After the war, Miss Emily is "a fallen monument" (1), living in a house that is fallen, too.  The demise of the ruling class of the South is represented in Miss Emily, who is the last in her family, and possibly the last of that generation in her town.                        

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Why is Emily called a "fallen monument" in Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily"?

This question is perhaps especially timely today when there has been much controversy about monuments in the South and their significance for good or (much more) for ill.

One of the things that always emerges in Faulkner and in the works of many other Southern US writers is their obsession with the past and with the fact that the South lost the Civil War. Often the losing side remembers a war and continues to be haunted by it, while the victorious side forgets it in time and moves on. With the Civil War, the loss not only was incurred on Southern territory (virtually every major engagement of the war was fought in the South except for Gettysburg), but it ended up changing the South's entire way of life, which was, as Margaret Mitchell famously indicated, "gone with the wind."

In this Faulkner story, Miss Emily, in her isolation and abnormality, is emblematic of the Old South itself. She's a Gothic figure, and the narrator likens her to a monument not only because of this sense of time having passed her by, but because there is something ossified about her. Though Faulkner wrote this story nearly 90 years ago, in some sense he was prescient as to the fact that the monuments of the South would eventually be passed by, as they are today. The town moves on, but Emily does not. The revelation at the end is an extension of this metaphorical meaning of Emily's life as a stand-in for the South itself. The Old South is dead, just as the body in Emily's house is dead, and the fact that she has kept the body there with her indicates that she, too, has become one of the dead, though outwardly still living.

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Why is Emily called a "fallen monument" in Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily"?

Emily Grierson is a vestige of the Old South before the Civil War and hails from a Southern aristocratic family, which has recently fallen on hard times. Before the Civil War, the Griersons occupied the upper-class of Jefferson's society and were revered by the community. Following the Civil War, slavery was outlawed, and the Grierson family lost their fortune. Shortly after, Emily Grierson's father dies, and her mental state begins to decline as she becomes a reclusive hermit. Emily's physical appearance begins to resemble a corpse, and the Grierson's once beautiful mansion slowly decays. Both Emily Grierson and her once extravagant home represent how the Old South has "fallen." Similar to the once revered Confederacy, Emily Grierson is referred to as a "fallen monument," which is a reminder of the former glory of the Old South. Emily and her home represent the remnants of culture, traditions, and customs of the Antebellum period.

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Why is Emily called a "fallen monument" in Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily"?

One of the themes in "A Rose for Emily" is the conflict between the Old South (pre-Civil War to about 1875) and the New South (1875 onwards), with Miss Emily representing what's left of the Old South, and the town itself, which is the narrator and a character in the story, representing the Old South becoming the New South.  The town as narrator/character is partly still in the Old South but is moving steadily to the New South.

One aspect of the Old South is a respect for, a reverence for, pre-Civil War southern society, which included a wealthy land-owning, slave-owning class.  The Grierson family, of which Miss Emily appears to be the last surviving member, was part of the pre-Civil War aristocratic stratum of society in Jefferson.  The town, even though it has begun to move away from the Old South, still holds onto a vestige of respect for the southern aristocratic Grierson family and therefore looks at Miss Emily as a sort of monument:

Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town. . . .

Later, in the "Homer Barron" episode, when Miss Emily appears to allow Homer Barron, a Yankee and day-laborer, to court her, the town is scandalized by her behavior because it believes she is associating with someone well below her class:

She carried her head high enough--even when we believed that she was fallen.  It was as if she demanded more than ever the recognition of her dignity as the last Grierson. . . .

The town, still clinging tenuously to the Old South conception of an aristocracy, cannot believe Emily is abandoning her duty to act in accord with noblesse oblige, her obligation to behave as a southern aristocrat, and the appropriate behavior did not include an attachment to a Northerner and someone below her class.  She is, to the town, fallen below her station in life.

In essence, then, Miss Emily is a monument because she is the last representative of the southern aristocracy in the town, and even though her economic circumstances are now grim, she is still accorded some respect simply for her family's history in Jefferson.  She becomes a "fallen monument" by violating the town's social norms when she associates herself with someone not even remotely close to her class.

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In "A Rose for Emily," why is Miss Emily called a "fallen monument"?

The answer to your first question is contained in the second question you ask.  Miss Emily had been one of those "women of the Old South,"  from a family of means, and is now in a position where she isunable to pay her taxes or maintain her household properly.  Do you see the idea behind a person on a pedestal and a fallen monument? A person who has toppled from the pedestal is a kind of fallen monument.  If you try to combine thes ideas, you get a bit of a mixed metaphor because a statue is not exactly the same as a monument, but the similarity is there, something that was high and mighty has now fallen.

Why have the high and mighty fallen? It is likely that Miss Emily's family has been going downhill since the Civil War.  Most of the status and wealth of Southern families was built upon the free labor of slaves.  Once slavery ended, there was no free labor, and that wealth and status crumbled. 

Unfortunately, many Southern families continued to perceive themselves to be above others, and consequently, did little or nothing to solve their real problem, which was to find a way to make a living without profiting from the free toil of African-Americans.

Miss Emily is likely to think of herself as still on the pedestal, or, even if she does not, the habits of generations of her family and the influence of a clearly dominating father keep her firmly fixed on the pedestal in her own mind.  There is no one suitable for her to marry, and her father appears to have chased off all suitors, either because they were unsuitable or because he wanted her to take care of him.

All of these dynamics lead to a sad life and death for Miss Emily, which should suggest to all of us that when things change, so should we!  That is just one message one might take from the story, but the story is rich in meaning, and there are many themes to explore.

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