How is "A Rose for Emily" allegorical?
Miss Emily is allegorical in this story because she represents the "old" South. She is the great, old "Grand Dame" of the South, the "Southern Belle," if you will. She also represents the inability to change and what happens when one is not willing to change with the times. Her own physical deterioration and the deterioration of her home mirror the deterioration of the old ways of the South (an agricultural-based society).
The story is allegorical, also, in that it is representative of the old, outdated, at times comical, ways and traditions of the "old" South. Faulkner was very familiar with these traditions and ways; eNotes states that:
Originally, the town was governed by men of the old South like Colonel Sartoris and Judge Stevens. Men like this operated under a code of chivalry that was extremely protective of white women. Thus, Colonel Sartoris is unable to allow the town to tax a poor spinster, and Judge Stevens is unable to confront Emily about the smell coming from her house. As each generation passes the torch, however, the newer generations are further and further away from the antiquated social mores of their forebears.
How is "A Rose for Emily" allegorical?
An allegory is a story in which the characters and the events of the story are symbolic, all designed to express an overall symbolic message. In this story, the allegory is a commentary on the relationship between the North and the South after the Civil War. The town, Emily, and the relationship between the two are representative of the South. Emily is "old family", and the town treats her as such. The respect the family and give it a wide berth, not even going into the house when a foul smell emanates from it into the rest of the town. Emily, in her isolationist ways, shows the unwillingness of the South to change, despite being "invaded" by the influence from the North.
The "the next generation, with its more modem ideas, became mayors and aldermen" tried to change the ways of Emily, but ultimately they failed. When they demanded taxes, she refused to pay, and she won. This is symbolic of the South's determination to retain its character and its culture.
Besides the "next generation", Homer Barron - a Northern carpetbagger - represents the North after the Civil War. Homer, like the North, came in and had an impact on Emily. He tried to leave, as many of the carpetbaggers did after Reconstruction. Emily was having none of that, and killed him. Faulkner is delivering a strong message for the power of the South, despite what it suffered during Reconstruction.
What does the rose symbolize in "A Rose for Emily"?
Roses are flowers that are often associated with love and lovers, as lovers often give roses as tokens of their feelings. Poor Emily Grierson never seems to have experienced such a real, romantic love in her lifetime. The narrator describes "the young men her father had driven away": when her father died, she really had no one else.
By the time Emily goes to the drug store to buy some poison, she is already over thirty, and this happens not very long after her father's death. Considering the era in which Emily lives, thirty is pretty old to be the object of someone's romantic advances or to be getting married. However, Emily has been in a relationship with a laborer from the North, a loud and brash man called Homer Barron. Everyone feels that he is an inappropriate choice for her and that her father would never have approved of her seeing him, but Emily seems not to care what others think. It is well known that Homer is not "a marrying man," and so when he disappears one day, everyone believes that he has abandoned Emily.
Emily, however, perhaps in her desperation not to be abandoned again, especially after her father's death left her so alone, murders Homer with the poison and keeps his moldering body in her own bed. In the absence of real romance, Emily creates a maudlin version of togetherness. It is both sad and creepy, and Faulkner, it seems, offers Emily the "rose" of the title as if in memory of the love she so long desired but never really received.
How does "A Rose for Emily" represent the Old South versus the New South?
The story represents the Old South as a place of tradition, respect, and distinct gender identities. For instance, the narrator tells us that men went to Miss Emily Grierson's funeral "through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument." Miss Emily's house is the only traditional home left, "decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies...." The house is personified as being "stubborn and coquettish," though it had become an absolute eyesore as a result of its decay and age. Miss Emily herself is described as "a tradition... a sort of hereditary obligation upon the down." She was cared for, after her father's death, by the mayor of the town, who declared that Miss Emily would not have to pay any taxes, essentially, in order to help her to preserve her dignity and keep her home and status. He invented a tale about her father having loaned the town money once, though "Only a man of [his] generation and thought could have invented it, and only a woman could have believed it." This kind of respect for a lady's dignity— acknowledged again when Judge Stevens refused to "accuse a lady to her face of smelling bad"—smacks of the Old South.
The New South, on the other hand, is a place where Miss Emily's ancient status has no significance. She is suddenly expected to pay taxes, just like everyone else, and concern about her dignity is no longer extended by the men who rule the town. In the New South, "garages and cotton gins had encroached" on what had once been the "most select street" in Jefferson, and the "cotton wagons and gasoline pumps" create eyesores. Commerce and financial concerns seem to be the bottom line, not respect for an old woman from a once-great family. Things like status and pedigree are no longer cherished or respected, and "tradition" begins to be viewed as old-fashioned, outdated, and strange.
How does "A Rose for Emily" represent the Old South versus the New South?
William Faulkner’s work often showcases the changing times in southern society, and no story does this more effectively or more compactly than his short story “A Rose for Emily.” In this story, obsolete ideas and traditions from pre-Civil War days clash with the more modern ways of the New South. We see this exemplified in the story of Miss Emily Greirson, the remaining member of an aristocratic family that once embodied the glory days of the Old South.
The Old South is represented by Miss Emily herself and in the once-grand house she still inhabits. Once ornate and pristine, the house has fallen into decay, representing the crumbling of the Old South. As the remaining member of the Greirson family and the social status associated with it, Miss Emily too is a representative of a time and place that no longer exist. The world has moved on, but Miss Emily and her home have not. The best example of this is the tax bills she continually ignores, claiming an exemption granted by a former mayor of the city who has long been dead.
Another example is Miss Emily’s beau, a young laborer from the North who comes to make changes to the town. Surprising everyone, Miss Emily becomes infatuated with Homer Barron, but this unlikely pairing is eventually doomed, suggesting once again the clash of the Old South and the New. It is not until the end of the story that we learn that Homer Barron has remained – a corpse – in an upstairs bedroom of Miss Emily’s home. Furthermore, evidence suggests that Miss Emily has lain by his side the whole time. Not able to reconcile the Old South with the New, she remained imprisoned in her decaying home with the decaying body of her lover, until they were ultimately united in death.
In "A Rose for Emily", what is the role of dust and decay?
Symbolic of the demise of the Old South and the way of life that Emily has known, dust and decay add to the gothic effect of Faulkner's story, as well. In "A Rose for Emily," after the men of Colonel Sartoris's generation have passed away, a new delegation of aldermen with "more modern ideas" call upon Emily to request her taxes:
A deputation...knocked at the door through which no visitor had passed since she ceased giving china-painting lessons eight or ten years earlier. They were admitted by the old Negro into a dim hall....It smelled of dust and disuse--a close, dank smell. When...they sat down, a faint dust rose sluggishly about their things, spinning with slow motes in the single sunray.
Amid this dust Emily enters dressed in black, wearing her deceased father's watch chain. In the midst of the dying world, Emily clings to what she has known and asks the old servant to "Show these gentlemen out." Emily insists that her father is not dead, and "clings to that which had robbed her, as people will."
Likewise, Emily clings to another who has "robbed" her. Having lost the respect of the townspeople by going with a worker from the North, Homer Barron, Emily remains reclusive until she dies,
Fell ill in the house filled with dust and shadows...
After Emily is buried, the narrators force their way into the one room that no one has seen in forty years:
The violence of breaking down the door seemed to fill this room with prervading dust. A thin, acrid pall as of the tomb seemed to lie everywhere upon this room decked and furnished as for a bridal....Thne we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifeted someting from it...that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils....
The remnant of Emily in her strand of hair, the remant of her life in the dry dust, a life thwarted by time and patriarchy--a truly Southern Gothic moment. Like the Old South and its way of life, Emily has also decayed, leaving only a strand of hair as a reminder of what once was.
In "A Rose for Emily", what is the role of dust and decay?
The dust and decay found in Miss Emily's house represent not only Miss Emily's fading life but also the fate of tradition in the Old South. Like Miss Emily, tradition (such as race relations and special privileges for old, wealthy families) is dissipating.
Miss Emily closes herself off to society and begins to decay while being enveloped in dust just as tradition in the town gives way to younger aldermen pushing new ways (and taxes) and Northerners such as Homer Barron invading its epicenter.
In the end, one could argue that the Old South, while dusty and decaying, triumphs because Miss Emily gets the best of Homer Barron while standing her ground with the town and her relatives. However, she and most of the town's traditions expire, and the modern (nosey townspeople) invades the old (her home) after her death to witness the grotesque sight in her dusty, literally decaying room.
Where is symbolism present in "A Rose for Emily"?
Miss Emily Grierson's home is, in many ways, symbolic of Miss Emily herself. The narrator says of the house,
It was a 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, set on what had once been our most select street. But garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of that neighborhood; only Miss Emily's house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps-an eyesore among eyesores.
Miss Emily is outdated, old-fashioned; she does not make sense anymore, and she makes less and less sense as the years pass. The house is likewise dilapidated, and growing more and more so, and it seems to become more rapidly out of place as the world around it changes. It is described as possessing a stubborn and coquettish decay, a phrase that also seems to describe its owner. She is likewise stubborn. For example, when she is approached by the new generation of town authorities, she refers them to the ten years-dead Colonel Sartoris for proof that she does not pay taxes in Jefferson. Further, the reference to coquetry personifies the home as being flirtatious in an antebellum lady sort of way, just as Miss Emily seems to carry herself very much as a similar kind of lady (despite the fact that the war is long over).
Where is symbolism present in "A Rose for Emily"?
Symbolism is a literary device in which a writer uses a concrete object to represent an abstract idea. While not all writers use symbolism, Faulkner has chosen to employ symbolism in at least seven different ways in “A Rose for Emily.”
1. Dust: Dust can be symbolic of many things: neglect, aging, things that are overlooked, and/ or the biblical concept of ashes to ashes, dust to dust. There are seven different mentions of dust throughout the story. Here is an example of those instances:
It smelled of dust and disuse—a close, dank smell. The Negro led them into the parlor. It was furnished in heavy, leather-covered furniture. When the Negro opened the blinds of one window, they could see that the leather was cracked; and when they sat down, a faint dust rose sluggishly about their thighs, spinning with slow motes in the single sun-ray. On a tarnished gilt easel before the fireplace stood a crayon portrait of Miss Emily’s father (I.5).
2. Rat/ Snake: Both of these animals are associated with conniving and dishonesty. The druggist offers Emily “rat” poison.
“I want some poison,” she said to the druggist. She was over thirty then, still a slight woman, though thinner than usual, with cold, haughty black eyes in a face the flesh of which was strained across the temples and about the eye-sockets as you imagine a lighthouse-keeper’s face ought to look. “I want some poison,” she said.
"Yes, Miss Emily. What kind? For rats and such? I'd recom—” (III.33-34)
Later, the townspeople begin looking for the source of the terrible smell emanating from Emily’s home:
It's probably just a snake or a rat that nigger of hers killed in the yard. I'll speak to him about it (II.20).
3. Iron: this metal is associated with being cold and inflexible. Emily’s hair is described as “iron gray.”
When we next saw Miss Emily, she had grown fat and her hair was turning gray. During the next few years it grew grayer and grayer until it attained an even pepper-and-salt iron-gray, when it ceased turning. Up to the day of her death at seventy-four it was still that vigorous iron-gray, like the hair of an active man (IV.48).
4. Black: The color black is associated with death and funerals, but it also has a more abstract meaning of being psychologically “dead.”
Emily is described as “a small, fat woman in black” and she has “cold, haughty black eyes” (I.6, III.34).
5. Closed houses or rooms: There is a psychological component to doors shutting and rooms being sealed off. Here are two examples of “closing” in the story:
The Negro man went in and out with the market basket, but the front door remained closed (IV.47).
From that time on her front door remained closed (IV.49).
6. Barron: Homer’s last name is “Barron.” If the vowel is changed to an “e,” his name can take on a new meaning. If something is “barren,” it cannot bear fruit. Therefore, the relationship was doomed before it began. His first name may also be a clue as to his nature; perhaps this Homer has something in common with the ancient Greek master in that they both spin stories.
7. Rose: There is no “rose” in “A Rose for Emily.” Using this symbolic flower in the title may conjure up some abstract meanings, including love but also, due to its strong scent, may hint at death. The tradition of bringing flowers to a funeral comes from the need to cover the smell of decay.
How does Emily represent the decay of the Old South in "A Rose for Emily"?
Miss Emily hails from a once prestigious plantation-owning family, who lost their wealth after the Civil War. Following the death of Emily's father, she becomes reclusive and only begins to date men later in life. During her brief relationship with Homer Barron, Miss Emily poisons him and refuses to leave her home as an older woman. Emily Grierson symbolically represents the Old South and her struggles to interact with the newer generation of Jeffersonians corresponds to the difficult change in southern culture following the Civil War.
Faulkner initially describes Miss Emily as a "fallen monument" during her funeral and mentions that her once magnificent estate has decayed over the years into an "eyesore among eyesores." Towards the end of Miss Emily's life, she is described as being a small, fat woman, who looks bloated and has a "pallid hue" to her skin. Her physical description indicates that she resembles a bloated corpse and her dilapidated residence corresponds to her outdated way of life. Miss Emily's horrific crime and necrophilia also emphasize the decay of the Old South and her inability to assimilate into the New South reveals the struggles that many southern traditionalists experienced following the Civil War.
How does Emily represent the decay of the Old South in "A Rose for Emily"?
Emily's reputation around town is based on her refusal to change with the times. She refuses to pay her taxes because of an old agreement with her father and the town, an agreement that has long since passed. She regards the town in the same manner that she always has, but the town has moved on. The actual rotting of Emily's house also reinforces this idea. The once grand, plantation style house has become an eye-sore to the rest of the town, reminding them of what they were. While they pity Emily, they are not sorry to be rid of her because after her death they can finally finish moving on from the past.
Who symbolizes the "New South" in "A Rose for Emily"?
Homer Barron represents this "New South." He is a Yankee who is the foreman of a crew of workers who are making improvements to the town. Homer, because of his "blue collar" status and because he was a Yankee, was not accepted by the older generation of citizens in Jefferson; however, the younger generation had no qualms (eNotes).
The North, before and after the Civil War, were more technologically advanced than the "Old South," and for a long time, the South resisted this change and the advancement of technology, since they were an agriculturally-based society. They realized, however, that they could not resist this change or they would never be able to support itself. The North had begun to have large factories that could mass produce goods and have them shipped via railway to other areas of the country, while the South was lagging behind in this area.
The Jefferson Board of Alderman also represent the "New South" because they try to collect taxes from Miss Emily; whereas, years before, they would have never done so because of Colonel Sartoris "old school" way of running the town.
How does Faulkner use symbolism to represent the old South versus new South in "A Rose for Emily"?
The theme of change in the South after the Civil War is one of the strongest themes in the story. As such, there are numerous symbols of the old South and its fall from glory. First is Miss Emily herself. Growing up as an aristocrat immediately after the Civil War, she still represents the ideals of antebellum chivalry and aristocratic pride. When she is dealing with people who share her ideals, like Colonel Sartoris, there is little conflict; he merely remits her taxes after her father's death in order to spare her embarrassment. The conflicts between old and new come when "the next generation, with its more modern ideas, became mayors and aldermen" and Colonel Sartoris' solution "created some little dissatisfaction." After several attempts to contact Miss Emily through the mail, they come to her house to attempt to make her pay. Her formidable, proud, and dismissive attitude is emblematic of antebellum aristocracy and sufficiently intimidates the modern aldermen into giving up.
Another symbol of this clash between pre- and post-War South is Emily's house:
"It was a 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, set on what had once been our most select street. But garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of that neighborhood; only Miss Emily's house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps."
While Miss Emily's house is a symbol for the prestige the aristocracy of the South enjoyed in the past, it stands out in a neighborhood that has moved on to more modern establishments. These establishments "obliterated" the other houses like Emily's so that only hers remains.
Finally, the men in Miss Emily's life symbolize the past and future of the South. Emily's father, who is so proud that he thinks no man is good enough for her to marry, is a clear symbol of antebellum aristocracy. Old Tobe, her Negro servant who works for her well into old age, is a lingering symbol of the slavery that made the Grierson family so rich and successful. In direct opposition to these men (at least, to Emily's father), is Homer Barton, a working-class, Northern carpet-bagger who is in town to help "modernize" the area. Emily's choice to pursue him for marriage is a rebellion against her father and her past, but it is not one that is entirely successful and it does not seem that she is ready to fully give up an ideology that is so integral to her character. The elements of old and new South remain in conflict the entire time.
What symbolism does Faulkner use in "A Rose for Emily" to illustrate Emily's struggle with societal change?
In "A Rose for Emily," Faulkner symbolizes both Emily's and the South's decay through her house and, later, the smell coming from within (Homer's body). By the way, neither Emily nor her society change in the story: all are static, old, and decaying.
Her home is described in the second paragraph thusly:
It was a 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, set on what had once been our most select street. But garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of that neighborhood; only Miss Emily's house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps--an eyesore among eyesores.
The house had been a once-glorious mansion, just as Emily and the South had been paragons of aristocracy before the Civil War. But, Reconstruction was not kind to the South, neither was the death of Emily's father and her marriage to Homer Baron (an archetype of a Northern carpetbagger). As such, the white house, on the outside, has become "an eyesore among eyesores." Physical decay always implies moral decay. As such, the house is a pathetic fallacy (an external representation of an internal condition).
The house is symbolic because it had once been a flurry of activity: China painting and guests. But, after Emily's father died (and she tried to sleep with his body too), the house has been closed off from the public, like Emily. She has maintained her saintly status based on manners and myth--since no one (except her servant) has set foot inside the house in years, let alone upstairs. The house and Emily are such cornerstones of the Southern town that she's exempt from paying taxes.
The irony is, of course, that the inside of the house is even worse: the revered Miss Emily not only married a gay Northerner, but she murdered him with poison and slept with his decaying corpse for years. Connected to the house is the smell of Homer's body:
It smelled of dust and disuse--a close, dank smell. The Negro led them into the parlor. It was furnished in heavy, leather-covered furniture.
These are all understatements, by the way. It smelled like death, but none of the townspeople would dare say it because of Miss Emily's revered status in the community. Instead, they placed lime around the perimeter to cover it up. What gentlemanly manners!
After her death, though, the grotesque sight of her necrophilia is revealed, symbolizing a unholy alliance between the Old South and the New North and, more importantly, between the Old South's attempt to maintain its old, out-dated and illegitimate culture.
What symbolism does Faulkner use in "A Rose for Emily" to illustrate Emily's struggle with societal change?
This is a great question! Symbolism can be hard at times to pick out but it is worth persevering and trying to read fiction focussing on this fascinating topic. For me, the most powerful bit of symbolism that is used to describe Miss Emily and her failure to move with the times is actually in the first section of this great tale. Note how she is described by the Aldermen who come to try and persuade her that she needs to start paying taxes:
She looked bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water, and of that pallid hue. Her eyes, lost in the fatty ridges of her face, looked like two small pieces of coal pressed into a lump of dough as they moved from one face to another while the visitors stated their errand.
Note how the simile here establishes Miss Emily as a washed-up corpse from some long-ago time. This is of course symbolises the way that she does still live in a time long ago which has long been surpassed by more modern ways of thinking. Times have moved on, but Miss Emily for whatever reason has not moved with them and remains a kind of relic of an earlier age, but one that has become stagnant.
Where is the rose in "A Rose for Emily"?
When asked about the title, "A Rose for Emily," William Faulkner replied,
"The title was an allegorical title; the meaning was here was a woman who had had a tragedy, an irrevocable tragedy and nothing could be done about it, and I pitied her and this was a salute...to a woman you would hand a rose."
With Faulkner's remark that the title is allegorical, Emily can then be considered as a symbolic fictional figure. In fact, the first sentence of the third paragraph seems to support this idea as Miss Emily is considered by the townspeople as "a tradition, a duty,...a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town."
Indeed, there are several instances in the plot in which Emily is treated as a "hereditary obligation" and is shown a certain reserve and respect. For instance, when the city authorities approach Miss Emily about her taxes and she expects them to have been paid for her because Colonel Sartoris had them paid for her father, they do not argue with her.
Also, she is not confronted about the smell around her house after complaints are made. When Judge Stevens is asked to do something, he retorts,"...will you accuse a lady to her face of smelling bad?" Instead, the Board of Aldermen meet, and later, under the cover of night, lime is sprinkled all about the house and outbuildings.
When Miss Emily asks to purchase arsenic, the druggist informs her that the law requires that she tell what her purpose is for using it.
Miss Emily just stared at him, her head tilted back in order to look him eye for eye, until he looked away.
Later the delivery boy brings the package and it is marked, "For rats."
Miss Emily remains in the past and does not put the metal numbers of her address over her door or attach a mailbox to it, refusing to comply with the postal authorities. Every year in December she is sent a tax notice which she returns to the post office in a few days.
The narrators remark,
Thus she passed from generation to generation--dear, inescapable, impervious, tranquil, and perverse.
Miss Emily has become an anachronism, a relic of the Old South that refuses to relinquish the aspects of aristocracy and privilege. The rose is given to her out of respect for the "tragedy"of the end of an era.
Citation for William Faulkner's remarks on his title:
Faulkner at Nagano, ed. Robert Jelliffe (Tokyo: Kenkyusha Ltd., 1956), 70–71.
Where is the rose in "A Rose for Emily"?
There are many interpretations for what the rose means in "A Rose for Emily". When asked, William Faulkner, the author, said the rose was the story itself--the word 'rose" meaning a tribute to Emily. Since authors can be rather mysterious when discussing their own work, there may be other explanations. The rose is a flower with a beautiful appearance but nasty thorns. Certainly Miss Emily shows her "thorns" in her treatment of Homer. Some have suggested the rose is a symbol for the bridal chamber because it's decorated with some rose-colored objects. Others go so far as to suggest the story means Emily "arose" when Faulkner chose to tell her story. I suggest you go to enotes,"A Rose for Emily" group and click on "a rose for emily" for more suggestions.
How does the setting symbolize in Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily?"
Faulkner's "A Rose For Emily" is set in the South, in a small town that changes slowly. The occupants are so caught up in the past that they fail to see the truth of what occurs within Miss Emily's home through the course of the story.
The town of Jefferson has seen better times. With the end of the Civil War and the emancipation of slaves, the economy has suffered badly. When Northerners called carpetbaggers descended on the South, the state of the economy was further destroyed. Perhaps the greatest difficulty with Jefferson, as with other parts of the South, may lie in its propensity to remain in the past.
One reason that the South was slow to change was because of the pervading adherence to a code of chivalry—honorable and gentlemanly behavior. For example, when a terrible smell permeates the area surrounding Miss Emily's home and neighbors demand that something be done. When one man suggests they tell Miss Emily to clean up the smell, Judge Stevens replies:
Dammit, sir...will you accuse a lady to her face of smelling bad?
Because Jefferson's society is so slow to welcome change, time is an especially important element in Faulkner's story. Time is also essential to the character of Miss Emily, who could never have survived or kept her life so much like it was when she was a young woman had she lived in the North where things move more swiftly. More than anything, the seemingly slow passage of time in Jefferson accounts for the ability for Miss Emily Grierson to spend so much time in the past, and the community's willingness to allow her to remain relatively undisturbed. The setting of the story—the slow-moving, old-fashioned, chivalric South—is the element that allows Miss Emily and the townspeople to remain steeped in the past.
They make excuses when Miss Emily behaves strangely after her father's death. While they believe her distant relatives should come to help Miss Emily in her time of difficulty, the townspeople are happy to see the outsiders leave. When Miss Emily begins to spend time with Homer Baron, a Yankee, the women whisper about Miss Emily's fall from grace, but attribute it to being from a peculiar, old family. When Homer disappears, there is no more to gossip about and they forget him and his association with Miss Emily. Colonel Sartoris originally told Miss Emily she was not required to pay taxes. Letters were sent repeatedly, but it is many years before the men actually visit Miss Emily's home to collect the money owed. And as things move so slowly between Miss Emily and Jefferson, it is not until Miss Emily has died that members of the community enter her home and find the room where she has been living—if only in her mind—amid the glory days of her youth...sleeping next to the corpse of her dead lover, who she poisoned in her home and left in the position of a groom awaiting his bride.
The man himself lay in the bed.
For a long while we just stood there, looking down at the profound and fleshless grin. The body had apparently once lain in the attitude of an embrace, but now the long sleep that outlasts love...had cuckolded him.
How does symbolism develop theme in "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner?
There are several themes in this story; identifying them first can help to lead you to various symbols in the the tale that help to build those themes. One of the major themes in the story is the fall of the old south, or the uselessness of the old south's ways in the modern world. Emily and her father symbolize the old south, and how they are not relevant anymore. Emily's obstinance in the face of having to pay taxes represents a clash between the old south and the new south. Her house itself, described as
"lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps-an eyesore among eyesores,"
was decrepit, falling apart, old, dusty, and not current. This symbolizes Emily's wealth, family name, and significance in the town.
Another huge theme is the presence of death, and how it impacts Emily, and then is inflicted by Emily. The house being in decay can symbolize that; Emily's appearance, described as "bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water," also symbolizes death, and how she has become the hand of death in other people's lives.
To go with the theme of insanity, mental instability, or craziness, you have the watch chain that contains no watch on it, the "crayon portrait" of Emily's father being displayed in the house, and her illogical refusal to pay taxes.
Throughout the entire story, if you look closely, Faulkner uses symbolism to enhance the various themes of the tale. I hope that my examples have helped to get you started; good luck!
How does symbolism develop theme in "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner?
In his story “A Rose for Emily,” William Faulkner continually uses symbolism to add depth and meaning to the story’s plot and themes. A good example occurs in the story’s very second paragraph, which describes Miss Emily’s home:
It was a 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, set on what had once been our most select street.
The fact that Miss Emily’s home is “big” symbolizes the wealth and social prominence her family once enjoyed in the community. The fact that it had “once been white” symbolizes how the power and prominence of her family have faded. Miss Emily herself, of course, has also faded; she has grown old and lost whatever youthful beauty she once possessed. The style of the house is old-fashioned, symbolizing how Miss Emily herself had become a kind of relic before her death. The house had once been on a “select street,” symbolizing that time has since moved on, both for the neighborhood and for Miss Emily herself.
Another example of Faulkner’s use of symbolism occurs near the end of the second section of the story:
When her father died, it got about that the house was all that was left to her; and in a way, people were glad.
The death of Miss Emily’s father symbolizes the death of the social prominence of herself and her family. The phrase “got about” symbolizes the rumors that pervade this town and this story. The reference to “the people” symbolizes the important role of the local populace in this tale, and indeed this entire sentence symbolizes a chief theme of the entire work: Miss Emily’s relationship with her community.
One final example of symbolism in “A Rose for Emily” appears in the final sentence of the story:
Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, and leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair.
The “indentation of a head” on the pillow symbolizes the death of Miss Emily. She is now gone forever, just as her head is now gone forever from her pillow. (Just as the head, however, has left a distinct literal impression, she has left a distinct figurative impression, not only on the townspeople but on us as readers.) The reference to “dust” reinforces the symbolism of death. Finally, the reference to the “iron-gray hair” symbolizes the advance of years in general, the specific loss of Miss Emily’s youth, and the strength of personality she had long demonstrated (a reference to “silken gray hair” would not have had the same effect at all).
How is Emily depicted as a monument and symbol in "A Rose for Emily"?
The venerable old Miss Emily Grierson is referred to as "a fallen monument" in the first sentence of William Faulkner's short story, "A Rose for Emily."
When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: 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.
"Curiosity" was one of the reasons that Emily was so
honored by her townspeople. She was such an anomaly that everyone had an
opinion about her. The fact that she came from a well-known family was another
reason for her status, and her other peculiarities--such as her
high-handedness, social aloofness, and the mysterious incidents
concerning Homer and her father's death--all assisted in making her larger than
life: a living shrine of Jefferson.
Her fall (or downfall) can be symbolized by many other
actions and unfortunate events that befell her: her father's financial
collapse, his tight rein on Emily during her youth, Homer's refusal to marry
her, and her continued spinsterhood being just a few. The final disgrace was,
of course, the unexpected find in her upstairs bedroom following her
death, and the unparalelled gossip that must have followed.
Miss Emily represents the old guard of Jefferson from the
days of post-Civil War Reconstruction. Her death marks another end to the links
of the past, when social status was a far more important aspect of
Southern culture. The special treatment that she received--remitted taxes,
covering up "the smell," etc.--right up until the time of her death was
reserved for relics of past ages.
What symbolism does William Faulkner use in "A Rose for Emily" to represent the North?
I think one of the main symbols is the town's move to begin to modernize. The South was a bit slow to become an industrialized region. The North was way ahead of the South in this regard, and this is one reason they won the Civil War. The town of Jefferson has begun to industrialize and modernize now, so this reflects the influence of the North.
Also, another obvious symbol is Homer Barron. He is a "Yankee" and brings with him a crew that is paving roads, so he is modernizing the town by paving the roads. He is flamboyant and he dresses differently from the Southerners, so he receives a lot of attention from the townspeople, who frown upon his presence.
In "A Rose for Emily," where is the rose?
I would agree that Miss Emily was the rose. She lived her life in a patriarchal society, and Faulkner makes it clear that any chance she had at continuing to bloom in a fulfilling relationship was ruined by her father. He held any interested suitors at bay until they simply stopped coming, and the bloom was long off the "rose" after Miss Emily's father died.
In "A Rose for Emily," where is the rose?
In response to post #4, I don't think the Negro is her rose. While he is her constant companion, it is probably more from a sense of fear that keeps him tied to Miss Emily. He must know about Homer's dead body, but as a black man in the post-Civil War South, he knows that the murder could easily be blamed on him, and he is between a rock and a hard place -- come forward and be blamed or hide it and be blamed for hiding it. He literally makes a run out the back door at the his first opportunity in 40 years.
In "A Rose for Emily," where is the rose?
Miss Emily is the rose. She is the "flower" of the south, but not without her thorns. Telling the story is the final tipping of the hats of all the men to Miss Emily and all she stood for--the Old South, the rituals, the unspoken rules (many which still exist today), and perhaps her final victory over the pushy North as embodied by Homer Baron whom she prevented from ruining her reputation.
In "A Rose for Emily," where is the rose?
The rose is a symbol, which is when an object or person or action, etc., represents something beyond its literal meaning. There has been much speculation about what the "rose" really is. My own opinion is that the rose represents the narrator's own tribute to Miss Emily by telling her story. The narrator of the story does not judge Miss Emily at all when he or she tells her story. He relays what happens with a smattering of the town gossip about her; however, he does not pass judgment on her and the reader can sense that perhaps the narrator feels sorry for Miss Emily because of her very difficult upbringing and environment.
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