the town of Jefferson's collective voice and anachronistically tells the tragic story of the formerly revered Emily Grierson. The townspeople view Emily with a sort of detached affection and curiosity throughout the story, offering subtle criticisms of her behavior while simultaneously reserving judgment on her rather horrific crime. The townspeople object to Emily's decision to dateHomer Barron, complain about the smell coming from her yard, and resent that she refuses to pay her taxes. Despite her questionable life choices, the citizens view her with reverence and describe Emily as "a tradition, a duty, and a care" at the beginning of the story. Emily's reclusive and odd behavior sparks the community's interest as they wonder about her mental state. The townspeople's complex emotions toward Emily Grierson corresponds to how the newer generation of Southerners perceives their past. Similiar to how the newer generation of Jeffersonians has complex feelings regarding Emily's unfortunate life, the citizens of the New South share similar mix emotions about their Confederate past. Also, the distance Faulkner creates between the narrator and the reader builds suspense, which would have been more difficult using an omniscient or first-person narrator.

One of the primary conflicts in "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner is between the present and the past. The past, of course, is represented by Miss Emily and her father. He raised her in the traditions and values of the Old South, and Miss Emily never really deviated from them, except for her affair with Homer Barron. She lived in the same way and in the same decaying house until she died, despite the fact that the world around her changed drastically.

The present is represented by the townspeople. They are the "we" to whom the narrator (presumably a citizen of the town) refers. Faulkner uses the plural here because it serves as a reminder that everyone else has changed and evolved with the times--everyone except for Miss Emily, of course.

The relationship between the people of the town and Miss Emily is also clear from the beginning:

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

Again, the relationship between Miss Emily and the town (the plural "we" to which the narrator refers) is adversarial, and this relationship shows in many ways, including the use of "we" versus "she."

In "A Rose for Emily," Faulkner chooses to use a first-person plural narrator in order to highlight the fact that “we,” the townsfolk of Jefferson, have changed, whereas Miss Emily Grierson has not.

The townsfolk live in the present, whereas Miss Emily lives in the past. This explains why the good folk of Jefferson revere the old lady, treating her as a living relic of a supposedly more glorious time, the days of the Old South.

Even so, it is impossible to avoid the fact that there is, somewhat inevitably, a gap between Miss Emily and the townsfolk, just as there's always a distance between past and present. This gap is reflected in the language Faulkner uses to distinguish Miss Emily from the other people in the town. Whereas they are “we,” she is always “she,” clearly implying that although she may live in Jefferson, she is most certainly not of it.

In other words, due to her eccentricity and her isolation from the rest of the townsfolk, she's spiritually distant from the small Southern town in which she's spent her whole life.

In “A Rose for Emily,” William Faulkner uses a first-person plural narrator. The consistent but ambiguous use of “we,” “us,” and “our” is one of the story’s most distinctive features. The narrator is never named, and their gender is not specified. The narrator does not use first-person singular point of view, which would involve self-reference: “I.” In dialogue, however, Emily often refers to herself as “I.” The author also fails to identify the other person or persons included in the “we” that the narrator frequently invokes.

By withholding this information, Faulkner creates the impression that the speaker is offering the collective voice of the entire town. Rather than refer to specific persons, this “we” may include anyone who holds the same opinions that this speaker expresses. This possibility is suggested by the narrator’s statement in the first paragraph that “our whole town went to” Emily's funeral.

In part 1, the narrator only occasionally interjects “our” views, so the story initially seems to be an objective, third-person narrative. The instances when they use first-person become more frequent as the story progresses. For example, in part 2, when the narrator first refers to “her sweetheart,” they further identify him as “the one we believed would marry her.” Similarly, in talking about Emily’s continued unmarried status, the narrator gives this opinion.

When she got to be thirty and was still single, we were not pleased exactly, but vindicated.

Their discussion of the family’s supposed insanity in relationship to Emily’s reluctance to bury her father prompts additional opinions:

We did not say she was crazy then. We believed she had to do that. We remembered all the young men her father had driven away, and we knew that with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her.

By the story’s end, the narrator’s identification with the whole town’s opinions has become well established. In the last line, they enter her house and comment on what “we” see on the bed.

One of us lifted something from [the pillow], and … we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair.