In his reasoning writer, Faulkner describes the title ‘A Rose for Emily’ as an allegorical title, explaining how the said woman had gone through great tragedy and due to that the writer sympathized with her. The story ‘A Rose for Emily' is divided into five segments with the first part opening at the time of main character Emily Grierson's death. Although the entire community attended Emily's burier, the storyteller puts forward that no one knew the deceased. “When Miss Emily Grierson died the whole town went to her funeral: the men out of respectful affection for fallen monument and women mostly out of curiosity” ( Faulkner, 1930). Being the person who is telling the story, the narrator, in this situation, is anonymous and is presumed to be any of the residents in the town. Through the short story of ‘A Rose for Emily’ the theme of acceptance, change, tradition and letting go are outlined.
Tradition and Change
The story that is taken from William Faulker selected short stories makes the reader explore the theme of change and tradition. Emily Grierson is a mysterious character who is conveyed by the writer as a struggling figure to maintain the old tradition in the presence of extensive, thorough change in the culture. The writer displays a society in a crossroad of acceptance on new and more commercialized future while quietly being held on the verge of the past. In the writer disclosure, the faded beauty of Emily's home and the cemetery found in the town where civil war soldiers have been buried are some of the backings. In spite of the many changes in her society, Emily is herself a tradition, staying as being unchanged over the years. Emily is displayed having a mixed character. In her living as the testimony of the past, she signifies the customs that the societies wish to respect as well as an honor. However, Emily is also a burden and entirely secluded from the outside world, nurturing strangeness that nobody in the society seems to understand ( Faulkner, 1930). She lives in a world of her own and endless emptiness.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
When the town obtains current mail service she refused metallic numbers to be fixed to the side of her home, she seems out of touch with current happenings which persistently seem to enter through her carefully guarded surrounding. ”Miss Emily alone refused to let them fasten the metal numbers above her door and attach a mailbox to it. She would not listen to them” ( Faulkner, 1930). Garage and cotton gins have replaced her home which was grand historical. The fresh and young generation leadership brings in Homer's company to construct the footpaths. Even though the writer seems to respect the traditional concept of honor and status highly, the storyteller criticizes the old townsmen who went to Emily's burial in their affiliated uniform. The past seems not to fade, but it represents itself in the flawless monarchy. Emily enormously tries to stop time and prevent change through the terrifying bridal chamber but doing so comes at the cost of human life.
In the narration the reader is taken through a process where the new generation of leaders replaces Colonel Sartoris who was the previous leader, displaying the change of leadership from the norm tradition. Miss Emily perceived prestige which is influenced by the people on power shift and changed after Sartoris death thus change the perception. In the eyes of town residents, Emily is not different from other people in the town which signifies the change in tradition after Colonel Sartoris death. Another shift in tradition happened when the town residents pitied Miss Emily due to the happenings that took part in her life (Faulkner, 1930). Emily's father was respected and well-regarded, and due to those reasons, when he died, the county exempted Emily from paying the town taxes which was not according to the tradition. Emily refusal for change and her embrace of culture is revealed when she refused to accept the death of her father, the town residents after some time were able to notice strange smell emanating from her house, and it was eluded by the writer on the possibility of Emily keeping her father's corpse in her home. ”Miss Emily met them at the door, dressed’ as usual and with no trace of grief on her face. She told them that her father was not dead” ( Faulkner, 1930). It was also noted that Emily had instructed townsmen to talk to his dead father, which signified she was still living according to the old tradition. In her instructions, Emily is suggested to being unable to move out of the past where she was once thought to be superior to others.
Let go
Regardless of the death of Sartoris Emily initiates men to talk to him, this signifies how Emily rooted in the past and suggest that she is still living her life according to the traditions. It also reveals how Emily is unable to let the past go despite her being seen to be superior to others. Miss Emily was unable to let go in the fact that she refused to accept the death of her father, she kept the body of her dead father in the house until the residents of the town came to bury him. Also, despite killing Homer, it was clear to the reader that Emily never let him go and kept his body in her bedroom, going as far as sleeping with his dead body. Again, this shows her inability to let go. It was as well likely that Emily murdered Homer for the reason that he may have decided not to wed her and was in the course of exiting, thus bring the subject of loneliness (Faulkner, 1930). After killing Homer, Emily may not have ready to spend her life alone, therefore, sleeping with his dead body which was in a way reassuring her that she had a partner.
Symbolism
In the short story, the significance of symbolism appears when town leader pays Emily a visit in a request for her to pay taxes. In their experience, the narrator tells the reader how the men possibly heard the ticking of an unseen watch at the end of the golden chain. The scene might have two interpretations on the meaning of the observation. In the first instance, the clock could act as a forewarning method to the eventual death of Emily, or it could propose that Emily is derived from a period that is unseen by the town leaders. In respect to the later, the writer may be suggesting that they exist a distance between the leaders and Emily, which further put forward the idea of separation or detachment for Emily. The use of Emily's home can also be used as symbolism to advocate for the deterioration of southern nobility.
The home once decorated with scrolled balconies, spires as well as cupolas has changed to a scene that is uncomfortable. The curtains and lamp dimness in the bedroom where the body of Homer lay are defined as actuality possessing the color of the rose. Again the writer might be making use of symbolism to portray the notion of love; a rose is being used as a sign of love. The scene suggests that Miss Emily was once open to or else in love. Loss of love is again portrayed in the strand of hair that is preserved in search of happiness. The hair strands also expose the broader life of a lady who regardless of her oddities was dedicated to living a life of her expressions without succumbing her conduct, despite how shocking, to the approval of the town residents. Being occupied by a world of her creation, Emily contributes to her ethical conduct where even killing is permitted. The storyteller foretells the unearthing of the long strand of hair under the pillow when he defines the physical change that Emily has gone through as she gets old. The narrator describes how her hair develops more grayish until it turns into a tuff iron gray. Much like the body of Emily's previous lover, the threads of hair eventually stands as the last indication of a life to waste away and decay (Faulkner, 1930). In the short story, another scene of symbolism is portrayed when Emily refused to allow mailbox outside her house, in symbolic this suggest the unpreparedness of Emily to accept change, choosing to live her life in the usual way she was used to. Another possibility of symbolism could indicate the refusal by Emily to have her house numbered as a means for her to remain detached from the rest of the town.
The writer Faulkner as a pioneer of modern fiction uses the stream of consciousness, imitate the flow of thoughts in character and express sensations to the subjective nature of understanding. He makes use of various narrators, taking the idea of interpretation of several characters in a single story. In the story being told, the writing skills a point of view exclusively matched with each work narrative (Faulkner, 1930). The short story presents the culture of a small town struggling to comprehend one of its inhabitants. As the teller of tale tells the person who reads, no one seems to know Miss Emily as she hardly came out, was not ever married and died isolated at the age of 74 years. Emily entire way of life was a dilemma in the minds of the townspeople and appeared as a puzzle for them to put together. It is also revealed that the reason for the lone death of Emily was the turning down of her admirers by her father. By the time he died Emily was left without a suitor. During that time in the American history, the women had to define their role as daughter, wife or mother.
Reference
Faulkner, W. (1930). A Rose for Emily. Retrieved from https://flightline.highline.edu/tkim/Files/Lit100_SS2.pdf.
