In 1865, the long and bloody American Civil War came to an end, and with it, the ways of the Old South. The process of Reconstruction began shortly afterwards, and the post-Civil War South began the arduous process of reconciling the old with the new. William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” is set during this time period, describing a Southern town and its people caught up in a romanticized fantasy of the Old South, attempting to move forward into modernity. Emily’s story is far more figurative than literal; she functions as a relic of a bygone era, symbolizing the Old South, while her romantic interest, Homer Barron, embodies the post-war North. The narrative begins at Emily Grierson’s funeral, which the townspeople attend less out of a sense of genuine grief and more out of a “sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument” (Faulkner 96). With the aforementioned association of Emily Grierson with a “fallen monument” early in the narrative, Faulkner introduces …show more content…
Mr. Grierson frequently turns away Emily’s potential suitors, as “none of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily” (Faulkner 97). Emily’s life, for the most part, is devoid of any emotional attachments until after the death of her father, when she meets Homer Barron. Homer is introduced as one of the many changes to the town: “the town had just let the contracts for paving the sidewalks… The construction company came with niggers and mules and machinery, and a foreman named Homer Barron” (Faulkner 98). Homer functions as a contrast to Emily: he represents change, while Emily displays a marked unwillingness to adapt to it. Moreover, Homer is a northerner who brings changes in infrastructure to the town, suggesting that he symbolizes the North in the same way that Emily symbolizes the south. As such, tragedy in the relationship of Homer and Emily was