'Symbolism In A Rose For Emily'

How does William Faulkner make use of symbolism in “A Rose for Emily?” William Faulkner; born in 1897, was an American writer and Nobel Prize laureate from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner wrote short stories, novels, a play, poetry, essays, and screenplays. William Faulkner is very creative when it comes to using symbolism. This style of writing is used to represent mythical ideas and emotions to make the reader think deeper. One of his most well-known short stories called “A Rose for Emily” has tons of examples of symbolism throughout the storyline. How exactly does William Faulkner make use of symbolism in “A Rose for Emily?” There are multiple examples of symbolism in this story; however, this essay is only going to cover three of them. William

The house also shows the townspeople’s aristocratic past in Jefferson, which shows how their levels of social class are developing. While the house shows southern pride, it also shows southern culture too. The house tends to be irrelevant from the modern world. The house symbolizes what life is like before the war. Slavery serves as a huge symbolic meaning with the house. The house is also a reminder of the days of slavery in Jefferson. The house is a proud face to the public. The people have a certain respect for the house that others will not. It conceals some secrets that they have as well as some desires. The second thing the house symbolizes is change and decay. The house was very grand and beautiful before the passing of Miss Emily. It glorifies the past in Jefferson more than any other house does. Originally, Miss Emily’s father hands down the house to her after his death. It is a great embodiment of southern pride. Towards the end of the story and after the death of Miss Emily, the house symbolizes many different things than it does in the beginning of the story. The house become a fallen monument after the death of Emily. There is nobody in line to take up on

The first thing the gray strand of hair symbolizes is Emily’s impervious behavior. Miss Emily is determined to hold onto Homer Baron for as long as she can. She kills him and keeps his corpse inside of the house. The reader soon finds out that Emily is sleeping with Homer’s corpse, because the townspeople find a gray strand of hair on the pillow next to the body. Miss Emily also shows similar behavior when her father passes away as well. She denies to the townspeople that her father is dead. She doesn’t want to accept the death of the things she loves. Miss Emily will do anything to hold onto her love ones. The death of Homer Baron serves as a perfect example of that statement. The second thing the gray strand of hair represents is wisdom and respect. The people of Jefferson see Miss Emily as being a wise and old woman. The townspeople have a lot of sympathy for Miss Emily after the death of her father. When her house starts to smell fowl, they try to tame the stench without her knowing because they do not want to confront her about it. Also, the townspeople never come into her house nor force her to pay her taxes. These are all ways in which they are showing Miss Emily respect. After Miss Emily dies, the people gift her a rose as a gratitude of respect towards her life. This is also when they come across the gray strand of hair which lay on the pillow next to the corpse of Homer