William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is about the change from old south to new south, while Emily refused to accept these changes. Symbolism could be a object, character, or event that represents a bigger idea throughout the story, which would give the story more meaning. An analysis of William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” will show that the house, Homer, and death symbolize instances of the old south, the new south, and the refusal to change to show Emily refuses to accept the change from old south to new south.
To begin, the house symbolizes the old south. The characteristics of the house resemble houses commonly built during the period known as the old south. Her house has a prominent design that a rich and powerful family like the Griersons

It was a big plantation house, which was common during the old south, but the encroachment of the new south resulted in plantation houses becoming less popular. The color shows that it had once been a great that belonged to a powerful family. As the old south is becoming outdated, the house is also becoming outdated. Emily has not been taking care of the house and has been trying to preserve the old south, but this results in the house losing its white color, while slowly decaying. The surroundings of Emily’s house have changed over time. In the old south the house was located on the most select street in the city. It was a neighborhood before industrialization started. Industrialization caused changes in the city and around Emily’s house. Because of Industrialization, “garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of that neighborhood” (Faulkner 451). The cemetery with confederate and union soldiers’ graves is there to show the death of the old south, when Emily dies she “had gone to join the representatives of those august names where

When Emily’s father died, she didn’t want to accept that he was dead. Her father was a big part of her life before he died. He controlled the relationships she had and forced her to stay at home, which she continued to do after he died. The Griersons were a powerful family, though they were losing their power as time went on. Emily didn’t want to accept that the Grierson name didn’t hold the power that it used to. After her father died, she kept his body in the house while acting like he was still alive. Emily shut herself in the house to continue the life she had before he had died. Emily refused to change, which influenced her to murder Homer. At Emily’s funeral, the people of Jefferson wanted to go search through her house to see if they could find anything. After breaking into a door that was stuck, they found Homer’s corpse laying on the bed. There was an indention of Emily head on the pillow with her beside him. This showed that she wanted to still be with him, though she didn’t want anything to change. Emily kept Homer’s body hidden inside her home without anybody from the town noticing. She bought the bathroom set and clothes for him to make it seem like they had married. The town believed that they had either married or Homer deserted her. When the town found out that Emily died, they held a funeral for her. The townspeople that attended the funeral discussed her and wanted to look in the house to see if they could