A Rose For Emily Analysis

The author, William Faulkner, is a Nobel Prize winner born in 1897, in his writing the main theme is about the American South. The American life during this time, was post-civil war life, so everyone was recreating a united North and South America after the war. An analysis of “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner will symbolize change and decay through, Emily’s house, Emily, and Homer Barron. The first symbol that portrays change and decay in William Faulkner’s short story is Emily Grierson’s house. One way William Faulkner symbolizes change and decay in his story is how he describes Emily’s house. He starts off by describing the house as, “big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled
One way Emily Grierson symbolizes change and decay is through the aspect of her being stuck in time. In the story the narrator mentions that Emily is still living in her father’s house after he has passed away, because she is unmarried. “We remember 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” (453). Without a doubt the reader knows that Emily is unable to change because her father had driven off all the men she ever liked. Therefore, leaving Miss Emily stuck in time, unmarried, and decaying away with nothing accomplished that a woman of her age would have accomplished. Another way Emily symbolizes decay and change is by keeping her dads body after his passing. The narrator mentions, “…ministers calling on her, and the doctors, trying to persuade her to let them dispose of the body” (453). At this point, Emily is holding onto the body because all she has known is how to be a child. Upsettingly, never having the chance to grow into a young woman and marry, have children, and enjoy the perfect family picture everyone else has. Lastly, decay and change are symbolized during William Faulkner’s story by describing Emily teaching china painting. When Miss Emily taught china painting, the teaching was out of date and an unwanted trait after the civil war. As Emily had grown
Despite this fact, the internal struggles of Miss Emily Grierson are rooted deeper than the surface. Throughout this story the symbols of Emily’s house, Emily herself, and Homer Barron portray the change and decay happening in Emily’s life. Ultimately, illustrating the sinister nature of humans and the death of the old south becoming the new