Often people are stuck in the past and cannot accept the truth, the present, and modernization going around them. The character of Emily Grierson in William Faulkner 's "A Rose for Emily" is one from this category of people. Emily Grierson was a strange personality with distinguished characteristics. From the point of view of many, she is a crazy woman because she kills her lover in order to keep him forever with herself. Miss Emily Grierson is a static character that is locked in her past life. She is not able to change herself and roll on with the wheels of time. William Faulkner, through the use of various symbols indicating death and decay, portrayed a woman whose life ends long before her death.
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Her appearance, face and her features all suggest a sort of dullness and stillness in her life. "She looked bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water, and of that pallid hue. Her eyes, lost in the fatty ridges of her face, looked like two small pieces of coal pressed into a lump of dough as they moved from one face to another..." (29). The description of Emily and the features of her face provided by the author demonstrate the dry and deadly character of Emily more clearly. Miss Emily is also a very unsocial and isolated person. The over protecting behavior of her father and too many restrictions put upon her by him, had a great influence and impact in shaping her personality. She lacks the elements of active social life and art of communication in her life. Emily has an extremely proud and self-important disposition because of her family status. "She carried her head high enough- even when we believed that she was fallen" (32). This sentence portrays her aristocratic behavior and high attitude. Her aristocratic behavior isolates her more from the society, leaving her alone with her gradual death, her sole