Decay In A Rose For Emily

William Faulkner is most highly regarded by some critics for his short stories rather than his novels and like "A Rose For Emily" many are set in the south. In fact, many of the characters he presented firstly in his short stories appear as more developed characters in his novels. In Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily," like much of Faulkner's fiction, occurs in the South following the Civil War. The war devastated the South's economy and the town is now decaying from the devastation. Throughout William Faulkner “a rose for Emily” he uses the house, Emily’s hair, and the rose to portray change and decay.

The house built by her father in the 1800s is used to symbolize decay of the south using imagery. The story starts out with a very vibrant description of a nobly built house “It was a big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies.” (451) this house was a monument to the town at one time before the war but when the north won the south had to start implementing in there ways of life. Causing this
In almost all literature a rose is used to symbolize love. And in a rose for Emily it is no different. Her rose was Homer Barron. He was the first love she had and was one of the most major changes in her life. So much that even the towns people where happy to finally see her show some interest in a man. This may have been seen as a “noblesse oblige” (454) to some but to Emily this was her first love. This is like nothing miss Emily has ever had before and is a major change in her life. when it seems, her love is decaying because homer may have “liked men”. During this time, she doesn’t want to lose her rose, so she decides to kill him and assume complete control. This decision ultimately leads to the decay of her rose as well as her mental state. Since she continued to lie in bed with the decomposing