Symbolism In William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

In "A Rose for Emily," by William Faulkner, the use of thoroughly distributed symbolism reveals the plot of the whole action. The story speaks of the state of sociological transformation in the South. Faulkner reveals the inharmony between the former and contemporary south, and depicts the inherited reluctance to change through his main character, Emily and her physical appearance, as a representative of the obsolete older society; on the contrary, the changing order has been being depicted by her death.

Miss Emily is a "fallen monument" (245) of southern values and aristocracy; this southern legacy is expressed by her behavior. She is a monument because of her association to an elite southern family, which is a representative of southern customs and heritage. Her implacability and die-hard demeanor are very strong characteristics of the traditional South as she belongs to the gentry, and was brought up in a totalitarian environment. She rarely mixes with the people of the town, and never accepts the concept of transformation of the society; as a result, she prefers to live in the glorified past rather than adjusting into the
At that time Emily is described like a dead body as "she looked bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water" (246). This description of hers portraits the decaying tradition, but her "invisible watch" suggests that she is unaware of the time, or the change, and still prefers to live in the past. When the town authorities visit her regarding the payment of her taxes, she tells them to see Colonel Sartoris who is already dead. As she doesn't accept the death of her father, she now refuses to accept the death of Colonel Sartoris. By denying that, she declines the present, and prefers to stay in the past. The past is the world of her father and Colonel, where no one would ask her to pay her