Symbolism in a Rose for Emily

A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner is a remarkable tale of Miss Emily Grierson, whose funeral drew the attention of the entire population of Jefferson a small southern town. Miss Emily was raised in the ante-bellum period before the Civil War in the south. An unnamed narrator, who is consider to be the town or at least the collaborative voice of it, aligns key moments in Emily's life, including the death of her father and her brief relationship with a man form the north named Homer Barron. In short this story explains Miss Emily's strict and repetitive ways and the sullen curiosity that the towns people have shown toward her. Rising above the literal level of Emily's narrative, the story basically addresses the symbolic changes in the South after the civil war. Miss Emily's house symbolizes neglect, and improvishment in the new times in the town of Jefferson. Beginning with Miss Emily Grierson's funeral, throughout the story Faulkner foreshadows the ending and suspenseful events in Miss Emily's life, and Miss Emily's other impending circumstances. A Rose for Emily tells the tale of a young woman who lives and abides by her father's strict rational. The rampant symbolism and Falkner's descriptions of the decaying house, coincide with Miss Emily's physical and emotional decay, and also emphasize her mental degeneration, and further illustrate the outcome of Falkner's story. Miss Emily's decaying house, not only lacks genuine love and care, but so douse she in her adult life, but more so during her childhood. The pertinence of Miss Emily's house in relation to her physical appearance is brought on by constant neglect and unappreatation. As an example, the house is stituated in what was once a prominent neighborhood that has now deteriorated. Originally the house was, 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(Falkner 80) of an earlier time, now many of the towns people see that the house has become an eyesore among eyesores. Through lack of attention, the house has deteriorated from a beautiful estate, to an ugly desolate shack. Similarly, Miss Emily has also become an eyesore in the following various ways. An example, she is first described as a fallen monument to suggest her former grandeur and her later ugliness. Miss Emily might have stayed out of the public eye after these two deaths which left her finally alone, something she was not used to. When Miss Emily died Jefferson lost a prominent monument of the Old South. This story by Falkner contains a high rate of symbolism thoroughly distributed and revealed by shady foreshadowing. Just as the house has, Miss Emily has lost her beauty. Once she had been a beautiful woman, who later becomes obese and bloated. In this post civil war town, the great estate and Miss Emily has suffered the toll of time and neglect. As the exterior, the interior of the house as well resembles Miss Emily's increasing decent and the growing sense of sadness that accompanies such a downfall. All that is told of the inside of Miss Emily's house is a dim hall, where a staircase is mounted into descending darkness, with the house smelling of foul odors. The combined darkness and odor of the house relate with Miss Emily in some of the following ways, with her dry and cold voice as if it were scrappy and dry from disuse just like her house. The similarity between the inside of the house and Miss Emily extends to the mantel, where there is a portrait of her father and Miss Emily sitting there. Internally and externally, both Miss Emily's building and her body are in a state of deterioration and tarnishment like a metallic material. An example is when she refused to let the new guard attach metal numbers above her door and fasten a mailbox when the town received free mail service. This reflected Miss Emily's unyielding and stubborn persona caused by and related to her father's strict treatment of her when she was young. In ending, the citizen's illustrations of both house and its occupant relate a common unattractive presence. As an example,