A Rose For Emily Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

A Rose For Emily - Essay Example In While the theme of the past versus the present assumes numerous forms in this story, as in the clash between the two or the way in which the one intermingles and intersects with the other, this essay will focus on Faulkner’s modes of symbolizing the past and the theme of the past’s subsuming of the present. The past assumes various symbols in â€Å"A Rose for Emily,† with the most predominant being the past as the Old South. The story may be interpreted as a narrative about the Old South, a South which has been battered and defeated by the North and by abolition. It is, however, a South which stubbornly and quite illogically insists on clinging to its former glories and, indeed, one which refuses to accept the passage of time or confront the changes which have been wrought upon it. The South is Miss Emily, personified in her refusal to pay taxes and her failure to acknowledge the new reality which surrounds her, culminating in her dismissive treatment of the town’s authorities and her rejection of the very concept of the mailbox/postal services. The South is also the decaying mansion; the mansion which is falling into disrepair but, despite the ravages of time, maintains its haughty, superior demeanor. Last, but not least, the South is Miss Emily’s â€Å"negroâ₠¬  servant; the man who silently goes about his duties, keeps Miss Emily’s darkest secrets and when she dies, disappears. The implication here is that the past, as represented in this story, is personified in Miss Emily and her servant and symbolized in the house. She is, as the unnamed narrator insists, â€Å"tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town.† Miss Emily is, thus, symbolic of the South’s traditions and heritage. In his symbolization of the South as the old, isolated and alienated woman and her