Rose for Emily - Symbolism

¶ … Rose for Emily - Symbolism of Social Conflicts in the New South

In his "A Rose for Emily," William Faulkner tells the story of an eccentric town recluse, Miss Emily Grierson. She grew up intensely sheltered by her father, in Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, as the area deals with the changes wrought after the Civil War. Though they find her strange and are intensely judgmental of her actions, as seen in their reaction to her love affair from northerner Homer Barron. However, the townspeople also look up to Emily, who is one of the town's dominant citizens. They are therefore shocked when, upon her death, they discover that she had murdered Homer and concealed his corpse in her house for decades.

Though events and symbolism, Faulkner highlights many of the conflicts engendered by social conflicts in the new South. The relationship between Miss Emily and her traditionalist father, for example, has arguably set much of the story's conflict in motion. Miss Emily grows up controlled and manipulated by her father, who found "none of the young men quite good enough" for his daughter.

Faulkner further symbolizes the father's dominance by describing photographs showing Emily in the background and the father in the foreground, "his back to her and clutching a horsewhip." The father thus held tight to traditional and very repressive practices regarding the role of women of an elite class.

This places Miss Emily in a precarious financial position upon his death, as she is unfamiliar with her own estate and does not have any marketable skills.

For Emily, the death of her father is seen as a chance for liberation and independence. She did not have a trace of grief on her face, did not dress for morning and even went so far as to cut her hair short. And later, she caused a stir among the townspeople by becoming involved with a Northerner. This situation creates further cultural conflicts among the townspeople of Yoknapatawpha County, who still harbor a morbid fascination with their increasingly eccentric resident.

First of all, there is the issue of Homer Barron's ancestry. He is a northerner, living in a Southern region that was still smarting from its loss in the Civil War. The Yankee also worked with and was obviously friendly with his crew of black laborers. He also stood to profit from construction in the south, another fact that would have caused great consternation among the townspeople.

In addition, the townsfolk, especially the older ones, whispered about how Miss Emily was violating the principle of noblesse oblige. In exchange for the social prestige that the town had accorded her, the townspeople expected a certain amount of social responsibility from their Miss Emily.

This includes being aware of her class and social background. It certainly did not bode well for Miss Emily, and by extension the town, that Emily was cavorting with a Northerner who was also a day laborer. Miss Emily had committed a cardinal sin of taking up with a social inferior.

The social disapprobation eventually took its toll on both the relationship between the couple, and also on Miss Emily. Homer Barron announced his decision to leave Yoknapatawpha County to return north. Miss Emily purchases arsenic, and due to gender expectations and her social standing, the townspeople can only assume that she plans to commit suicide. Later, as a foul stench emanates from her home, even the judge could not bring himself to tell a lady that her home "smells."