William Faulkner's "A Rose for

William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" and the Decay of Southern Tradition Taking place in Jefferson, William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" is contained within the author's body of related work, even mentioning the infamous Colonel Sartoris, the character after which Fualkner's third novel is named.

Like Faulkner's previous dichotomous works, "A Rose for Emily" details the stressful position of a South in transition, of the treacherous relationship between the rich and the poor, and the painful experience of a transition from tradition to modernity for the Southern old money, or large, patriarchal families. In fact, Faulkner's own family is similarly large, following Southern traditions ("Faulkner's Family Tree").

Joining the ranks of the Bundrens, the Compsons, and the Faulkners, the Griersons let Faulkner explore the decay of the Southern, patriarchal family tradition with the literal decay of Emily's father, Homer Barron and Miss Emily herself. In fact, through an exploration Emily's relationship with society, including Barron, and her father, one can conclude that William Faulkner uses "A Rose for Emily" to depict the death of traditional Southern culture. From the opening line of Faulkner's story, the fact that Emily is not a well-liked character is established.

Instead of attending her funeral sorrowfully or in testament to the woman she had been, the men come to show "respectful affection for a fallen monument," while the women come "mostly out of curiosity to see her house" (Faulkner 701). From this opening statement to the closing one, where society views her most intimate, though albeit most disgusting, seplecur-like sanctuary, a tension exists between society and Miss Emily. For society as an institution, this tension is best summed up by the constant battle of Emily's taxes.

Although she is sent a tax notice each year, each year she returns it unpaid based on an arrangement made with Colonel Sartoris that "only a women would believe" out of respect for her family name (Faulkner 701). Through this incident, Faulkner establishes the fact that society and Miss Emily are of two very different backgrounds.

While Emily represents the traditional South's reliance on personal agreements and family names, these old ways are not accepted by the modern authorities, who take care of city business in a much more professional and distanced manner. In fact, Faulkner points out that "the next generation with its more modern ideas" failed to accept Emily's reliance on tradition, while noting that Emily served as a "tradition." "duty, and "hereditary obligation" in society.

To symbolize the fact that the old South and the new South are constantly in societal conflict, Faulkner uses the repeated passing back and forth of the tax notice. In addition to the conflict of old South Miss Emily and new South institutionalized society, the conflict between Miss Emily and the personal side of society is not much different.

The ladies of the old South respected Emily's family name even after her father dies and she remains a widow with some strange habits, sending their children to her for china painting lessons.

The women of the new south, however, share no such commiseration with Miss Emily, refusing to send their daughters to china painting lessons, advocating the removal of her smell by force, and sending for the Baptist minister -- a direct affront to Emily's family status, as they were Episcopalean -- to address what they saw as her moral shortcomings. Furthermore, Emily's inability to have a romantic relationship with Homer once again calls attention to the disconnect between Emily's south and Homer's.

Instead of becoming one with Homer's new south, Emily kills him and keeps him in her own personal sanctuary in an attempt to preserve not only him, but also life as she thought it should be. Thus, neither as an institution nor as a personal refuge can old South miss Emily and new South society be reconciled.

Just as Faulkner's portrayal of Miss Emily's relationship with society suggested an attempt to cling to the death of traditional Southern culture in the midst of modernization, so to does her relationship with herfather echo this sentiment. In much the same way that Emily clung to Homer's body in an attempt to hang on to the decaying traditional southern culture, so to does her attitude toward her father's act as a symbol of old Southern culture clinging to its ideas in the advent of change.

When Emily's father dies, she refuses to let anyone in the house, insisting that he was not dead, and it is only after three days that she managed to be persuaded "to let them dispose of the body" (Faulkner 703). This picture of Emily clinging to an old man's bones, especially to the bones of her father, whose lifestyle and name represented Southern high culture, suggests not only the decaying of traditional Southern culture, but also the suffering with which members of that culture struggled to give it up.

Through both Miss Emily's interactions with society and her family, "A Rose for Emily" can.