William Faulkner One of the Most Dominant

William Faulkner

One of the most dominant themes that emerge in the story is the conflict between the traditional and modern society, with Miss Emily representing the traditional society and her community as the modern one. Faulkner uses Emily's ancestral home in order to depict the old and fading memory of the traditional society in the eyes of the members of the modern society. In this example, the house becomes a metaphor synonymous to "old," "traditional," and fading memory of Emily's time.

Faulkner gives his readers a new twist to the meaning of "love," "honor," and "respectability" in the story. Honor and respectability given to Emily based on traditions and not due to the community's real respect for the woman. Love is given a grotesque meaning in the story, where Emily's love for Homer Barron led to his eventual death when it became apparent that the woman's feeling was left unreciprocated by the man.

The narrator, interestingly, represents the community in which Emily lives. As an outsider to Emily's life, the narrator provides an effective "lens" in which the readers can look at her life. Although full of biases against Emily, the narrator just reflects the antagonistic, yet sympathetic, nature of Emily's community, a community that is both fascinated and irritated at Emily's stubbornness to remain different and 'unreachable' to other people despite her poverty and loneliness in life.