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Dominique Nelson

Ms. Jacobs

English 132

September 21, 2017

A Rose fFor Emily

In the story "A Rose fFor Emily" by William Faulkner the two most prominent aspects

were theme and symbolism they play a significant part. A theme is the central topic or idea of a

story and Symbolism is the action of a character, word, action, or event that has a deeper

meaning in the context of the whole story. The relationship between theme and symbolism is that

a symbol is often times given to allow deeper thinking into what the author is really talking about

and that would be the theme. It connects to A Rose for Emily by the author William Faulkner

allowing Emily and a few other objects to be the symbols for the underlying theme of death as

necessary in order which is that she had to die in order for the regime to move forward and

progress.

Throughout the story, Faulkner used many different symbols to convey the theme. The

three that stuck out the most where were Emily, the dust, and Emilys house. Emily was the most

important symbol of the story because she was the leading cause of the theme. Miss. Emily could

be described as a small fat woman who that lived in a progressing town filled with people who

saw her as a very cold and distant person who that lived in the past. Emily didnt really seem to

fit in the structure of the town anymore. Emily was stuck in her old ways that her father had
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instilled in her from when he was still alive. So she vanquished them after her fathers death she

went out very little; after her sweethearts went away, people hardly saw her at all(Faulkner).

Once those sequence of events occurred, Miss Emily decided she would live by her own rules,

do her own thing, and everyone out of her business and home. Miss. Emily was the only person

still with an African American working for her. Also, she felt as though she was higher than

everyone else because thats how it was back when her father was in charge. where Sshe didnt

have to pay taxes, but now she does since the new generation of the Board of Alderman came

into office. Miss. Emily was asked multiple times to pay her taxes just like everyone else in the

town, but she sternly refused, saying she doesnt have to pay taxes because that was a law

Colonel Sartoris made after the death of her father almost a decade earlier.

Dust is another symbol used throughout the story. Everything in Emilys house was very

dust everything was covered in a thick layer of dust. According to the story the dust is an

oppressive presence that seems to emanate from Homers dead body.(Faulkner) The dust helps to

convey the theme because the dust is a symbol of aging and being old, and that is linked back to

one of the descriptions of Emily that was explicitly stated in the text. In the story when the

aldermen arrived to try to collect Emilys annual taxes it was said that the house had a smell of

dustdust and disuse.. As the men sat themselves a dust seemed to stir all around them.

Faulkners constant talk of dust implies it is important to the story. The thick layers of dust seem

to be a symbol of how disconnected Emily really is from the reality outside her home and how

for how she is stuck in her ways.

Lastly, Emilys house is an important symbol in the story because it is not only

significant to the reader but significant to the town. Her house was like a monument to them. She

and her house were the only part remaining of the old regime. When the house was built it
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looked like a house for the most pristine and privileged people of the time and that was the case

once upon a time. In the story Emily house was described as 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, set on what had once been our most select street. But garages and cotton gins had

encroached and obliterated even the august names of that neighborhood; only Miss Emily's house was

left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps. The

house had fit Emily and her status as the wealthy and powerful when her father was alive in

years prior. After years of neglect, the house had become worn and lost its stand of status. In

some ways, the house could be used to depict Miss. Emily and her character. The house was

described as stubbornstubborn and coquettish decay compared to the other town

resresidenceidents. It was once a testament to the traditions of the Ssouth but now is just seen as

out of place and in the way because of how developed the surrounding areas is. Miss. Emilys

house that was once sought after is now dilapidated and considered an eyesore by the

townspeople. The house is a representation of alienation and death being that she secludes

herself in there for most of her adult life., although Also, thats the same place her father, her

lover Homer Barron and lastly she died.

William Faulkner made Emily, the dust, and Emilys house the most notable symbols in

order to tie them together and create his unexpressed theme. His theme was that Emily had to die

so that the town of Jefferson could move on and progress as a whole. The dust and Emilys

house were where the symbol for Emily because the dust is in an abundance only around Emily

and her home every time the story referred to Emilys house they always talked about how dusty

it was., Tthere was an overwhelming amount. Dust is associated with old things which Miss.

Emily was. Emilys house is another symbol for Emily because it was different, looking old and
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run down. The house was a constant reminder of the past; it was alienated and somewhat lonely.

There were That was also ways Miss. Emily was described throughout the story by the

townspeople. With both each of those symbols being symbols for Emily and Emily being the

symbol for the theme of the entire story, I feel Faulkner used them to give multiple connections

to his theme.
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Works Cited

Faulkner, William. A Rose for Emily. The Norton Introduction to Literature, edited by Kelly

.Mays, W.W Norton, 2017.