A Rose for Emily By William Faulkner :: essays research papers

Symbolism in A Rose For EmilyWilliam Faulkner (1897-1962) was a southern writer he spent most of his cartridge clip in Oxford, Mississippi. "A Rose For Emily" was a vehicle for him to write about the southernmost and the old ways of the South. He was a well respected writer. In 1950 he received the Nobel Prize for Literature. faulkner uses symbolization to make his message stronger. Faulkner uses symbolism as a way to repersent the qualities of the character, places and events in his work.Emily came from a well to do family that had alot of history in the town. The Griersons were so powerful, Emily did not have to pay taxes. The totally townspeople seemed to think taht they were snobby because in Emilys fathers eyes, none of the men were instead good enough for Emily. Unfortunately, Emily turned out to be a solitary old woman because of her fathers influence. in "A Rose for Emily", Faulkner uses the element of time to enhance details of the setting and vice ver sa. By avoiding chronological send of events of Miss Emilys life, Faulkner first gives the proofreader a completed puzzle, and then allows the reader to examine the puzzle piece by piece. By doing so he enhances the story and presents two different perspectives of time held by the characters such as, the conception of the present and, the world of tradition and the past-"confusing time with its mathematical progression...divided from them by the narrow bottleneck of the most recent decade of years"(Faulkner 35-36).Faulkner uses symbolic elements to compare the Grierson house with Emilys life- "lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton plant wagons and the gasoline pumps-an eyesore among eyesores"(Faulkner 29).