A Rose for Emily is the story of the titular protagonist, an elderly Southern spinster living in antebellum Mississippi. Seen as mad and backward by her fellow townspeople, she refuses to marry for decades before finally accepting a Northern suitor who immediately vanishes into her home. The story is told in flashbacks after Emily's death and chronicles her inability to accept the changing world of the post-war South. In the end it is revealed that she slept for what may have been years beside her suitor's corpse.
"A Rose for Emily" discusses many dark themes that characterized the Old South. Death is an important theme because it thematically reflects the 1930s decaying of the South by relating it to Emily's need to cling to tradition by sleeping next to the corpse of Homer Barron. There is also a reference to the stagnant mindset of the Old South in their inability to initially accept Homer Barron, a Northerner, into their lives.
In addition, William Faulkner examines the issue of progressive change in the face of old tradition, as exemplified by the city of Jefferson's growing improvement through their new mail service, cotton gins, and garages. These new technologies replace the archaic, luxuriant houses of the antebellum past, and Emily's refusal to pay her taxes, using Colonel Sartoris' expired pardon, shows her refusal for change.
Another theme that characterizes the story is the isolation that Emily makes for herself, juxtaposed with the interest of the town in the life of Emily. Emily is alone, yet always being watched by the townspeople. She is both isolated and a part of the community.
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