A Rose for Emily

“When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old manservant – a combined gardener and cook – had seen in at least ten years.” This is the first sentence in William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily, in it he sets up the main …

…the town’s opinions of her were very negative. But like the mayor at the time of the stink said, what were they to do. They couldn’t just go and tell her. So in conclusion Miss Emily and the town of Jefferson personify the cross-cultural relationship of the old South and the new South, and Faulkner uses this juxtaposition of personifications to enrich and bring meaning to his short story, A Rose for Emily.