A symbol of neglect

A Symbol of Neglect Only when the present has become the past can we reflect on what we could have or should have done. Yet our society is so obsessed with keeping track of time that we spend millions of dollars a year to keep a set of atomic clocks ticking the time. These clocks are so accurate that they must be reset once a year to correct for the earth's imperfect orbit. Our base-60 …

…house seems to reject progress and updating, so does Miss Emily, until both of them become decaying anachronisms. Through descriptions of the house that resemble descriptions of Miss Emily Grierson, "A Rose for Emily" emphasizes the way that beauty and elegance can become grotesquely distorted through neglect and lack of love. In this story, the house deteriorates for forty years until it becomes ugly; Miss Emily's physical and emotional condition dissipate in a similar manner.