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Manipulation In A Rose For Emily

Decent Essays

A Rose for Freedom

A Rose for Emily written by William Faulkner, symbolizes so much more than what is said in the text. William Faulkner sets an intense mood at the beginning of the story when announcing the death of Miss Emily Grierson. Not many stories start off with death, but in this case, Emily’s death is a very important key point to the story. The narrator manipulates time in the way he tells the story. The narrator starts off with with Emily’s death and continues the story with the past, the late past, and the past past. This time manipulation is very important to set the themes of the story. There is not one specific theme, but actually a variety. For example, the time manipulation by confusing the reader with the past and the present. Another example is the loneliness …show more content…

The fact that Emily buys a man’s toilet set and a complete outfit of men’s clothing, including a nightshirt, symbolizes that Emily truly cared about Homer. Emily uses these things to set up a decked room as for a bridal in her house, and sets homer’s body in a bed. Homer’s body was lain in the attitude of an embrace and next to him was a pillow with the indentation of a head. This symbolizes that Emily slept with Homer every night. The biggest clue of all, was the iron-grey hair they found on the bed, which was Emily’s. Emily symbolizes the old South because she resists change in the way that, as she got older, and the world around her changed, she latches on to her traditions. Tobe’s disappearance symbolizes the freedom of slaves after Emily’s death, which symbolizes the end of the Old South. He also disappears to avoid having to spill Emily’s secrets to the town. The rose in “The Rose for Emily” symbolizes the true love which Miss Emily never experienced. The house is a huge symbolism of Emily’s isolation because that was all she had, and all her father left her. It also symbolizes the decaying South and at the end of the story, the house, like Miss Emily, has become

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