The fact that he is a construction worker symbolizes that he is part of the changing modern generation, destroying and rebuilding parts of ante-bellum Jefferson. Emily, of course, symbolizes the Old South and the unchanging values of the 19th century.

While the north became financially stronger as the industry and manufacturing jobs develop. Emily Grierson can be viewed as a symbol of the old south. While the town is modernizing, Emily stays in the past. The opposite of the traditional south (and Emily) is the north- an area more adaptable and open to change.

The big internal conflict for Emily is her struggle with reality. She refuses to accept that she is no longer living in the antebellum South, where backroom deals could be made to evade taxes.

Symbolically, Homer Barron represents northern industry following the Civil War, which expanded their businesses to the south after the Union victory. Essentially, the Jeffersonians view Homer Barron as a carpetbagger who does not deserve to court Miss Emily Grierson.

Emily’s father kept her from seeing suitors and controlled her social life, keeping her in isolation until his death, when she is 30 years old. Her struggle with loss and attachment is the impetus for the plot, driving her to kill Homer Barron, the man that is assumed to have married her.

What does Miss emily do that makes the townspeople think she and her boyfriend have gotten married? She had bought him a toilet set with his initials and some clothes.

In William Faulkner’s short story entitled “A Rose For Emily”, Emily Grierson kills her lover Homer Barron after being in love with him for about a year. Emily’s father controlled her life up until his death. …

When nothing changes, the townspeople believe that Emily will end up marrying Homer Barron. The attitude of the citizens regarding Emily’s relationship with Homer appears to change once again when they mention that they are glad that she is marrying Homer simply because they want Emily’s kin to leave town.

So, at age 40, for about 6 or 7 years, she gave lessons on painting china. It is an interesting thing to do to earn money, and even more interesting that Miss Emily, from wealthy relations and a stubborn sense of pride, would condescend to teaching painting lessons for money.

Hover for more information. There is no evidence in the story that Miss Emily supported herself financially in any way other than through her china-painting lessons. We can assume that she had always lived off the money left to her by her father, and we know that it must have been a limited amount.

Why do the townspeople believe her boyfriend/husband has left? They believed Homer left so that Emily could get rid of her cousins.

In “A Rose for Emily,” the townspeople keep repeating “poor Emily” as an indication that they believe she has fallen from her privileged social standing. Miss Emily does not conform to their social expectations, particularly when she chooses to enjoy the company of a man who is a day laborer from the North.

The townspeople felt both pity and sympathy for Miss Emily. They knew that her father had dominated her all her life and that the only man whom she loved and was willing to marry had suddenly left her.

Expert Answers Hover for more information. Much of the townsfolk’s sympathy towards Miss Emily comes from the fact that with her father dead, she’s now the last surviving link to an idealized past. Miss Emily is taken to be the embodiment of all the old traditions associated with Southern life.

Miss Emily purchases the arsenic to kill Homer Barron, a Yankee working man who has come to town to work on the paving of sidewalks in the town. He is not someone whom Miss Emily’s father would have approved of, finding such a person beneath her.

Miss Emily bought arsenic from the druggist in “A Rose for Emily.” She would not, as the law requires, explain to him what she planned to use it for.

What does this mean: “When the town got free postal delivery, Miss Emily alone refused to let them fasten the metal numbers above her door and attach a mailbox to it. She would not listen to them.” This means that she wants to live in the past.

At the end of “A Rose for Emily,” Emily dies. The townspeople break down the locked door of her bedroom and find the corpse of Homer Barron in her bed. She killed him and has been sleeping with him every night. She is trying to freeze time and live in an alternate reality, just as the South as a whole is trying to do.

One moral, or ethical message, of this story is that we don’t see the world properly when we view it through rose colored glasses. This town was able to ignore Emily’s oddities because they viewed her through rose colored glasses. When Emily’s father died there were signs that she was going crazy.

The Central Theme and Symbolism of William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily. William Faulkner’s central theme in the story “A Rose For Emily” is to let go of the past. The main character in the story, Emily Grierson, has a tendency to cling to the past and has a reluctance to be independent.

Once Miss Emily dies, people enter her house. All we know for sure is that Homer Barron is dead and his body has been kept in an upstairs bedroom of Miss Emily’s house. His body, dressed in a nightshirt, has decomposed into the bed. Nearby is the clothing and toilet set Miss Emily bought for him.

Hover for more information. Homer Barron comes to town as the foreman of a construction company from the north which has been contracted to pave the town’s sidewalks. Homer is charming and has a tendency to be in the spotlight, and the town quickly takes to him and regards him fondly.

What probably happened to Homer? Why? Emily killed him because he wouldn’t marry her.

It is after Homer Barron has apparently deserted Miss Emily that her hair begins to turn grey: When we next saw Miss Emily, she had grown fat and her hair was turning grey. During the next few years it grew greyer and greyer until it attained an even pepper-and-salt iron-grey, when it ceased turning.

Emily is clearly a villain in the short story, “A Rose for Emily. ” Although much of her character came from her father’s abuse, she remains responsible for her actions. In the story, Emily is obsessed with avoiding change. She refuses to let him go, which makes her only a victim of herself, thus a villain.

The weight gain and gray hair are signs of depression. The town ignores her problems and only comes to understand the depth of her psychological trauma after she dies.

Emily’s hair is symbolic of her sexuality throughout the story. After her father dies, Emily cuts her hair short, appearing like a young girl though she is in her 30s. A few years after Homer “disappears” and her last chance to wed has gone, her hair turns gray, signifying the death of her sexuality.

Emily’s house also represents alienation, mental illness, and death. It is a shrine to the living past, and the sealed upstairs bedroom is her macabre trophy room where she preserves the man she would not allow to leave her.

Mr. Grierson, Emily’s father, sets the tone for her narrative of solitude and control. He makes himself the central figure in Emily’s life, chasing away her suitors with a horsewhip and exerting his influence over every aspect of their home – something that does not ebb after his death.

Discuss Miss Emily’s motive for her action. We found out that she has probably murdered Homer Barron and was keeping his body as a secret there. The second pillow shows us that she was having a routine of sleeping on his side and having contact with him in this weird scenario.