Tradition is sacred to many societies across the globe. This is because it is what is comfortable to all, especially during change.  Change is scary, and most times, it is easier to cling to the past than accept a new future. William Faulkner, a famous American poet and writer, used his literature work to portray this fear. Faulkner grew up in the Post-Reconstruction South. He lived in a time period where people were struggling personally and economically with the transition back into American society. The short story, “A Rose for Emily”, by William Faulkner, demonstrates, yet argues, the themes of tradition and the fear of change.

Faulkner’s piece of work takes place in the antebellum town of Jefferson, possibly during or after the reconstruction of the South preceding the Civil War. During this time period, Jefferson was entering an age where the old was now being replaced by the new. Emily Grierson and her family were strong symbols of tradition in this refashioned town. They represented what was once the established elite of Jefferson, what some people of the town still wished to respect. During her funeral, the older male citizens, some even adorned in their Confederate uniforms, spoke of Ms. Emily Grierson with such high respect and deep admiration. The uniforms they wore represented their attachment to the antebellum days, as to why they were reverent to this once monumental figure. The women, instead, had chosen to visit the house out of curiosity, since its doors had been shut many years ago.

Unlike the rest of Jefferson, the Grierson residence remained unchanged throughout the years of reconstruction. Throughout the transformation occurring in this small Southern town, the house remained with its “stubborn and coquettish decay… and eyesore among eyesores.” (Faulkner 226) The house was deteriorating, unkempt, dimly lit, and filled with “heavy” furniture. The whole structure, after all of these years, was evident of disuse. It reflected the unchanging views of the Grierson’s, an anxiety of changing with time and forgetting what had once defined them. 

The responsibility for this deprecation is given to none other than Emily Grierson. Once being a model of respect, aristocracy, and importance, she transformed into nothing more than a responsibility for the new-coming generation. The little sliver of respect that she still held, and clung to, was only due to her bloodline and family. When alive, Emily was constantly under the supervision of her father, a respected figure in the community. He held the status of the Grierson name extremely high, and approved of no suitor for his daughter. Their family lived and believed in the old Southern ways of chivalry and upper class, making it harder for them to get along with the “new South” that was approaching. His rejection of his daughter’s suitors is similar to the older aristocratic views of the new “northern” ways of the Reconstruction era.

  By the time Emily had reached the age of 30, she was still single, and after her father’s passing, utterly alone.  Emily contravened his death and held his body captive for some time, much like her father and the other nobles of her time had refused to accept the death of the old South. Like the death of a strong figure, the death of an era, of tradition, is frightening. How is one supposed to forget what that had leaned on majority of their life and start all over? As stated by Faulkner: 

“…we knew that with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which robbed her, as people will” (Faulkner 228)

This quote is not only reflected of Emily, but other elites in her society at her time, who had lost the tradition that they had clung to for generations upon generations. Their once confederate society was returning back to the union, cleansing them of their past and bringing an uncertain future.

Emily was left in an unsettling state. She was completely alone, shredded of her past despite her home. This house was the only thing left to Emily that demonstrated her previous life of status after her father’s death.  As a reaction to this change in her life, she locks herself inside the sanctuary of her home, a desperate act to retain what little she has left of her name. As the decades pass, the residence is revolutionized into her own, dusty time capsule, remaining in her old, pre-war state of mind, where her status is highly regarded and life is easier. 

Throughout the text, the new, modern society in which Emily shields herself from continues to try and “break into” her sanctuary. Previous to the newly reinstated positions of town leadership, Colonel Sartoris, an old mayor, excused the Grierson’s of their taxes as a way to help support Emily after her father’s passing, covered up by the excuse that her family loaned a large sum of money to the town many years prior. As the new generation of leaders rose, they made many attempts to dislodge this forged agreement between the Colonel and Emily with no success. Every letter sent to her in the mail was quickly returned to the post office with no supply, and a trip to her home only left them with the answer that she owed no taxes. She refused to believe that she was becoming any less dignified with the rise of the new generation and power. 

As the old generation of the south started to dwindle, and the newer, contemporary generation began to take over, Emily clung more and more to her own reality of her ways. ‘She carried her head high enough—even when we believed that she had fallen. It was as if she demanded more than ever the recognition of her dignity as the last Grierson.” (Faulkner 230) Even at the lowest point of her life, she believed that she was still a plantation aristocrat, not a poor figure to pity. That is why it came as a shock when she began taking the liking of a construction worker hired by the new leaders of the town, Homer Barron. He was a northerner, obviously not coming from wealthy background, however, he gained Emily’s attention and affection. Was it out of loneliness, or possibly a rebellion of the traditional spiral she had been stuck in her whole life?

 Either way, it did not turn out well. Homer Barron suddenly vanished after the two were supposedly engaged, never to be seen again, until years later, when the present invaded Emily’s time capsule of her home during her funeral to discover the decaying corpse of her lover, and a single gray hair of her own besides him.

Emily Grierson was stuck between two completely generations. She herself remained a tradition of the town, someone that stayed the same during this shift of generations and represented what was once important to the town: status, respect, and timelessness. While some pitied and respected her, others viewed her as only a nuisance left by the older members of the community, causing her to become a burden to herself and others, thus pushing her more and more towards the sanctuary of her isolation.

Tradition is something that most of us in society hold close to us because it is all that we know. It is comfortable and reassuring, especially during the time of this story, where the once prominent and wealthy are forced to drop everything they know with the coming of the “new south”.  For Emily, her past is a safety net. Although it helped her cope with the loss of her reputation and father, clinging to the past results in the loss of a human life, Homer Barron, and the expense of her sanity. In this short story, William Faulkner brings the idea of tradition into questioning; does keeping tradition alive help us or hold us back?