Tradition is sacred to many societies across the globe. To most, it provides comfort, especially during times of change.  Change can be scary, and to some, 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 the themes of tradition, thriving in the past, and the fear of change, and how they all can lead to the downfall of a society and individual.

Faulkner’s narrative 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. The anecdote begins at her funeral, where the older male citizens, some even adorned in their outdated military uniforms, spear of Ms. Emily Grierson with such high respect and deep admiration. The uniforms they wore represented their attachment to the antebellum days and the culture they were adhered to. They relished in the past, the ‘Great South’ that had once brought them nothing but affluence and prosperity…now, this pillar of heritage had diminished into nothing but dust, like the film lingering on top of all of the Grierson’s possessions. This eludes 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) As historic homes were replaced with new foundations and families, Emily’s residence remained stubbornly in its place. 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 easily stuck out of place as more of an eyesore than a traditional mansion in rejuvenated Jefferson. 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 decline in upkeep 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. She had no freedom and was stuck to live life the way he wanted to. 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. Mr. Grierson clung to his daughter the way he clung to his past. Even though he could not curb the modification, he could control his daughter.

Emily had been restrained by her father’s influence for decades. She was completely dependent on him…his thoughts were hers. At his passing, Emily fell apart. She was utterly alone…30 and still unmarried, left with nothing but her background.  Emily mourned 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 they had leaned on majority of their life? How does a grown adult 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. By being unwelcoming to reform for years, tradition robbed by the South of real advancement. Yes, the economy may have been prospering, but the morals of individuals were corrupt. Why would they change if what their society had been doing for generations ‘worked’? This ignorant mindset had lead Emily’s favored society into a civil war, which caused nothing but destruction. 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, stripped 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 passed, the residence is revolutionized into her own, dusty time capsule, where time was frozen and permanent, unlike the town she had resided in her whole life. She refused to accept and allow the newfound change to infiltrate her life. It remained 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. Even though her significance was fading in this new generation, she still felt entitled, because in her reality, she was still living in the traditional, plantation South. As the narrator states, “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?