A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner was published in 1930 and tells a story of an old woman named Emily Grierson. It starts off with the announcement of her death and then goes through the months before she passed, all through the views of the residents of the town. The author uses theme, symbolism and an ironic tone to further render his piece effective. 

Throughout the text, Faulkner shines light on two themes: death and tradition vs. change. The theme of death is what begins the story when the death of Emily is stated and continues to show itself throughout the rest of the piece. The second time death is mentioned is the death of Emily’s father, “The day after his death …Miss Emily met them at the door, dressed as usual and with no trace of grief on her face. She told them that her father was not dead. She did that for three days, with the ministers calling on her, and the doctors trying to persuade her to let them dispose of the body, just as they were about to resort to law and force, she broke down, and they buried her father quickly.” Death is a very prominent topic throughout the story, and the reaction of Emily towards people leaving or trying to leave her are not always on the healthy spectrum. This later proves to foreshadow what she would later do to her husband. Death is mentioned again and for the last time when her husband’s body is found, “The body had apparently once lain in the attitude of an embrace … What was left of him, rotted beneath what was left of the nightshirt, had become inextricable from the bed in which he lay…” Emily despised the idea of someone leaving her so much that she decided to kill her husband so he could not leave her and had a room for him in the upper level of her home, where she would lay in bed with his corpse. Tradition vs. change is also a prominent theme throughout the piece. The author notes, “It was a big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies, set on what had once been our most select street. But garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of that neighborhood; only Miss Emily’s house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps…” 

Just like any other piece of literature, symbolism makes an appearance in this piece. The house itself holds significance, and like Emily, represented a monument. It represents death, a shrine to the living past. Many people came to visit Emily’s home once she had passed, since she had simply been a part of the town for so long and they felt that they should show her some respect. The setting of this piece is a post-Civil War Mississippi town and it is shown to be modern, at least of its time. Though, Emily’s home still resembled structure that was of the 1800’s. The lack of change to just Emily’s home symbolizes the South’s persistence to not change when everyone around them had and accepted the aftermath the war brought. Another object that holds significance is the strand of iron-grey hair that is left on the pillow next to Homer’s, Emily’s dead husband, body that the townspeople discover after her death.  It seems like the strand of hair is the last of her and it is just left there to decay, right next to her biggest sin. 

The ironic tone in this piece is in the title, A Rose for Emily. A rose is given to someone who’s loved or perhaps just as a sign of endearment. There is no love for Emily, she had to kill her husband for him to stay with her. Her notion of loving him is also ironic, she self-creates marriage in the form of death. There is never really any proof that they are in fact married besides the townspeople assuming so when she goes out to the buy him clothes and when he goes in and out of the house. She kills the man she loves in order to reassure herself that they have a lasting bond and in the end, the supposed bond she had through she created “cuckolded him”.

A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner proves to be successful in proving itself effective. The author explores the themes of death, tradition vs. change, the symbolism of  Emily’s house, the strand of iron-grey hair and the ironic tone to render his piece effective. 