William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose For Emily” presents three major issues to the audience that ensure the retellability and rereadability of this narrative: ethics, passage of time, and death. The reader can be torn by having pity on a murderer by acknowledging the reasons for the crime. Faulkner’s character portrayal and setting details illustrate the conflict between past and present. Finally, decay and death imagery is pervasive throughout the text, which leaves the reader agitated. All of these conflicts are embedded in the narrative. The reader is faced with choices of good vs. evil, past vs. present, and accepting life vs. ignoring death. The reader is faced with choices involving the main character, Emily Grierson, which are identifying with her faults, acknowledging her defiance of the p

The conflict between past and present is evident in the characters as well. Emily has the most difficult time accepting change of all the characters. Her stubbornness was especially evident when the narrator said “It was if she demanded more than ever the recognition of her dignity as the last Grierson; as if it had wanted that touch of earthiness to reaffirm her imperviousness” (Faulkner 32). One critic sheds light on Faulkner’s depiction of Emily as a steadfast character, “He pictures Miss Emily living behind barricaded doors, protecting herself from a hostile world. She has become a tiny island of the past surrounded by the ocean of the present. Whenever the present laps too high, she hurls back the waves” (Ross 37). Another critic examines the dilemma of past and present through multiple characters in the story:

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