In “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, the use of symbolism is in abundance. Symbolism is the use signs or representation of somebody, something, or event. In Faulkner's story does he effectively use symbolism to define Miss Emily Grierson and her house? Faulkner uses Miss Emily Grierson and the Grierson to show the emotion of the townspeople.

Miss Emily was a symbol to many of her neighbors and her community. She was a “fallen monument” means she meant so much to her community and that she is going to be missed. To have the whole town at her funeral shows a tremendous amount of respect and it shows that even though her neighbors did not know much about her they had fun not knowing what was going on inside her house and Emily’s neighbors probably also see her as a kind of entertainment also. Miss Emily’s neighbors really liked to snoop around and see what they could find out:

“Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon town, dating from that day in 1984 when Colonel Sartoris, the mayor-he who fathered the edict that no Negro women should appear on the streets without an apron-remitted her

The house was old and she did not take very good care of because face it she was old too. The house was not in good shape, “it smelled of dust and disuse-a close, dank smell” (Faulkner 521). The house was seen as a symbol because of its ugliness and because of the look of the other houses on the street it stood out." It is grim, solid and spiritless, its massive build a reminder of an earlier, more hazardous period of American History" (Stone 76). The paint on the house was old and nasty and the house did not look very safe to live in." With its dark weather-beaten roof and sides, it stands above a marsh in whose center grow two dead cypresses, clotted with roosting vultures" (Stone 76). The roof of the house was very bad and probably needed to be replaced, the grass was long because no one came out to cut it. In the center of the yard were two big trees that were filled with birds. The Grierson house is detached from the other houses and is forbidding. "It stands alone on the street as a human dwelling" (Stone 76). The house was really one of kind on its street everyone else on her street kept there houses looking nice and the yards neat. The neighbors hated the way her house looked and smelled and the house probably even brought down her neighbor's property value. The neighbors hated how it stuck out like white on black. The neighbors probably thought if they would just do a little work to the outside and to the roof and cut the grass it would look much better. This house was seen as an historical figure to many of the neighbors, which made the house stick even more. The use of symbolism on the house is very evident when it sticks out so badly and is an eyesore.

The use of symbolism in this story really helps to imagine the story happe

Some topics in this essay:
Miss Emily, History Stone, Miss Emily’s, Emily” Emily’s, Colonel Sartoris, Emily Grierson, miss emily, William Faulkner, Grierson Grierson, Jefferson Mississippi, emily grierson, Overall Faulkner, grierson house, miss emily grierson, stone 76, “a rose, “a rose emily”, faulkner 521, rose emily”, emily grierson house, neighbors probably, emily’s neighbors, neighbors fun, watching miss emily, emily grierson grierson,