The main symbolism that runs through A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner is the theme of the importance of letting go of the past. Miss Emily clings to the past and doesn't want to be independent. The Old South is becoming the new South and it cannot move forward. Not all Southerners gave in to change just because they lost the Civil War. In A Rose for Emily, time passes, leaving Miss Emily behind as she stubbornly refuses to progress into a new era. In the story, symbolism is used to give more details than the author actually gives the reader. The symbolism helps indicate how Emily was once innocent but later changed, how her hair, house, and lifestyle helped show her resistance to change. The story is not told in chronological order. The events of his life slowly reveal themselves and build suspense over the narrator's telling of the story. The narrator represents the city and its inhabitants. The "Old South" attitude manifested itself after his father's death when Colonel Sartoris made up a story that the town owed his father money, thus exempting him from paying taxes. Later, when the new generation tried to force her to pay taxes, she stubbornly refused. This symbolized his refusal to enter the present. This stubborn refusal led her to not follow the events in the city. She didn't even realize that Colonel Sartoris had been dead for ten years. She still seemed to belong to an earlier era. She surrounded herself with memories of the past. The description of his house showed his desire to hold back time. Another example of Emily's change was also shown in how the house began to degenerate. Formerly, the house was white and immaculate. Now the house was du...... middle of paper ......ne in society. The rose often represents love and eternal beauty. Roses are often preserved after they die. Emily was denied a rose. Her father refused her suitors when she was young. His city then refused its suitors. Homer Barron also denied her love because he considered himself not the marrying type. However, she refused to give up her “rose” when she fell in love with Homer. She kept it the only way she could. She isolated herself from the world to keep it. The room she kept him in was pink in color. There was an indentation in the pillow where his head lay. On the pillow was a long lock of iron-gray hair. His deep feelings and desires marked his heart like an imprint in the pillow. She controlled them the only way she knew how. She stopped the man she loved from moving forward in time. She kept it in the past with her.