William Faulkner's short story, "A Rose for Emily" is a comparison of the past to the present. Emily is a picture of the past, a monument that had "fallen" in death. The town itself is the symbol of "the next generation, with its more modern ideas." The story begins at the end of Emily's life, her funeral. The narrator, a townsperson, tells the story by connections, where one thought triggers another as opposed to a chronological viewpoint. When the narrator mentions Miss Emily as a "sort of hereditary obligation" it prompts the memory of the past when Colonel Sartoris remitted her taxes. As generations of alderman change, so do the town standards, and in attempt to collect these taxes, a dispute arises. With this difference of opinion, we get our first indication of Emily's character. Her home was dimly lit and dusty with a damp smell. She was pale and obese, "bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water, and of that pallid hue." Her persona matched that of her dark house, "her eyes, lost in the fatty ridges of her face, looked like two small pieces of coal..." as if she was mentally in some far off place. In the confrontation with the authorities, she simply states she has "no taxes in Jefferson." There was no discussion, no debate to her. This was fact and she proceeded to send them away. She was just as defiant when her father died. For three days after her father's death, she insisted that "her father was not dead."
             When the town brought in Homer Barron to do town renovations, we see a little of Emily's social side. Homer and Miss Emily were seen "on Sunday afternoons driving in the yellow-wheeled buggy." Soon the town meddles in the affair and calls on Emily's relatives to intervene. Emily was raised in a high social position, "noblesse oblige" and the town thought the situation with Homer was immoral. Eventually two of her cousins came to visit her. When she had begun to see Homer, the town t
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