rose for emily2

These lies continue as she denies her father's death, refuses to discuss or pay taxes, ignores town gossip about her being a fallen woman, and does not tell the druggist why she is purchasing arsenic. Through descriptions of the house that resemble descriptions of Mss Emily Grierson, “A Rose for Emily” emphasizes the way that beauty and elegance can become distorted through neglect and lack of love. Once she had been a beautiful woman, who later became obese and bloated. Just as the house seems to reject progress and updating, so does Miss Emily, until both of them become decaying symbols of their dying generation. Both the house and Miss Emily become traps for a representative of the twentieth century, which is Homer Barron, laborer, outsider, and confirmed bachelor. The interior of the house also resembles Miss Emily's increasing degeneration and the growing sense of sadness that accompanies such decay. Similarly, Miss Emily has also become an eyesore. Initially, all that can be seen of the inside of the house is a dim hall where a staircase is mounted into still more shadow, with the house smelling of dust and disuse. The characteristics of Miss Emily's house, like her physical appearance, are brought about by years of neglect. The darkness and smell of the house connect with Miss Emily, like her voice that is dry and cold as if it were dark and dusty from disuse like the house. Both house and occupant have suffered the ravages of time and neglect. Finally, the townspeople's descriptions of both house and occupant reveal a common unattractive style. Originally white and decorated in "the heavily lightsome style" of an earlier time, the house has become "an eyesore among eyesores".