In the story "A Rose for Emily," the symbolism shows more about the character than is detailed by the author, William Faulkner. Symbolism helps to indicate several things in the story. A few things are how Ms. Emily was once innocent but later changes, how her hair and some other items helped to show her resistance to change, how the room where Homer died shows that she loved Homer and her desire to stop change, how Homer's name and actions suggest that he is a homosexual, and how she could not get away from her father's control even after his death. Symbolism plays a huge role in William Faulkner's decision to side with the North or South in "A Rose for Emily".
             First, Ms. Emily used to white wear dresses, which symbolize innocence and purity, but she begins wearing black clothes, much like a widow's or mourner's style of dress after Homer presumably disappears. Emily's change in appearance shows that she has become soiled in some sense. She was sad about him leaving and let everybody around her know it. Another example of Emily's change is also exhibited in how the house begins to degenerate. At one time the house was white and emaculate, but Emily allows it to become decrepit and dirty. It becomes so dirty and smelly that men broke into her cellar door after midnight and threw lime around to try to sanitize the awful smell. "Send her word to have her place cleaned up. Give her a certain time to do it in, and if she don't..." (Faulkner pg. 146). The description of the interior and exterior of her house illustrates Emily's decay.
             Another use of symbolism is in the description of Ms. Emily's hair as she grows older. After her father dies she cuts it short, and the townspeople say it is "sort of tragic and serene" (Faulkner pg. 147). This symbolizes her belief that she is finally free of her father's control over her, because she probab
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