In "A Rose for Emily", Faulkner presents a very horrifying picture in this story, and he does this by playing with the chronology, using detailed imagery, symbolism, and foreshadowing to present a detailed setting. Faulkner uses the element of time to enhance details of the setting. By avoiding the chronological order of events of Miss Emily's life, Faulkner enhances the plot and presents two different view of time held by the characters. The first view (the world of the present) shows time as a "mechanical progression." The second view (the world of tradition and the past) shows the past as "diminishing road." The first perspective is that of Homer and the modern generation. The second is that of Emily, the older members of the Board of Aldermen, and of the confederate soldiers.
             Faulkner begins the story with Miss Emily's funeral, where the men see her as a "fallen monument" and the women are anxious to see the inside of her house. He gives us a picture of a woman who has "fallen", yet is as important and symbolic as a "monument." The details of Miss Emily's house relate to her and symbolize what she stands for. It is set on "what had once been the most select street." The narrator (which is the town itself) describes the house as "stubborn and coquettish." Cotton gins and garages have long obliterated the neighborhood, but it is the only house left. With a further look at Miss Emily's life, we realize the importance of the setting in which the story takes place. The house in which she lives remains static and unchanged, just as Miss Emily has, even as the town progresses. Inside the walls of her abode, Miss Emily has halted time and its progression.
             In chapter one, Faulkner takes us back to the time when Miss Emily refused to pay her taxes. She believes that just because Colonel Sartoris remitted her taxes, that she is exempt from paying them ...