William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily"

William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" Critics may say a romantic story cannot realistically illustrate the evolving South. William Faulkner proves this wrong in his short story, "A Rose for Emily." Through heavy use of symbolism, Faulkner uses a deranged woman's life as a literary ploy. "A Rose for Emily" is one of William Faulkner's best constructed representations of the relationship between the past and present in the South. William Faulkner was born in New …

…btle irony when the druggist labeled the arsenic "for rats" when it was not so far from the truth, as it was used on Homer. William Faulkner brings to life characters far more genuine than typical in the common romantic story. He shows the vast differences between the Old and New South and the woman who was caught in the middle. For, "she would cling to that which had robbed her, as people will" (Parkes 651).