Rose For Emily Symbolism

Symbolism is often used in the story “A Rose for Emily”, but three main symbols particularly stick out. The word “rose” is important from the very beginning of the story as it first appears in the title. The word “rose” has various meanings, the first being the verb to rise. When a deputation came to visit they were showed in by Tobe, her “manservant” (pg 233), and “they rose when she entered” (pg 234). This shows a sign of respect for Miss Emily, a respect that may only be reserved for her because she is of higher class and seen as superior. This shows how she is treated specially because of the decaying social order that makes her higher class even though she is now poor. Another very important symbol is Tobe, her supposed “manservant”. Although slavery was over, African Americans were still treated very unfairly and although they could have jobs, their jobs often resembled what a slave might do and they earned very little
When Miss Emily died the men attended her funeral “through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument” (pg 233). Miss Emily here is being alluded to as an important statue or, as the author said, a monument. A monument is something that is looked up to and viewed as holy and all-important, a symbol for many people. A fallen monument alludes to a lost statue of hope. Miss Emily was the town’s hope that they may once have the antebellum south again. She was the one who lived in this past world of slavery, and the past world of her being a high-class person, in a high-class house on a high-class street. When she died, so did the last bit of the antebellum south left in the town. An entire town relying on this one person to be their symbol of everything they don’t have anymore shows how the social order in the town of Jefferson is severely decayed. Tone in “A Rose for Emily” is also another large literary device used to show this decay of social