A Rose for Emily

            "A Rose for Emily" William Faulkner reveals the conflicts one can have with himself, his environment or with others. In "A Rose for Emily," a young girl, Emily Grierson, faces a rather tragic life and undergoes conflict throughout what is shown in the story. Resisting the truth of change brought with death, Emily can't carry her life on away from the past. .
             Much of Emily's conflict is internal and stems from her inability to let go of her past. This is seen throughout Faulkner's short tale in examples such as Emily's refusal to pay taxes and the murdering of Homer Barron. In 1894, the mayor of the town, Colonel Sartoris, remitted Emily's taxes. He created a story saying that her father had loaned money to the town, but in actuality, the Colonel felt obligated to somehow take care of the young lady since her father passed away. However, the generations of mayors following Colonel Sartoris were not quite so generous, and constantly requested that Miss Emily pays her taxes. But she continued to refuse, and would not let go of her past experiences with Colonel Sartoris. She argued that the authorities must "see Colonel Sartoris. I have no taxes in Jefferson" (1377). Emily's stubbornness to accommodate to the new town officials and their request of taxes supports the argument that Emily is unable to deal with conflicts because she is unable to let go of the past. .
             Along with her refusal to pay taxes, Emily's murder of her lover, Homer Barron, also portrays her desire to hold on to the past. Emily's lover plans on leaving her, so she murders him, lying him down next to where she lays in bed. At this point in the story, Emily is trying to stop time, and embrace the joyous moment she has with her lover still there with her. In her killing of Homer, she is holding onto the past, for she is attempting to hold on to the relationship that she and Homer once had, or she wished that she had. She keeps his corpse lying in bed next to her, which is implied when it was "noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head" and a "long strand of iron-gray hair" (1382).