"A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner shows much symbolism throughout the short story. Some of the symbolisms Faulkner uses are: the aging of Miss Emily and her house, Miss Emily's refusal to accept change, use of colors in descriptions and Miss Emily's social status as symbols.
Miss Emily Grierson's life like her house which decays around her, suffers from lack of care and love (Free-CliffNotes-1of 2). Miss Emily had been a slender woman dressed in white like her house, which once had been white, decorated with cupolas and spires, and scrolled balconies. Later she had become obese and bloated also like her house, which was big and had a squarish frame. This shows that Miss Emily quit giving her body the care and nurturing that it needed.
Miss Emily and her house both seem to be aging together. The house that was once beautiful, like Miss Emily, is now described as "smelling of dust and disuse"(Faulkner, 622). Similar to the aging of Miss Emily, which is evident when, her voice is said to be " harsh and rusty, as if from disuse" (628). Inside and out, both the building and the body in which Miss Emily lived are in a state of deterioration. .
Miss Emily appears simply to refuse to accept change. This happens as she denies her father's death, refuses to discuss or pay taxes, ignores town gossip about her being a fallen woman, and does not tell the druggist why she is purchasing arsenic. A good example of this is when representatives were sent to her home to collect her delinquent taxes. She completely rejected her responsibilities to the town by referring the men to a time when the since departed major, Colonel Sartoris remitted her taxes. Just as the house seems to reject progress and updating, so does Miss Emily, until both of them become decaying remnants.
Miss Emily lives as a recluse, someone who has withdrawn from a community to live in seclusion, for many years. She may have wanted seclusion, but her heart lingered for companionship.