During the story, Faulkner reveals the fact that Emily is "tax exempt" to show the reader her important role in the community and her authority figure. Emily's father had extreme power in the town and was very close to the past mayor, Colonel Sartoris. Her father was very controlling throughout the whole story, especially when the narrator describes, "Miss Emily a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip." Her father represents the figure who believed in segregation; which Faulkner dislikes.
An archetype in the short story can be suggested that Emily's over-protective father represents Emily's feminist struggle; the ongoing battle for women, blacks, and poor Caucasians to have an equal piece in society. His over-protection is evident when the narrator explains, "We remembered all the young men her father had driven away, and we knew that with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her as people will." Emily's father robs her from many of life's necessities. Emily misses out on having friends, being a "normal woman", and her ability to be happy. She is not able to live a normal life which she indirectly blames on her father. Emily is so used to having her father figure around, that once he dies she clings on to Homer; even after killing him.
In "A Rose for Emily," there are two major themes that Faulkner is trying to point out. The first and most important is racial intolerance. Faulkner did not believe in this and wanted his story to represent his feelings. The house in the story represents segregation and does not want to let go of anything. This point comes across at the end of the story after Homer's body is found. The Negro "walked right through the house and out the back and was not seen again." The Negro represents slavery and all the African-Americans who were being stepped on.