The Past-Present Contrast in William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" | blablawriting.com (2023)

William Faulkner is known for his use of imagery and symbolism in depicting the depth of his stories. Another literary device he used in many of his works is contrast. Examining the contrasts gives readers clues as to the meaning or messages the author is trying to convey. Character contrasts are perhaps the most common. However, out of such contrasts comes a plot contrast. Since the plot reflects an ethical or moral state, contrasting plots suggest a contrast in ideological perspectives and therefore in relation to the subject.

In the short story A Rose for Emily, Faulkner contrasts the present tense with the past tense. In the story, Faulkner portrays the present through the narrator, representing it in Homer Barron, the new Board of Aldermen, and the "next generation with their more modern ideas". On the other hand, Faulkner represents the past in Emily herself, in the old black servant, in the Council of Aldermen and in Colonel Sartoris.

Faulkner's concept of the present is not a sharply defined point between past and future. Your idea of ​​the present is irrational; it is an incomprehensible and monstrous event that descends upon us and vanishes. For Faulkner, there is nothing beyond this present, since the future does not exist. Faulkner's concept of the present is also characterized by a floating, which indicates a kind of temporally interrupted movement. One can observe in the author's works that there is never any progress, nothing that can come from the future. For Faulkner, the present does not contain anticipated future events. On the other hand, the author proposes that to be present means to appear and be suspended for no reason.

In addition, the past of Faulkner's characters is not arranged chronologically, but follows certain impulses and emotions. Many fragments of thought and action revolve around a few central themes; hence the absurdity of the chronology and the claim of the clock. The Order of the Past In Faulkner's work is the order of the heart. One must not think that the present event, having been in the past, becomes the most immediate of all memories. The passage of time can sink it to the bottom of memory or leave it on the surface. Only its own inner value and its importance for our life can determine its level. For Faulkner, the past is never lost; it's always present, almost like an obsession.

In A Rose for Emily, Faulkner portrays the world as a jumble of past and present. Here the author creates an atmosphere of distortion, unreality. Emily's world is the result of the dissolution of a natural temporal order. Emily is portrayed as "a fallen monument". That's because she's proven vulnerable to death (and decay). Mentioning death will later condition you for a more specific engagement with it. The second paragraph of the story shows the essential ugliness of the contrast. Emily's home is described as:

...a large, once white, square clapboard house decorated with domes, spiers and ornate porches in a brightly lit 1970's style, situated on what was once our most exclusive street. But garages and cottonseeds had invaded and erased even the lofty names of this neighborhood; only Miss Emily's house remained, elevating its wanton and flirtatious decay above the cotton wagons and gas pumps—an eyesore among eyesore.

Here you can see a juxtaposition of past and present. This scene can be recognized as a symbolic representation of Emily herself. This is what the words "stubborn and coquettish" indicate. The contrast is maintained in the fifth paragraph description of the note Emily sent to the mayor, “a note on paper of archaic form, in a fine, flowing handwriting in faded ink,” and in the fifth paragraph description of the interior of the house, as Representatives of the Council of Aldermen visit them: “They were let in by the old black man into a dark corridor from which a staircase led up into more shadows. It smelled of dust and disuse—a damp, locked smell. Furthermore, in the sixth paragraph, Faulkner reveals Emily's resemblance to her home: "She looked swollen, like a body that had been submerged in still water for a long time, and with that pale hue."

When she was young and immersed in the world of her contemporaries, the narrator tells readers that Emily was "a slender figure clad in white," in contrast to her father, who is described as a "stretched-out silhouette." In the photo of Emily and her father, Faulkner describes her as fragile and willing to participate in the life of her time. Here we observe a reversal of the contrast already presented, which will be developed later. Even after the death of Emily's father, she is not portrayed as monstrous; Instead, she looks like a girl "with a vague resemblance to those angels in the tinted church windows - kind of tragic and serene". Faulkner hints in A Rose for Emily that the protagonist had already begun his entry into this underworld, but would have been saved if Homer Barron had been a different kind of man.

When the representatives of the new and progressive Board of Aldermen await Emily for her tax arrears, she has withdrawn completely into her past world. Readers note that no communication is possible between Emily and the representatives:

His voice was dry and cold. “I don't have taxes in Jefferson. Colonel Sartoris explained it to me. Maybe one of you can get access to city records and see for yourself.

"But we do. We are the city authorities, Miss Emily. Didn't you get a note from the sheriff, signed by him?"

"I have a newspaper, yes," said Miss Emily. “Maybe he thinks he's the sheriff. . . I don't have taxes in Jefferson.

"But nothing in the books shows that we..."

"See Colonel Sartoris. I don't have taxes in Jefferson.

"But Miss Emily..."

"See Colonel Sartoris." (Colonel Sartoris had been dead nearly ten years.) "I have no taxes in Jefferson. Ser ser!" The black man appeared. "Take these gentlemen out."

Just as Emily refused to acknowledge her father's death, she now refuses to acknowledge Colonel Sartoris' death. He had given his word, and according to the traditional view "his word" knew no death. It is the past against the present - the past with its social decency, the present with all that is recorded in the "books". Emily lives in the past, becoming a world of unreality for us in the present. Here are the facts that set the tone of the story and create the atmosphere of unreality that surrounds it.

Faulkner constantly contrasts past and present. For example, the author distinguishes between the attitude of Judge Stevens (who is in his eighties) and the attitude of the young man (a member of the "upcoming generation") who comes to see him about the smell in Emily's house. For the young man, Emily's world ceased to exist. The city's health codes are on the books. "Damn it, sir," replies the judge, "You want to tell a lady that she smells bad to her face?" Emily bowed to societal pressures by allowing her father's funeral, but triumphed over society when it came to smell. She had already won when she bought the poison and refused to comply with the demands of the law because they didn't exist for her.

However, such incidents appear as mere preparation for the most important contrast between Emily and Homer. Emily is the town's aristocrat; Homer is a day laborer. Homer is an active man involved with machines and workers. He is Northern, while Emily is a "monument" to Southern gentility. Emily is a town commons, but in a special way – as an ideal of bygone values. Faulkner appears to be commenting on the complex relationship between Southerners and their past and between contemporary Southerners and Northern Yankees. Seen as unreal by her countrymen, Emily impresses them with her position even at a time when they consider her fallen: "as if [her dignity] wanted this touch of the earth to confirm her impenetrability". Emily's world remains in the past, and when threatened with desertion and disgrace, she not only flees into this world, but takes Homer with her in the only way possible.

Emily's position on the specific issue of time is hinted at in the scene where the old soldiers appear at their funeral. In this scene the reader is given two views of the time: the world of the present and the world of tradition. The contemporary world is the vision of the modern generation in Jefferson and Homer. On the other hand, the world of tradition is the view of Confederate soldiers and senior city council members. Emily takes the second view, except that for her there is no block separating her from the meadow of the past. Here the small room became this timeless meadow. In it, the living Emily and the dead Homer stay together as if not even death could separate them. The symbols of Homer's work fell silent. On the contrary, Emily's world, while untouchable while alive, was invaded after her death.

Overall, Faulkner's A Rose for Emily suggests that man must learn to deal with both the past and the present. To ignore the past is to be guilty of foolish innocence, and to ignore the present is to become monstrous and inhuman, especially to betray an excessive pride in the face of the humiliating fact of death. "A Rose for Emily" reiterates what has been said in so many stories - that the man's situation is tragic, but that trying to overcome it is heroism.