Free writing journal

William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily is a story about Miss Emily, a mysterious old woman who lived in a town who was embracing the different changes towards the modern world. While the story focuses on how Miss Emily’s life has had several unfortunate circumstances and how Miss Emily tried to close her doors to the outside world after her father’s death, it also describes how the town is gradually changing towards the new generation. The contrast between Miss Emily’s life and the town’s changing nature emphasizes the need for the older generation to adapt. There are many closing doors in the story, a symbolism of Miss Emily’s refusal to adapt to the changes.
Miss Emily’s refusal to accept the changing nature and behavior of the society and her environment made her a recluse. This indicates that refusal to accept that our world is changing is a ticket to getting stuck in one place and never moving forward to where we want to be. There are several indications in the story proving Miss Emily’s refusal to become part of the modern world. She didn’t want to put tin numbers on her door and she doesn’t want to have anything to do with the postal service. She didn’t want to accept her debt and she insisted she had no taxes to pay.
A Rose for Emily makes us realize that even if we stick to our traditions, there will come a time that our old ways can only be found in books. As people die, traditions die as well, even if we tried so hard to keep things the way it used to be. Since death is inevitable, we cannot assure ourselves that tomorrow, what we’re doing today will still be what the future will be doing.