Symbolism in a Rose for EmilyWilliam Faulkner (1897-1962) was a Southern writer; he spent most of his time in Oxford, Mississippi. “A Rose For Emily” was a vehicle for him to write about the South and the old Southern ways. He was a highly regarded writer. In 1950 he received the Nobel Prize for Literature. Faulkner uses symbolism to make his message stronger. Faulkner uses symbolism as a way to represent qualities of character, places, and events in his work. Emily came from a wealthy family that had a lot of history in the city. The Griersons were so powerful that Emily didn't have to pay taxes. Everyone in town seemed to think they were snobs because in the eyes of Emily's father, none of the men were good enough for Emily. Unfortunately, Emily turned out to be a lonely old woman due to her father's influence. in “A Rose for Emily,” Faulkner uses the element of time to enhance the details of the setting and vice versa. Eschewing the chronological order of events in Miss Emily's life, Faulkner first gives the reader a complete puzzle, and then allows him to examine the puzzle piece by piece. In this way it enhances the story and presents two different perspectives of time held by the characters, such as the world of the present and the world of tradition and the past - "confusing time with its mathematical progression... divided from them by the narrow neck of bottle of the last decade of years" (Faulkner 35-36). Faulkner uses symbolic elements to compare the Grierson house to Emily's life - "raising its willful, flirtatious decay above the cotton wagons and gas pumps - an eyesore among sore eyes" (Faulkner 29).