FREE ESSAY ON THE PAST IS THE PRESENT

THE PAST IS THE PRESENT

The Past Is the Present
After World War One, there were many changes occurring in the world. Man's inherent need
to follow tradition was now being challenged by a continually changing, modern world. The
past and the present often conflicted. William Faulkner, a southern born writer, based
much of his novels and short stories on this conflict. He aptly reflects the turmoil of
the past and the present in, " A Rose for Emily".
The conflict between the past and the present is symbolized in the beginning of the story
by this description, " only now Miss Emily's house was left, lifting its stubborn and
coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and gasoline pumps-an eyesore among eyesores"
(331). It is ironic that the same description " stubborn and coquettish decay" can be a
description for Miss Emily as well. And just like her house, which had once been white
and on a " select street", Miss Emily had been a slim young girl dressed in white. But as
the house fell into decay so had Miss Emily," she looked bloated, like a body long
submerged in motionless water, and of that pallid hue"(332).
The town played a part in Miss Emily's delusion. There were numerous complaints of a foul
stench permeating from her property. A younger member of the Board of Aldermen suggested
that Miss Emily be told to clean up her property. But due to the old southern ideals of
honor, duty and loyalty the older, the more traditional members could not possibly
confront her about this matter. "Dammit sir", Judge Stevens said," will you accuse a lady
to her face of smelling bad"(333)? So in the midnight hour they chose to " slunk about
the house" and apply lime to the infected areas. Then thirty years later the Board of
Aldermen allow themselves to be "vanquished" by Miss Emily as they attempted to collect
the delinquent taxes owed the town. The druggist also permits her to purchase arsenic
without following protocol. By law Miss Emily was required to tell the druggist what she
plan to do with the arsenic. She did not. 
Ray B.West Jr., taught at the University of Montana and the University of Kansas. He was
also the editor of," Rocky Mountain Stories and " The Art of Modern Fiction". He wrote an
analysis on, " A Rose for Emily", titled " Atmosphere and Theme in " A Rose for Emily" in
1949. He states, " It is the Past pitted against the Present-the Past with its social
decorum, the Present with everything set down in "the books". Emily dwells in the Past,
always a world of unreality to us of the Present."(68). In his analysis, Mr. West sees an
atmosphere (time, place, and conditions) of unreality created by the female character,
Emily. And once this atmosphere of unreality is established, the reader is being prepared
for " Emily's unnatural act at the end of the story". This same atmosphere allows the
reader to see Miss Emily as a " tragic figure" instead of an evil monster. Miss Emily
hold on the past had made her a victim of her own values.
The relationship with Homer Barron is also a conflict of the past and the present. Miss
Emily, a Southern aristocrat, is the ideal of past values and Homer, a northern laborer,
is a part of the ever-changing present. While Miss Emily is " of moonlight and magnolias,
cotton fields, faithful old family servants and Mount Vernon mansions" a quote by Joel
Williamson, a historian of the south (Williamson 401). Homer is of machinery, a hearty
laugh and a man's man. Miss Emily symbolizes the slow moving pace of the old south while
Homer symbolizes progress of the fast moving pace of the new south. Even during their
buggy rides Miss Emily sits with " her head high", representing the past and Homer sits
with his "hat cocked", representing the present. 
Homer must have planned to leave Miss Emily. When her father had died, she refused to
acknowledge his death for three days. Her father, who had been the mainstay of her life,
had left her .The father that turned away potential suitors because he felt that they
were not good enough for his daughter. I t was said that she had to "cling to that which
had robbed her". Homer entered her life by courting her publicly, for there not to be
marriage, would have robbed her of her dignity and high standing in the community. The
ladies of the town had already felt that Miss Emily was not setting a good example for
the "young people". The situation was becoming a "disgrace to the town". Homer could not
be allowed to leave, henceforth the arsenic. But this time, the town people would not be
able to take Homer from her, as they had with her father. 
Now the little room above the stairs became the past for Miss Emily. In this room, Emily
and Homer remained together as though death had not separated them. Emily had conquered
the present; she was allowed to live her life in the past. The bridal room is the color
of roses and symbolizes the color of love. In the room " the valence curtains of faded
rose color, upon the rose-shaded lights...and the man's toilet things backed with tarnish
silver, silver so tarnished that the monogram was obscured"(337). For a while Miss Emily
was able to maintain her past in this rose-colored bridal room, in her rose-tinted world.

Miss Emily could not fight time forever, because through death, her past was invaded by
the present, at last. After the burial of Miss Emily, the door of the little room was
broken down and the past was finally allowed to escape its tomb. "The man himself lay in
bed" (337). The corpse of Homer Barron was in the bridal bed, with the remnants of his
nightshirt laid about him. Beside him, a pillow with the " indentation of a head" and a
strand of gray hair told the macabre story. This could have ended being a gothic, horror
story but instead it shows a repressed, overprotected woman denied a chance to live a
normal life because of the times (past). The present had tried to defeat her but only
through death, did this become possible. " On the victor, Faulkner bestows a rose of
tribute, a rose for Miss Emily"(FIU 26).