The Affect that Emily Grierson has of the Old South and the New South “A Rose for Emily” is one of William Faulkner’s strangest, most unusual, and famous short stories ever because of its unique plot. The story focuses on Miss Emily Grierson, the unknown mystery of her life, the views of the Old South about Miss Grierson, and the views of the New South about her. Some critics say that Miss Emily Grierson was “one of the strongest, strangest, and most memorable character in any of Faulkner’s short fiction stories” (Kriewald 1). In the beginning of the story, the author describes Emily as a very popular person. Although she was very popular, she was also very different. Most people from the Old South had changed their lifestyle as the time progressed, but not Emily. She stayed the same and nobody could change that. Emily is affected by the change of time, but she doesn’t the change in time change her life. Miss Emily Grierson was one of the most isolated and unknown people in the town of Jefferson, and she made everyone in the town wonder what kind of person she was. Miss Emily represents the Old South, and when she died, everyone in the town went to her funeral: “the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one had seen in at least ten years”(Faulkner, 548). One of the major symbols of Miss Grierson was her house. Her house was one that was build during the Civil War, and nothing had changed on the house since then. The author describes the house as an “ large square looking house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavy lightsome style of the seventies, set on what had once been their most select street (Faulkner 548). Another big conflict that Emily had with the change of time was the incident with the taxes. When she was younger, Colonel Sartoris told her that she would never have to pay taxes in the town of Jefferson again because her father had loaned money to the town before he died, and they thought this would be the best way to repay her (Faulkner 548). As time passed, some of the younger people got older, and the south was beginning to change. The New South had taxes and they wanted Miss Grierson to pay hers. She would not pay them because Colonel Sartoris had exempt her for paying taxes several year ago. Miss Emily was not like the normal citizen because she never obeyed the law. She always did what she wanted and not what someone else wanted. Miss Emily had a very unique position in Jefferson. She had no kind of political power, but it was like she did because she always did things the way she did in the past. Since Miss Grierson had this certain type of royalty, she was able to get away with several incidents. One of the most noticeable examples of this was when she went to the druggist. Normally a person who comes in and buy arsenic would have to tell what they were going to do with it before the druggist would let them have it. It was different for Emily. She went to the drug store to buy some arsenic to kill her lover. When she got ready to buy it, the druggist asked her what she was going to do with it. Emily responded as she always does: “She just stared at him, her head tilted back in order to look him eye for eye, until he looked away and went and got the arsenic and wrapped it up” (Kriewald 3). Although Emily knew that the time was changing, she didn’t want to change with the time. She wanted to live the way she had always lived. Emily got away with many incidents in her lifetime. In addition to not having to pay taxes and not obeying the local poison regulations, Emily, toward the end of her life, “refused to let them fasten the metal numbers above her door and attach a mailbox to it. She would not listen to them” (Kriewald 3). Miss Grierson knew that without the address numbers on the door, she could not receive any mail and no evidence of the changes that were occur in the outside world (Kriewald 3). This really shows people that Miss Grierson does not want to change for anyone. Another incident that shows that Miss Grierson always got her way was when that smell was coming from her house. Many people were complaining to Judge Steven about the smell, but he really didn’t know what to do about it. Judge Steven was a very old man, so he had old values also. After several complaints about the smell, he called for the Board of Alderman to meet. The Board of Alderman consisted of “three gray beards and one younger man, a member of the rising generation” (Faulkner 550). The young boy spoke first. He said. “Send her word to have her place cleaned up. Give her a certain time to do it in, and if she don’t…” “Dammit, sir,” Judge Stevens said, “will you accuse a lady to her face of smelling bad?”(Faulkner 550) No one told Miss Grierson about the smell because of the respect that they had for her. They just decided to go out one night and put lime around Miss Grierson house. The death of Homer Barron was also related to Miss Grierson always getting her way. When Homer Barron and Miss Grierson got together everyone thought that she would change. Although it looked like she had changed, she really had not changed at all. Homer Barron was a foreman from the north who came to Jefferson to pave the roads. Miss Emily Grierson was crazy about him because it was the first time in her life that she had a boyfriend. She would do everything with Homer Barron because he made her happy. They would even take Sunday afternoon rides down the streets of Jefferson. The people of the town would watch as they made their way down the streets. They said that Emily “carried her head high enough, even when they believed she had fallen”((Kriewald 3). Emily always demanded more than the other citizens because she always got her way. The perfect example of Emily demanding ways was when Homer Barron left her for a while. Emily did not like this because she though Homer Barron would never come back. When he finally came back, Miss Grierson killed him because she did not want him to leave her again. Emily demanding ways lead to this killing, and nobody in the whole town did anything about it. This mystery really shows how the South changed over time. Throughout the years of Miss Grierson’s life, the South became a different place. Miss Grierson represents the Old South, and she did not change for nothing. During her lifetime, the South went from the Civil War and Confederate soldiers to the 20th century. Miss Grierson was the only link to the Old South that Jefferson had because everyone else had become part of the New South. When Miss Emily died, so did the Old South. The death of her symbolizes how time had changed and there was a New South. The plot of this story is very different from most stories. The plot is also unique because it is told in reverse chronological order. Some critics say, “Faulkner twists chronology almost beyond recognition (Moore 2). It is very difficult to try to figure out when incidents actually happened because the author starts off at the end of Miss Grierson life. This story also does not use many dates, but it uses historical events to represent the change of time. Although there was a New South, Miss Emily Grierson would never be forgotten because she represented the end of the Old South.