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The Withered Rose and Decay of the South: Symbolic Systems in A Rose for Emily



Author(s)

MIN Hong-yan

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DOI:10.17265/2159-5836/2025.05.004

Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China

William Faulkner’s Southern Gothic style features fragmented narratives and rich symbolism that explore characters’ psychological complexity and the decay of Southern society. In his seminal work exploring Emily Grierson’s tragic life, Faulkner employs a rich symbolic system that transcends mere literary decoration, instead functioning as a complex interpretative lens through which the disintegration of traditional Southern social structures can be understood. This paper argues that the symbolic framework in the narrative not only shapes Emily’s personal tragedy but also serves as a profound metaphorical representation of the collapse of the old Southern civilization—a system marked by rigid social hierarchies, racial tensions, and the slow erosion of aristocratic ideals in the face of inevitable social transformation. By dissecting the intricate symbolic elements—from the decaying mansion to the gothic imagery of death and preservation—this analysis reveals how Faulkner’s symbolic methodology becomes a nuanced historical and psychological commentary on the South’s traumatic transition from an antebellum past to a modernizing present.

Southern Gothic, symbolism, civilizational decay, William Faulkner

Journal of Literature and Art Studies, May 2025, Vol. 15, No. 5, 383-390