“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is a gripping story about love and death. Faulkner captivates the audience with numerous literary elements throughout the story. Symbolism is used to represent a strong connection between objects with symbolic meaning. The Grierson house is used to symbolize Emily Grierson's physical condition, her reluctance to change, and her change in social status. The symbolic relationship between the house and Emily's physical condition is vividly depicted throughout the story. At first the Grierson house was built to impress: "It was a large, boxy house that had once been white...situated on what had been the choicest street" (787). The house progressively changes and is described as full of dust and having an indescribable odor: “It smelled of disuse, a closed, damp odor… when the black man opened the shutters of a window, a faint dust rose up (788). The description of the house is a perfect representation of how Emily ages throughout the story. As the years passed, her figure morphed into even more generous proportions and her youthful locks of hair began to turn grey: "She had gained weight and her hair was grey...it became grayer and greyer until it reached a uniform iron gray pepper and salt" (794). Both the Grierson house and Miss Emily have lost their luster. The Grierson house is also used to show Miss Emily's reluctance to change. His house was decorated in seventies decor: "...with domes and spiers and scrolls in the heavily light style of the seventies" (787). Emily clung tightly to the past. She always wanted to be seen as superior to the rest of the city, just like home. The house is described as “raising its willful and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and petrol pumps (Faul… middle of paper… the family had been a tradition, a duty, a care; a sort of obligation to the city…” (787). The perfect image of the rich and the royal was completely gone. Emily Grierson and her house are like a mystery to the city. Faulkner uses the vivid images of the Grierson house symbolically to compare Emily's feelings and actions. The description of the deteriorated house refers to Emily's physical appearance. Her reluctance to change is shown by the outdated exterior of her house. Furthermore, Emily and her house were once considered superior , but her reputation and the appearance of the house declined This decline represented the transition from one social status to the next. Long live Miss Emily Grierson Works Cited Faulker, William “The Norton Field Guide to Writing with Readings". 787-796.