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 …showed first 75 words of 1054 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1054 total…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).