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. …
