Time and space in the short story "A rose for Emily", W. Faulkner

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When the authorities come to Emily, the cross not only the space border but also the time one, because it has curdled and did not change since it was built. The interior of the house bears the imprint of decay despite the conservation. The description of the inner part of the house coincides with the description of the room where the deceased was found: “It smelled of dust and disuse -- a close, dank smell”, “A thin, acrid pall as of the tomb seemed to lie everywhere”, “pervading dust”.

Emily’s actions after the death of her father, when she did not want to bury him, are projection on the further plot line. Her painful affection cannot sustain the life regularity of changing, transformation and disappearance whether it is death of her father or death of Barron’s feelings. However, Emily’s archaic and increasingly strange behavior throughout the years does not allow the citizens to suspect her. Despite these turnabouts in her social status, Emily continues to behave haughtily, as she had before her father died. Her reputation is such that the city council find themselves unаble to disturb her аbout а strong smell thаt has begun to spread from the house. Therefore when Emily died people came to her funeral under the guise of respect and honor, but wanted to satisfy their curiosity about the town’s most secretive person.

Fractures, shifts, and manipulations of time and space by moving forward and backward create portrays of the past and the present as coexisting. The reader reveals Emily’s character through series of flashbacks and her disturbing аttempt to fuse life аnd deаth is reflected in them.