In “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and “Good Country People” by Flannery O'Connor, characters and theme are developed through irony, suspense and symbolism. Some readers might find the title of Faulkner's story, "A Rose for Emily," ironic. As a symbol, the rose generally symbolizes romantic love. Assuming that Faulkner is well aware of the symbolic meaning of a rose, why does he wish to characterize his story as a doomed and perverse love story? Faulkner makes the reader believe that this is a classic love story. Faulkner then subverts the reader's expectations by offering an unconventional heroine. Generally, love stories feature a young woman, pure and beautiful, worthy of receiving love. But in this story, the heroine is old and decrepit. Emily is introduced first at her funeral where everyone in town came to pay their respects. Emily is then described as “a tradition, a duty and a concern; a sort of hereditary obligation for the city.” (Faulkner 681) This means that the townspeople viewed it more as a monument to the city that has been there for as long as they can remember and will not be moved. Throughout the story Emily is criticized for how she thinks she is more important than everyone else, but it takes a society to judge a person at the top for there to be a social ladder. When Emily meets Homer, she is criticized again for being seen with someone who comes from a lower part of society, but she is also criticized for thinking she is better than everyone. The townspeople make her feel excluded and that is why she isolates herself from the rest of society. Society blames her for what she does, but it is society that pushes her to do it. When Emily buys the rat poi...... middle of paper ...... a kind of awareness gained from the reader, leads the reader to pay attention to the attitudes of each character and what each of 'they could mean for the story. Works Cited Reiss, Donna. “Who or what is Rose.” LitOnline. Tidewater Community College, 2003. Web. March 26, 2011. .Faulkner, William. A rose for Emily. 10th ed. New York, NY: WW Norton & Company, Inc., 2010. 681-687. Print.O'Connor, Flannery. Good country people. 10th ed. New York, NY: WW Norton & Company, Inc., 2010. 506-519. Print.Ditsky, John. “The good people of the countryside: overview. » Reference guide to short fiction. Ed. Noelle Watson. Detroit: St. James Press, 1994. Literary Resource Center. Internet. March 26, 2011. “William Faulkner: Emily's Withering Rose.” » Mr. Renaissance. Np, and Web. March 30. 2011 .