Madness in a Rose for EmilyWilliam Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi, praised for his novels and short stories, many of which are set in Yoknapatawpha County, fictional setting based on where he spent much of his childhood, Lafayette County. Faulkner, considered one of the most vital writers of Southern literature, was somewhat unknown until he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949. He also received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for two more of his works. In 1931 he published his first story, A Rose for Emily, in a national magazine. The central plot of the story is largely about Emily's stubborn attitude towards change. Before the Civil War, his father, from a wealthy and well-known family, made a generous contribution to the southern city and, as a sign of gratitude, the mayor at the time sanctioned them from paying taxes. Even after her father's death she believed that this privilege was still afforded to her. Overall, it was difficult for her to let go of the past and make way for the future, which was very common among southern people of that time. Her inflexible behavior is also evident when she refuses to accept the death of her father, to whom she was very close. He was very strict with his daughter, so much so that he became the only man in her life, until Homer Barron, who was Emily's lover for some time. The town used to make up stories about their relationship, not really being sure what, in truth, was happening between them. In fact, they used to make up their own assumptions about Emily, making her have a spotless image, which was later countered when they finally got a bona fide insight into her life. However, later... halfway through the paper... it proves that Emily was crazy. It takes a mentally deranged person to kill someone, but to actually maintain the body for personal fulfillment is simply excessively deranged. In conclusion, Emily is presented as a very complex character who is extremely misunderstood by the people around her. She is unable to accept the change in her life, forcing her to live an isolated lifestyle that intrigued the townspeople from the little they knew about her, causing them to create their own naive assumptions about who she was. Obviously, Emily had deep issues within herself that caused her to act irrationally, but she kept it in the privacy of her home. She clearly understood that the things she was doing weren't sensible, that there was something wrong with her, so she managed to keep all her monsters hidden in the closet, or in this case, the second floor bedroom..