In “A Rose for Emily” “Miss Emily had been a tradition…” (Faulkner 1), and that tradition was dying. “A Rose for Emily” tells the tale of Emily Grierson being the last of an ancient tradition that failed to prevail newer generations. It shows how the younger townspeople and Homer Barron no longer lived by that tradition. It is a representation of how the tradition of “nobles”, a high regard for “nobles”, and noblesse oblige were dying. To identify the “noble” tradition Miss Emily represents, one must first observe how her “big, squarish frame house…” (Faulkner 1) represents that tradition. The fact that it had been “set on what had once been our most select street…” (Faulkner 1) shows how separated from the normal class of houses it had been. That shows, in turn, how it represents the tradition of “nobles.” Both the “heavy,…show more content… The first evidence is when Miss Emily denied her father’s death and “told them [The townsfolk] that her father was not dead…” (Faulkner 3). This showed her belief that her father, being a “noble”, was “above” dying and therefore would not die. The next piece of evidence is when the townsfolk came to her house uninvited about taxes and “She did not ask them to sit. She just stood in the door and listened quietly…” (Faulkner 2). This shows that she believed she was above them and they were rude to come uninvited to a “noble’s” home. The fact that the townspeople believed that “None of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily…” (Faulkner 3) is another piece of evidence. This shows that the way she acted in town was of a grandiose stature. Therefore she was believed to be superior to the other townspeople. There were even “older people, who said that even grief could not cause a real lady to forget noblesse oblige…” (Faulkner 4). This helps display how Miss Emily represented the “noble” of the town, even in the eyes of the town