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Underlying Meanings In “A Rose for Emily” Most stories, even books for younger audiences, have some sort of underlying meaning. All that this means is that generally there is more that just a story, rather the story is a tool used to get a different point across. Beneath the surface of William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily," it tells a story of the Old South’s lingering presence in a more modern time. After being the only man in her life, by not allowing any man to have a relationship with her, Emily's father died and naturally she found it difficult to let go (love). Emily was raised during the pre-Civil War era and carries an out of date view of society like her father once did. Emily possessed a stubborn outlook towards life, and refused to change. In the story, Emily’s views are used to represent the Old South, as well as set up other situations in which change has not occurred. She represented the ideas and mores of a society that was crushed by both the war and its eventual defeat for example when Miss Emily is referred to as a “Fallen Monument”(p87) representing the falling of a part of the old southern culture (A Rose for Emily). This story, on the exterior appears to be little more than a horror story