- Monument (noun):
- (1) : a lasting evidence, reminder, or example of someone or something notable or great
- (2) : a memorial stone or a building erected in remembrance of a person or event
- Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/monument
- Taken from A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner
- “When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old man-servant–a combined gardener and cook–had seen in at least ten years.”
- Again, the word monument is a well-known word but when referring to Emily as a fallen monument it puts everything in perspective. From the story the reader eventually learns that the town doesn’t know much about Emily, to begin with. They know little to nothing about her, based on their assumptions of the few times she’s gone out to the public. By referring Emily as a fallen monument, although biased to the men’s perspective, the reader is still able to know the importance the town gave Emily even though all she was, was a stranger to them. The town seems to be driven to discover her as if she were a puzzle. At the end of the story, after they’ve found the dead body of her lover, the might have gotten a new perspective of her, maybe not so much a monument, but they still didn’t know her.
Monument
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