A symbol is a literary device that contains several layers of meaning, often concealed at first sight, and is representative of several other aspects, concepts, or traits than those that are visible in the literal translation alone. Writers sometimes use colors, seasons, animals, or names as symbols. They can stand for several different meanings such as life, illness, or emotions. In "A Rose for Emily," William Faulkner uses a pocket watch and hair to symbolize time; he also uses poison and Emily's house to symbolize death and a changing time in the South respectively. The pocket watch is a symbol of time in "A Rose for Emily." When the Board of Aldermen committee visits Emily to see about the taxes a few years before she dies, they hear her pocket watch ticking, concealed in her clothes. For instance, when Faulkner writes, "She did not ask them to sit. She just stood in the door and listened quietly until the spokesman came to a stumbling halt. Then they could hear the invisible watch ticking at the end of the gold chain" (250). This example indicates that time is a mysterious invisible force for the main character, Emily, and something that she will always be aware of. With every passing second, her chance of finding love and happiness lessens. Emily's hair is also a symbol of time. The town identifies the time first by the protagonist's hair. For example, the author writes, "She was sick for a long time. When we saw her again, her hair was cut short, making her look like a girl, with a vague resemblance to those angels in colored church windows - sort of tragic and serene" (253). Then, the community tells time when Emily vanishes into her house, which is a little after her hair has turned "a vigorous iron-gray, like the hair of an active man" (254). When the main character shuts herself inside of her house, the community judges time by using Tobe's hair. For instance, the author writes, "Daily, monthly, yearly we watched the Negro