A Rose for Remembrance At first glance a reader might not think much of the quote: “It is not I that belong to the past, but the past that belongs to me.” The quote is by Mary Antin, and could just have easily been said by Emily, a character in William Faulkner’s literary work entitled “A Rose for Emily”. In this work, Faulkner created a contrast between the past and the present that displayed the bold differences of generations and the denial of the change that, in this instance, was taken to the grave. The past was shown as the characters Emily, Colonel Sartoris, the Negro servant, and the Board of Alderman (who accep