In "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner, what metaphors and figurative language does Faulkner draw on to describe Miss Emily and the changes she undergoes, and to what effect?

In the story's opening paragraph, the death of Emily Grierson is likened to "a fallen monument" in the minds of the men in town. With this metaphor, the reader understands from the story's outset that Emily Grierson was a formidable presence whose death represents the passing of an era in addition to the passing of a citizen.
While she was living, Miss Emily was known as "a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town." These metaphors elevate her importance; she is an enduring link to both the antebellum and postbellum epoch characterized by a more formal, traditional, chivalrous, and socially conservative time (that was not without its corruptions).
As the town began to modernize around her, Miss Emily became gradually more reclusive. Because people had lost interest in the genteel art of china-painting, she stopped inviting people into her home for lessons. She allowed herself to become obese and took no notice of new fashion trends or home decorating updates, preferring to live in the past in her closed-up and dimly-lit home. Her rejection of the changing times is evident in her dress and stubborn-clinging to the gentleman's agreement her father had with the town with regard to the family's tax liabilities. Her withdrawal from society after being such a prominent "high and mighty" citizen in her youth signifies her rejection of modernity and her desire for the South to retain its old ways.
Emily Grierson's murder of Homer Barron signifies her ultimate rejection of modern social mores. Because they have been seen together publicly and a marriage was expected by the townspeople, Miss Emily cannot accept that she has been a temporary affair for the Yankee, nor will she allow herself this public humiliation. Casual, modern relationships have not been and will not be part of the landscape for her, and so a "tradition, a duty, and a care" becomes a secret murderess and a horrific and tragic relic of the past.