What does the heroine of this st

Reading comprehension
Read the quoted parts carefully and answer the questions in English.So she vanquished them, horse and foot, just as she had vanquished their fathers thirty years before about the smell. That was two years after her father‘s death and a short time after her sweetheart — the one we believed would marry her — had deserted her. After her father’s death she went out very little; after her sweetheart went away, people hardly saw her at all. A few of the ladies had the temerity to call, but were not received, and the only sign of life about the place was the Negro man—a young man then — going in and out with a market basket. 
What does the heroine of this story symbolize?
【正确答案】：

SHE IS THE SYMBOL OF THE OLD SOUTH BUT THE PRISONER OF THE PAST.