A Rose for Emily: Factors the Impacted Miss Emily's Behavior

When Miss Emily’s father passed away she began to start acting out. Emily is stuburned like her father, who refuses to change. Although her father had lots of money, he only left Miss Emily the home. Soon the town started asking Miss Emily to pay her taxes. But, she refused to do so. Colonel Sartoris, the mayor of the town, planned to not make Miss Emily pay taxes on her house, “Not that Miss Emily would have accepted charity” (452), trying not to make it seem like Colonel Sartoris was offering her charity. He made up an imaginary loan from her father to the town

When the new generation came to power they sent Miss Emily a tax statement every year hoping that she would pay it; they even tried visiting with her to explain that there were never any payments or deal done with the town for her to be tax-free. She didn’t care because once upon a time she was told she didn’t have taxes. She would still dismiss this fact and acted as if she were above all in the town.

At one point in the short story, it is said that there is a wretched scent coming from Miss Emily’s house and, instead of finding out why, the Old generation simply covers it up by sprinkling lime around her home to cover up the scent. With all that the Old generation did for her, it is evident that, to them, Miss Emily was some sort of prized possession, one that was not to be touched. However, as time went on, the Old generation moved on and the New generation came into play. Those of the New generation called a meeting to speak with Emily about the taxes that she had not paid in many years, with the intention of getting her to pay them again, just as every other person in the town did. As this was brought up to her, Miss Emily quickly became offended and defensive, ultimately telling the city authorities to “See Colonel Sartoris,” who had passed away many years ago, because she refused to believe that she had to pay taxes in her city, because the Old generation had convinced her that she would never have to. The more that the New generation and the society around her developed, the more Emily fell behind and struggled to keep up with the changes that were being made around her. This resulted in Miss Emily hiding herself away in her house for many years, as an attempt at escaping the changes being made to the society that she once knew so well. At some

Earlier in this story Emily refuses to answer the general store's cashier's question as of why Emily is hoping to buy rat poison for herself. Instead, she just stared at him, her head tilted back in order to look him eye for eye until he looked away and went and got arsenic and wrapped it up.” this is the second time she uses unmeekness to hide something.

The role of the smell incident gives suspicion as to what it is in Miss Emily’s house that is causing it. It gives suspicion that it is something like a dead body, because only such things like a dead body can have such a permeating odor able to reach outside. Miss Emily also has not paid the taxes and thinks she is still entitled to the tax waiver that Colonel Sartoris gave to her, even though he is dead.

When Miss Emily refuses to respond to a government letter regarding her taxes the Board of Alderman comes to visit her. When she comes in she is cold to the gentlemen, showing her lack of social skills which in many cases is a factor in mental Illness. Also before Miss Emily makes the guests leave she tells the, that if they still think she has taxes they need to "see Colonel Sartoris," (Faulkner 149) who has been dead ten years. This statement by Miss Emily could be seen as her minds unwillingness to live in the present. Her mind belives what it wants which is also the case after her fathers death. We see in the book that after her father’s death and her subsequent breakdown, Miss Emily was “sick for a long time." This could mean the state that Miss Emily refused to believe her father was gone. Right after the death of her father, the ladies of the town come to Miss Emily’s home to offer their condolences, and they observe that she had “no trace of grief on her face” (Faulkner 151). The inability to either feel or demonstrate appropriate emotion, is a classic symptom of mental illness. More explicitly, Miss Emily insisted to the visitors that “her father was not dead” (Faulkner 151). For this reason, Miss Emily would not let anyone remove her father's body until three days after her father should have been buried. Finally the third day “she broke down” and let the townspeople remove the body quickly

She is a lonely old spinster with the exception of her loyal black servant. Her aristocratic family was once wealthy and influential in the local community. That all became lost in the aftermath of the Civil War. Her troubled upbringing affected Emily severely. Emily’s father was overprotective and keep her close to him at all times. When he died, Emily had no experience being by herself and something her inside in her mind snapped. She was in debt, her family’s manor fell into despair, and she simply lost touch of reality and was in constant denial, for instance “See Colonel Sartorius. I have no taxes in Jefferson.” The man she was referring to had been dead for a decade and waived her from paying taxes only because of her “situation.” The city government controlled by the next generation most likely understood at that point she was insane and left her

Miss Emily was an important character in the town of Jefferson. For some people she represented the old days when her family had a reputation and was highly respected. On the other hand, “Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town…” (Faulkner), for other she was a burden to the city. After political changes her exemption from paying taxes become an issue. Her status didn’t mean anything anymore and she was supposed to be treated like everybody else. However, the fact that she was the last member of the great family made her someone special and after few attempts of sending her tax notices, even a new generation of towns officials decided to let

William Faulkner begins the story by describing the characters of Miss Emily. He divides the story into five parts which all talk about the life of Miss Emily. At the first part, he describes her as, “A tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town.” (Faulkner 217). He further discusses that Miss Emily not wanting to pay any taxes to the city until the Board of Aldermen had called a special meeting about the issue. But Miss Emily kept saying that she had no taxes to pay what so ever and tells her servant, the Negro, to “show the gentlemen out.” (Faulkner 218). She did not show any respect and manner for the Aldermen. The

Colonel Sartoris was the town mayor, he “remitted” (line 27) Emily’s taxes after her father died. Colonel Sartoris made up that “Emily’s father had loaned money to the town” (line 31), this rumor convinced the town that not making Miss Emily pay her taxes was their way of repaying her family. But a few years later, Colonel Sartoris died, and ten years after that men came to Emily’s house asking her to pay her taxes. Emily told them to check the “‘city records and satisfy [themselves]’” (line 78) for proof that she didn 't have to pay taxes to the town of Jefferson. Though the men told her that there was nothing in the books to prove her claim, so Emily told the men to ask Colonel Sartoris just before making them leave. Poor Emily didn 't know that there wasn’t documentation of the information of her taxes or that the man that hadn 't made her pay them was long dead. The deaths of these three men make readers pity young, middle aged, and old Emily, for they were the only people in her life who cared for her.

The story takes place in the South, as is illustrated a few times throughout the story. It took place some time between the 1860’s and the 1930’s, which illustrates the source of some problems for Miss Emily. That was just after the civil war, and that was a period of great change for the South. Not only did the South have to quickly extinguish slavery, it changed from agriculture to factories with almost the same pace. Most of the people in Jefferson had someone to go through these changes with, but Emily did not. Clearly her father was wealthy. He would have owned a fair amount of slaves, one of whom was probably Tobe, the Negro

Emily Grierson is a mystical figure in the story. She’s an indoor person and does not like making contact with the outside world. The narrator describes Emily as, “Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care” (3). This statement concludes that Emily was a dutiful as she obey her father who rejected any suitor who tried to pursue her for marriage. This is also the reason why she did not meet anyone until her thirty’s. She also never paied taxes for her whole life even after she received an official letter from the new mayor. She carried a brief that according to Colonel Sartoris tax exempt for her entire life is the only way their town could repay what her father loaned them. One could also say that she was mystical as no one knows how her husband died and why she kept the body for so long. Which also proves that she kept his body for years since she never wanted to move on in life and keeping the body will also help her remind her past.

The short story A Rose for Emily, by William Faulkner first comes off as a disturbing story. When you realize that Miss Emily Grierson, who is the main character in this story, kills the man she’s though to be in love with, all you can really think is that she’s crazy. I think the conflict in the story is Miss Emily not being able to find love. With her father not giving her a chance to date, thinking that there was no one good enough for her. Then, the only man she has been able to love dies, which is her father. Once she has fallen “in love”, she murders her lover. Miss Emily’s necessity for love has caused her to be unable to distinguish fantasy with reality.

In "A Rose for Emily", William Faulkner tells the story of an old and lonely lady stuck in her own period. Her controlling father died some thirty years ago, and she has never quite found her own ground. Her house has become the most hideous looking home on the once most select street in the city. Previously elegant and white with scrolled balconies, it was now encroached with dust and decay. The people in Miss Emily's city gossip about her and pity her lost soul. She soon begins dating a young bachelor by the name of Homer Barron, whom is part of the construction company paving sidewalks on her street. After Miss Emily's death the townspeople breakdown her upstairs room that had been sealed shut for some forty years. "A Rose for Emily" tells the story of tradition versus nontraditional and old versus new, which is brought to light through the story's plot, characters, and setting.

When Emily Grierson was alive, she was known as somewhat of “a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town” (309). In 1894, the mayor of the town, Colonel Sartoris, admitted Miss Emily’s taxes. He claimed that Miss Emily’s father had loaned the town money, and this was his way of returning the favor. Only the people of Colonel Sartoris’ time would believe a story like this. When the next generation came along, they weren’t very fond of Miss Emily not paying taxes, so on the first of the year they mailed her a tax notice. She ignored it. A week later, the mayor himself sent Emily a letter. Once again, she ignored the tax notice. The towns Board of Aldermen then held a meeting and decided they would go to her home and speak with Emily personally. Once they