The Civil War came and went, and Miss Emily still lived in that same house "set on what had once been the most select street," "lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps." Miss Emily had once belonged to the most select class, and still stubbornly maintained the image, even though she and her entire town knew the truth to be otherwise. She remained a stubborn product of her times, keeping a manservant who most likely had been with her since he had been a slave, and had stayed out of loyalty to her. She continually refused progress, not allowing them to "fasten the metal numbers above her door and attach a mailbox to it" when the town finally got postal service. Time continued ticking on, and yet Miss Emily refused to acknowledge it. She firmly entrenched herself in denial when her father died, telling the townspeople "that her father was not dead. She did that for three days, with the ministers calling on her, and the doctors, t

When Miss Emily, who was never referred to as simply "Emily," went to the druggist, he did not challenge her request. She asserted herself and her position, cutting off his sentences, staring him down with her "cold, haughty black eyes." She demands arsenic, and he gives it to her, even though it is against the law. He simply writes "for rats" on the package; Miss Emily has placed herself above the law, and no one feels the need to challenge that.

Miss Emily's one attempt to reassert herself into the present comes when the sidewalks are commissioned for the town, and Homer Barron arrives to build them. He is a northerner, and a blue-collar worker, the exact opposite of everything Emily is held to stand for. Yet she accepts him into her life, taking him as a lover when it is apparent that he will not marry her. Emily remains the distant monument to her town even though they believe that "she was [a] fallen" woman. "She held her head high enough...it was as if she demanded more than ever the recognition of her dignity." All her life she had been denied happiness, and now she has found it. Unfortunately, this love was doomed to fail. There are too many traditions, customs, and prejudices engrained in Emily, her town, her family, and her love. Homer will not marry her. However, she has finally found love and happiness, and Miss Emily is above the law.

So she poisons Homer Barron and keeps him in a room upstairs. She sleeps with him every night, his body arranged in the "attitude of an embrace," clinging to the idea of a "marriage" that she never had. She is a sad, lonely woman, and if she cannot have this one last chance at happiness, then she will keep it by force. Throughout her life the town she lived in has been her "enabler," allowing her to continue in her unhealthy habits; Emily has no reason to think th

Some common words found in the essay are:
Miss Emily, Homer Barron, Miss Emily's, miss emily, Emily Grierson, , remained stubborn, homer barron, miss emily's, father died,
Approximate Word count = 1238
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)