Saturday, August 30, 2014

In "A Rose for Emily," what does Emily do to contribute to herself being out casted by the people in her town?

Relating to your question, Miss Emily was perceived as an outcast by her town when she refused to pay her taxes.  She would not accept the fact that Colonel Sartoris was long dead.

"Miss Emily, “a small, fat woman in black,” met them at the door, and she told them that she had no taxes in Jefferson."

Miss Emily is thought of as an outcast when the townspeople begin to notice a pungent odor emanating from her house.

"It was with the onset of the smell that the townspeople had begun to feel sorry for Miss Emily, as they recalled how Miss Emily’s great-aunt, old lady Wyatt, had gone crazy."

She is considered crazy, like her great-aunt, not warmly embraced by the town, but tolerated.

When Miss Emily starts taking buggy rides with Homer Barron, the townspeople do not approve of a southern woman dating a Yankee.  She is made a social outcast.

"When Miss Emily is seen in public with Homer Barron, the townspeople are abhorred on two accounts: first, that Barron is a “Yankee,” and second, that he is a “day laborer,” even if he is a foreman."

Miss Emily, even in death, was a spectacle for the townspeople to stare at and gossip about, speculating on what would be found in her old gloomy house.

".… What other person, or what other house, in the town had ever received this much attention?"

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