Life of Emily in A Rose For Emily - Essay Example

She had the capability of controlling people such as when she refused to pay taxes, refused to tell the druggist what the poison would be used for, and even when she refused to give up her father’s dead body. She was even able to keep Homer around despite her odd behavior.

Emily was an outsider. Not only did she hide behind her decrepit house, but she hid behind her attitude that suggested that nothing was amiss in her life. She gave off an attitude in hopes of being admired by the townspeople. However, both her house and attitude would suggest the kind of woman that Emily was: sheltered, aged beyond her years, barely able to stand on her own too feet, much like her house on its foundation. Despite this, though, Emily requires attention, mainly from men. She ignores her neighbors and the community until Homer comes along, fulfilling her needs.

Emily was also a necrophiliac, having a sexual attraction to dead bodies, which could have developed after her father’s dead body was properly disposed of. Having everything that she loved constantly taken from her, it is almost unsurprising that she would keep Homer’s body long after his death. She did not want yet another of her loved possessions removed from her. The arsenic that she had bought before Homer’s arrival, which never made an appearance again in the story, could assume to have been the cause of Homer’s death. Emily had become obsessed with keeping her loved ones close so she made sure they died in her presence so that she would be there to tend to the body in her way.