Emily lives in the small town of Jefferson. Jefferson is a town where her family has lived for generations, and where her family is known to have held themselves a little to high for what they were; so they were treated as such. Emily is kept home by her father and almost hidden from the entire town; the gentlemen callers who dared come calling for Miss Emilys hand were only vanquished by her father. They were not of social standing to be permitted her time and company. In her fathers eyes Emily was the last to continue their noblesse oblige duty as a Grierson. I believe that Emily couldnt escape her familys fate because of her father and her townspeople. Even if Emily wanted to shed the family reputation, she couldnt. The town would never have accepted her as anything, but a Grierson. Even as the generations change, Emilys family reputation is still known. Years of solitude couldnt change her reputation. Emily obviously lived a sad and lonely life. Her father had taken every hope for love from her because of the regarded August name. I believe because of her fathers death and the sweetheart who deserted her, she realized that she had one last chance to form a new life, and she had a new chance for love (or just companionship). When she reappears after the burial of her father, she has a new look of a young girl. I believe this was Emilys attempt to become part of the town, rather then a tradition, a duty, and a care. During this time she meets Homer, a Northerner, who she is seen riding throughout town on Sunday afternoons with her. Emily (seeing a man not from her town feels) knows that this is her last hope for companionship. Courting Homer, which was undignified for a Grierson, was her only way to fill her void of the loss of her father and sweetheart. Yet even in this fabricated attempt she still demands recognition as the last Grierson. Its like that old saying, You can take a boy out of the city, but you cant take the city...
