When I read the title I thought the story was about a girl, maybe a teenager who had gotten her first date, first kiss or maybe even turning sixteen. I was surprised to learn it was a spinster. Emily seems to be a woman overtaken with grief, not just from losing her father and boyfriend, but the grief of growing up to be taught she is better than anyone else. I have to wonder if the man who cared for her all those years did it because he was paid or because he had some kind of secret love for Emily. The town’s people look upon her as an old woman who has lost her mind and I believe they do try to take care of her somewhat. The men sent her notices to pay her taxes but they never enforced it, they secretly sprinkled lime on her property to help with the smell, rather than to ask her to do something about it. It would appear the women were a little jealous of Emily, even though she had nothing. The women of the town almost seem to get pleasure out of knowing she has nothing. When her father died, Emily took it very hard. That was a turning point in her life. She began staying home most of the time. I can only assume he was her life and when he died her soul died with him. There was new hope brought back into her life when she met Homer. I think Homer was going to leave her so she killed him. Her days had been lonely and he had renewed her life. Emily was too fragile to lose another man that she loved. I was surprised to read she was sleeping with his body every night. I think this story could be a lesson to all of us. One never knows what the mind will do for the heart.
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