The Narrator In Chinua Tobe's 'Miss Emily'

The narrator is that of one of Emily’s neighbors and he presents both, the towns thoughts and his own thoughts. Throughout the piece, he consistently says “we” when referring to an opinion or feeling. Faulkner states “we were surprised” when referring to Homer Barron being seen on the streets after a long duration of time (p. 4). This includes his own attitude or feelings towards Miss. Emily as well as the town's feelings. (he is a part of the town)
The narrator’s attitude towards Miss. Emily is that he is slightly intimidated by her, however, he, along with the ladies in town, pity her and the circumstances she faces. The men in town simply regard her as another person and are essentially indifferent to her and her whereabouts. When referring to her as Miss. Emily,
it helps show that she is not married and when someone is a Miss they are usually young. However, using titles before a man or woman's name is a major sign of respect because it shows authority. The new generation had enough of her shenanigans and did not pity her and wanted her to modernize and pay her taxes.
Miss. Emily was unwilling to live in the present and she further shows this when her father passes away because she refuses to accept the fact that he is dead. She denies that her father is dead when the townspeople go to offer her condolences insisting he is alive and she continued this denial for three days (p. 3). She is also in denial that she has to pay her taxes because she refuses to pay her taxes, although the man that said she did not have to, Colonel Sartoris, had been dead for more than a decade. She also shows her traditional roots when she refuses to accept the new postal numbers.
The townspeople thought that it was unlikely that Miss. Emily would fall in love with Homer Barron because she was not allowed to date anyone because no one was good enough. Homer was a northerner working class man and so that alone would usually have been enough reason for her not to date him. She broke the code of not dating below your class because it would give her a bad reputation. His surname is ironic because a Barron refers to someone who achieved their success through work and military instead of being old rich and being born into money and status, something Miss. Emily was. The significance and irony of Miss. Emily’s burial “in a cedar-bemused cemetery among the ranked and anonymous graves of the Union and Confederate soldiers” because those men were anonymous and essentially so was Miss. Emily.
If the story was told from Tobe’s perspective then Miss.
Emily may have seen as a normal person because Miss. Emily was really the only person he truly knew. I think the reason that Tobe stayed so long is because she is the only person who has stuck by him for a long period of time and she was all he had left. Since she was all he had left when she died he had no reason to stay there anymore.
Miss. Emily killed Homer because he failed to mention that he liked men. This, in turn, made her angry and made her realize that she could never be with him and the only way that she could be was if he was dead.
Miss. Emily’s confusion between past and present is evident in Homer’s body because although his body had been decaying for a long period she still continued to sleep next to him and live as if he were alive. If she realized he was dead she would not have continued to sleep next to him. (unless she was insane which is still a possibility)
I think the rose in the title refers to a flower pressed between pages of a book to keep as a remembrance of the past because Miss. Emily throughout the piece held onto the past and continued to hold on to long lost items and ideals and the rose could be symbolic of
that.