Faulkner says that being ostracized by loved ones can cause a person to become isolated. Emily’s father ostracizes her up until the time of his sudden, unexpected death. He not only shuts her off from her own life, but from society as well. Mr. Grierson sends away all of the young men who come to court Emily because “none of the young men were quite good enough” (76) for his little girl. ”Her father’s rejection of her suitors is like the defeated aristocracy’s rejection of new methods of creating a future.” (Magill 1989) Instead of allowing Emily to choose a suitor for herself, her father turns “his back to her” (76), placing her and her opinions in the “background” (76). Whil

The townspeople also ostracize Miss Emily. They often refer to Emily as being prominent and powerful when she does nothing to place herself on a pedestal above everyone else. It is actually the townspeople who act as though they are high and mighty. Instead of trying to understand how Emily must feel now that her father has died, the townspeople are happy because she is now alone and poor. “At last they could pity Miss Emily. Being left alone, and a pauper she had become humanized.” (76) With no one to turn to in her time of need, Emily is forced into a period of isolation. “It is true that Emily is a “fallen monument”; but what the narrator fails to spell out explicitly is that the monument has been erected not only by historical grandeur of her family, but also by the dispossessed generations that interpret her to their own ends.” (Magill 1362)

Emily can also not accept the fact that the town is changing even if she does not change with it. When the city tries to place street address numbers and a mailbox to her porch, Emily refuses them. She spends so much of her life inside of her house that she does not realize that time has moved on. She shows this by hiding her watch beneath her skirt. Emily believes that by hiding the watch it will become imperceptible and time will no longer move forward, but remain unchanged.

Life is fickle and most people will be a victim of circumstance and the times. Some people choose not to let circumstance rule them and, as they say, "time waits for no man". Faulkner’s Emily did not have the individual confidence, or maybe self-esteem and self-worth, to believe that she could stand-alone and succeed at life especially in the face of changing times. She had always been

Some topics in this essay:
Emily Grierson’s, Colonel Satoris”, Miss Emily, Miss Emily’s, Homer Barron, Instead Emily, Faulkner’s Emily, Colonel Sartoris, It’s Homer, Homer Barron-the, miss emily, her” 76, little girl, hiding watch, faulkner people, spends life, inside house,