Emily's issues, however, went much deeper than strange smells and owed taxes. She had lost a lot throughout her life, but she was not the best at letting go.
When she was a young girl, her controlling father died. He had chased off all of her potential suitors, and he was the only person that she had in the world. At her young age, she learned to take care of herself and was getting along on her own, until she met Homer. He quickly became the most important aspect of her life. It's safe to say he was her everything. It does not appear that the feeling was completely reciprocated by Homer. When her family came for a visit, he skipped town. This was devastating to Emily and it becomes clear to the reader that she probably never recovered from this betrayal. Homer did eventually return home to Emily and, although she was happy he came home, it was a time the rest of the town would never forget, remembering it with disapproval. "And that was the last we saw of Homer Barron. And of Miss Emily for some time. The negro man went in and out with the market basket, but the front door remained closed- (88). It is no coincidence why that awful smell was wafting from the home of Ms. Emily Grierson.
After Homer disappeared, the townspeople began to openly discuss the horrible condition of her house. It was falling apart piece by piece and became a blemish for the entire town. "It was a big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies, set on what had once been our most select street. But garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of that neighborhood; only Miss Emily's house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps-an eyesore among eyesores- (84).
