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Why does Colonel Sartoris excuse Emily from paying taxes?
Colonel Sartoris’s reasoning for excusing Emily from paying her taxes in perpetuity can only be assumed, as a true reason is never given. The Colonel himself explains that Emily’s father provided the town with a significant sum of money and so, after Mr. Grierson’s death, he thought it only fair to pay Emily back for her father’s generosity. It’s clarified that this story is untrue, and merely a fiction invented by Colonel Sartoris to persuade Emily, who is very proud and loathe to accept charity, to take him up his offer. It’s likely Colonel Sartoris makes the agreement with Emily because he feels sorry for her, after the hardships she has suffered, and considers it his duty as a traditional Southern gentleman to lighten her burden. Thus, he takes it upon himself to forgive her taxes as an act of chivalry.
Why are the townspeople unwilling to confront Emily about the smell coming from her house?
On the whole, the townspeople of Jefferson are unwilling to confront Emily about the stench surrounding her estate likely due to a sense of Southern decency and propriety. Several citizens raise the issue with Judge Stevens, the mayor at this time, rather than talk to Emily about it, and Judge Stevens likewise balks at the suggestion that he bring the matter up with Emily directly: “Dammit, sir…will you accuse a lady to her face of smelling bad?” He does not want to embarrass her or himself, and so the town lets Emily’s stench go unaddressed, opting instead to put a stop to it in secret by sprinkling lime throughout her estate at night.
Why is a gray hair found on the bed after Emily’s death?
After Emily’s death, and after the townspeople discover Homer Barron’s corpse in a bed in Emily’s home, they also find a long gray hair on the pillow next to his corpse. It’s suggested this hair belongs to Emily, owing to the many references to her graying hair throughout the narrative. This discovery, alongside the indentation of a head on the pillow where the hair is found, implies that Emily had been, at the very least, sleeping next to Homer’s corpse for some time.
What happens to Homer Barron?
Homer Barron is a man for whom Emily develops romantic feelings. The growing relationship between Emily and Homer serves as a primary source of gossip for the town, with most townspeople expecting the two to marry. It is later implied, however, that Homer either rejects Emily outright or refuses to commit to her one way or another; the town is aware that he has claimed not to be “a marrying man,” suggesting either an interest in men or eternal bachelorhood. Faced with the impossibility of marrying him, Emily concocts a plan to get him to stay with her forever—by murdering him with arsenic and positioning his body on the bed, as a husband might lay in bed with his wife. Homer Barron is last seen entering Emily’s home one evening by a neighbor, and his corpse goes undiscovered until the townspeople break into the upstairs room shortly after Emily’s burial.
What is noblesse oblige?
Noblesse oblige is a French term that refers to the social obligation of the upper class to uphold certain standards—that is, they must be generous and honorable and conduct themselves properly, in a manner befitting their rank. The older townspeople invoke the idea of noblesse oblige (“without calling it noblesse oblige”) when Emily begins to compromise her reputation by publicly engaging with Homer Barron, a Northerner and day laborer, stating not even grief could or should cause a “real lady” like Emily to forget her responsibilities as a high-ranking member of society.
