Miss Emily was an old-Southern girl, whose roots stretched way back into pre-Civil War. Her family ties were very strong, strong enough to keep them planted in the South until the time Emily passed away. Emily was the last-living Grierson and she vowed to make sure that the Grierson name would stand strong against the test-of-time. She wasn't ready for all the changes that would be taking place in the near future, the future filled with hopes and dreams for a changing United States.
During the Civil War, slaves were declared free by Abraham Lincoln. This new-found freedom led the slaves to look for work elsewhere, leaving the South in a deep depression. Everywhere you looked, there were starving Southerners, desperate to find a solution to this hindered economy. The South was literally "raped" economically by the capitalist North, which would become grounds for the death embrace of Barron seen in "A Rose for Emily." Up in the North, business was booming and the towns were growing. Since the North was industrialized and didn't count on slaves for work, the Civil War didn't bring about any major changes. The Southerners hated the North and dammed their very existence, however, they admired the North's power, as well as their economy. This created a for love/hate relationship that the South shared for the North.
This relationship could be compared to the relationship that Ms. Emily shared with Barron. When Ms. Emily took Barron into her home, it was a shock to the entire community. Here was an old Southern lady taking in a Northern laborer. Even in today's society, becoming lovers with a Northerner if you live in the South is completely unheard of. Interestingly enough, Ms. Emily had plans for what she would do with Barron.
Not being the type to care what others thought of her, Ms. Emily went about her business, acting as if she was doing nothing disrespectful. Ever since the "new government" in town came to request taxes from her, taxes that Colonel Sartoris had declared non-existent, Ms.
