It is difficult to imagine a character more bizarre than Emily Grierson in William Faulkner's short story "A Rose for Emily." However, Tobe, Emily's old man-servant, who also served as her gardener and cook, is far more bizarre and mysterious than Emily. Much of his mystery lies in the fact that he devoted most of his life to her care. The story does not specifically indicate that Tobe had an emotional attachment to Emily, but something kept him there with her in her decaying old house. There was speculation that Emily and Tobe had a sexual relationship. Tobe was black man in the South after the Civil War, and he may have been thankful to Emily for his employment. He was loyal and discreet about Miss Emily's privacy. Tobe had a complex, caring relationship with Emily Grierson. .
There were years after the door to the upstairs bedroom was locked that Emily and Tobe remained in her house alone. They were isolated from the outside world. Emily and Tobe secluded themselves from the townspeople. When speculating about Emily and Tobe's relationship, the town's women observed that a man could do gardening, but no man could keep a house properly. "In other words, you can hire a man for gardening, but what possible advantage would a man be inside the house" (Dilworth). In the end, neither Tobe nor Emily had anyone except each other. Considering their physical closeness and isolation, it is reasonable to assume that Tobe had feelings for Emily other than a servant for his mistress.
"William Faulkner has defined the South's tragic ethos by carefully chronically each subtle nuance of the moral of a region and a people" (Barksdale). The characters of Emily and Tobe are shaped by their geographic location and the historical time in which they lived. They lived in Jefferson, Mississippi about 60 years after the Civil War. It is likely that Emily and Tobe had known each other all their lives.
