People often tend to move on from the past and leave it behind, but for Emily Grierson, the past was a simpler and better time to live. After her father´s death years ago the town takes away her taxes and states that she no longer owes any. Now several years later new leaders of the town try to take Emily´s money. People around her are modernizing their homes and Emily stays old fashioned. The town soon starts to see that Miss Emily shows a reflection of the town 's past
. When Emily’s father dies, the family undertakes a hard financial time. Town leaders came together to help Miss Emily cope with the death and financial problem. Soon Colonel Sartoris remitted Emily’s taxes, but failed to write it in the books. According to the short story, “Colonel Sartoris invented an involved tale to the effect that Miss Emily’s father had loaned money to the town”(Faulkner
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When grandparents see middle school children with cell phones they often stop and say, ¨I remember when we lived without cell phones and actually went outside to talk to people¨. When grandparents say this they tend to stay more in the past and refuse to move into the new world of technology. Often times you talk to grandpa about WWII and what it was like living in that time era. Once grandpa starts talking about the past it gets difficult to get him to stop. Grandpa looking back on the past shows that he still lived in the past and won´t let the past die.
Reading through the short story, examples of Emily living in the past become more noticeable and seen. Not only did Emily know that she lived in the past, but so did her neighborhood and everyone surrounding her. Living in the past shapes Emily’s attitude and actions towards things because she did them differently than her surrounding neighbors. Examples of Emily become seen many times throughout the short story and help to explain why she acts the way she