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Father loaned money
Emily's father never really loaned money to the town. Colonel Sartoris made up a scheme to the townspeople that he had loaned money to the town. The townspeople would then repay Emily by remitting her from her taxes. -
Father's death
2 years after Emily's taxes were remitted, her father died. Emily couldn't believe it and died it for 3 days. Just as they were about to dispose of the body, Emily had an emotional breakdown. -
Weird smell develops
After the death of Emily's father, a weird smell develops around her house. The townspeople complain about it to the mayor at the time, Judge Stevens. But the mayor didn't have the heart to accuse Emily to her face that she stinks. -
Lime spray
The mayor, Judge Stevens found a solution after the townspeople's complaints of Emily's odor. He sends a group of men to Emily's house at midnight, to spray lime around her house and rid the smell. After 2 weeks, the smell went away. -
Emily meets Homer
Emily became sick for a long time, and when the townspeople saw her again, she had cut her hair short. One summer, a construction company began paving her sidewalk. Thats when she met Homer, and the townspeople began seeing them on afternoon drives. -
The Townspeople
Rather than interact with Emily, the townspeople watch her every move. They didn't like how she was interested in a northerner, but was glad she had an interest for once. Although the townspeople knew Homer was gay, Emily didn't; they also didn't bother to tell her. -
Arsenic (Poison)
After Emily's 'breakup' with Homer, she heads out to buy Arsenic, which the townspeople then think she's going to kill herself. The druggist then asked what it was going to be used for since the law requires you say, which Emily didn't. Even though she didn't say what it was going to be used for, the druggist gave it to her anyways. -
Homer disappears
Homer was gone right after the streets had been done, but was back in town within 3 days. There was a neighbor who saw Homer enter Emily's house and never exited. That was the last time anyone saw Homer again -
Marriage?
The townspeople had seen Emily go to the jewelers and ordered a man's toilet silver set that had the initials, H.B. on it. Days passed and they also seen Emily buy a complete men's outfit. Thats when the townspeople assumed they were going to get married. -
Emily gets old
As time went by, Emily had turned fat and got older with grayer hair. Nobody had heard of her for 6-7 years because she locked herself in. The Negro man also grew older. -
Emily's death
Emily became very sick and later died. She fell ill inside her dirty house that was filled with dust and died in one of the downstairs bedrooms. The townspeople didn't know she was sick, and didn't attempt to get any information from the Negro anymore. -
After the funeral
Emily's funeral was held the next day after her death at her house. 6 months after her death, the townspeople somehow knew there was a room upstairs that no one had seen in 40 years. Once they got in, they found Homer's dead body, and a long, gray hair on a pillow next to him. https://www.shmoop.com/a-rose-for-emily/ending.html
