I. Emily Grierson, had of the respect of the men in Jefferson. Emily was well respected that Colonel Sartoris, the mayor of Jefferson, "remitted her taxes, the dispensation dating from the death of her father on into perpetuity. Colonel Sartoris, explained to Emily, that her father had loaned the town some money and this was their way of repaying it back. However, when the new generation of mayors came about there were some questions as to why Miss Emily had not paid her taxes. "On the first of the year they mailed her a tax notice." Miss Emily ignored the notice and went about her business. The Mayors office tried several times to contact her, and she would ignore them. Miss Emily kept to herself for the past eight or ten years, "since she ceased giving china-painting lessons." Finally, the Mayor's office sent a deputation to wait upon her. The Aldermen, were invited in to Emily's house that smelled of "dust and disuse." Before the Aldermen could say a word, Miss Emily, explained "I have no taxes in Jefferson, Colonel Sartoris explained it to me." The Aldermen said they have no record of Colonel Sartoris remitting her taxes. By the time the Aldermen ended their sentenced Miss Emily told Tobe, her servant, to show them to the door. Miss Emily seems that she is a woman of strong determination and she will not be pushed around by anyone who comes into her home. Furthermore, the story will end with Emily fighting the town of Jefferson all the way to her death.
             II. Emily displays to the readers that she is a very private person. Never leaving the house, especially when her father and sweetheart past away, Emily had her Negro servant, Tobe, go to the market to do her shopping. Some of the women in Jefferson "had the temerity to call" however, Emily would not answer their calls. The smell in Emily's house had become so bad that neighbors complained to ...