Miss Emily supposedly suffered from a type of mental illness that caused her to believe certain people to be alive that in reality were not. However, there is logical evidence throughout the story indicating that Miss Emily actually was aware that the people were dead but trued to hide it so that she could keep what was dear to her. For example, Miss Emily refuses to admit that she owes any taxes. When the mayor protests, she puts on her "crazy" act referring to him as Colonel Sartoris, a man who has been dead for nearly ten years. Miss Emily doesn't want her house taken away so she plays upon the mayor that she's a crazy old lady. Then when her father died she denied to everyone for three days that he was dead. "Just as they were about to resort to law and force, she broke down, and they buried her father quickly." If she really couldn't distinguish between reality and illusion then she never would have broken down. Miss Emily was just so lonely that she liked to pretend that her father was alive. She was playing mind games with herself but truly knew that he was dead.
             In the end her loneliness overtook her mind and she killed her lover, Homer Barron, so that he could never leave her again. Loneliness is what drove Miss Emily mad. She was aware that Homer was dead but she liked it better that way because then she would never be alone again. Readers mistake Emily to seem so innocent. They assume that she was unaware of her surroundings, who was alive, or who was dead. Although Miss Emily knew, she devised her plans so that she could keep what she wanted. Miss Emily compels the townspeople to think her mad so that her house wouldn't be taken. She was aware that the poison would kill her lover, and she wanted it that was so as not to be lonely. The author chooses the townspeople as the narrator so that we could know what society thought of her. The townspeople as well as the r...