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Motif
Explanation and Analysis—Respect vs. Disgrace:
The motif of respect and disgrace highlights the double standards Miss Emily is held to. Because of her family name, which held a lot of respect and weight in the past, Miss Emily is at times put on a pedestal. Miss Emily's taxes are even remitted because of how influential her father was. At the same time, Miss Emily is often pitied and criticized, calling into question how genuinely she is respected. For instance, there is disapproval expressed towards Miss Emily when she starts a relationship with Homer Barron, a Northerner and a laborer:
Then some of the ladies began to say that it was a disgrace to the town and a bad example to the young people. The men did not want to interfere, but at last the ladies forced the Baptist minister—Miss Emily's people were Episcopal—to call upon her.
While the town respects Miss Emily enough to remit her taxes and cover up the smell coming from her house without confronting her, once Miss Emily does something that goes against the tradition that she stands for, the townspeople do not accept it.
It is at Miss Emily's funeral that respect emerges again:
They held the funeral on the second day, with the town coming to look at Miss Emily beneath a mass of bought flowers, with the crayon face of her father musing profoundly above the bier and the ladies sibilant and macabre; and the very old men—some in their brushed Confederate uniforms—on the porch and the lawn, talking of Miss Emily as if she had been a contemporary of theirs, believing that they had danced with her and courted her perhaps....
Now that Miss Emily is dead and has no power or ability to go against the townspeople's beliefs, the townspeople remember Miss Emily with fondness. Even though Miss Emily is hardly ever seen interacting with anyone, aside from a few years when she taught china-painting, she is talked about as if she was an active member of her society. Some of the men even wear their Confederate uniforms, an act of respect and a testament to the South's past. The townspeople's double-faced behavior shows how speculation and gossip often may not accurately represent reality, and showcases how the past and present often clash.
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