er point is how Emily is in the background, further proving her submission towards her father. The horsewhip symbolizes the power Miss Emily's father has over her. Her father is domineering and controlling and sadly, that is all she knows. It is no surprise when Miss Emily's father dies, she does not know what to do, "being left alone, and a pauper" (471). The corpse of her father remains in the house for three days while Miss Emily refuses to accept the fact that he is actually dead. The narrator's description of her at the funeral is evidence of sympathy the inhabitants feel toward her; "We did not say she was crazy then. We believed she had to do that. We remembered all the young men her father had driven away, and we knew that with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her, as people will" (471). The crayon portrait resting on an easel before the fireplace reveals the fact that Emilys father still has a powerful control over her. Colonel Satoris, a member of the Old South, pardons Miss Emily's taxes shortly after her father dies. He produces a fib that the town owes Miss Emily's father money, so it wouldn't seem like he has made a charitable attempt to help Emily's financial woes. Colonel Satoris also sends his children to her house for china painting lessons. After the old generation is replaced by the new, the city begins to ask Miss Emily for her tax money. The city authorities decide to call on her formally. Miss Emily comes to the door carrying a cane with a tarnished gold head and a long gold chain. This gold symbolizes her strength and makes her appear to be "above the law." When the diplomats describe her eyes, "two small pieces of coal pressed into a lump of dough," (470) this further reveals inability to change. Miss Emily tells the two diplomats to see Colonel Satoris about her taxes, although he has been deceased for the past ten years. She refuses them from her house, and wasn...
