Key Events in A Rose for Emily
 

Part 1

• When Emily died, the whole town visited her funeral, the men visited through respectful affection, the women visited out of curiosity of what was inside of her house.
• Alive-- Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care. 
• In 1894, Colonel Sartoris sent out an edict that no negro woman should appear on the streets without an apron.
• Colonel Sartoris made a tale saying that Miss Emily’s father had loaned money to the town, which suggested that Miss Emily would not need to pay taxes. 
• When Jefferson's authorities ​​approached her about her taxes, she claimed that she did not have any tax. Even though Colonel Sartoris has been dead for 10 years. 

Part 2 

• It cuts back to 30 years prior and 2 years after the death of her father, where a stench started to develop around her house.
• The townspeople complained to the judge, and after the complaint was made, the Aldermen family met up and decided to deal with the problem themselves. Which led to them sneaking around her house in order to sprinkle lime around where the smell was.
• The people around town started to pity Miss Emily for being left alone to herself after the death of her father, but she rejected them stating that her father was not dead. After some persuasion from the minister, she finally breaks down and admits it, after which her father would quickly be buried. The people theorized that this is due to the fact that her father drove away a lot of men who wanted to “steal” from her.

Part 3 

• Emily begins dating Homer Barron. The townspeople are shocked to see a person of higher position dating somebody lower. Homer is seen as “unsuitable” for Emily.
• The town starts to gossip regarding Emily’s relationship with Homer. Emily being a southern aristocrat associating herself with somebody like Homer (A Northerner of different social status) who’s seen below her status.
• The baptist minister’s intervention in response to the gossip and concern. The town’s baptist minister sent to speak with Emily before the arrival of Emily’s cousins from Alabama. The conversation details are undisclosed.

Part 4

• Emily isolates herself after she finds out that Homer Barron is into men, In this point of the story, Emily has become more reclusive, with her house described as decaying and the townspeople growing more curious about her life.
• Emily had purchased arsenic, leading to people suspecting that he might harm herself with it.
• Homer Barron’s disappearance, Homer Barron, who had been seen spending time with Emily, suddenly disappears. The townspeople assume that he left her, though his fate is still unknown.
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Part 5

• The townspeople enter Miss Emily’s house after her funeral.They explore the house and discover a locked upstairs room.
• They find Homer’s skeleton lying in the bed, with an indentation in the pillow next to him and a long strand of Miss Emily’s gray hair.