The story takes place after the Civil War, when things begin to change. Her father refuses all the suitors that Emily might marry because he considers them not good enough for his daughter. This takes away Emily's childhood, she is never able to experience a real relationship or other love outside of her fathers. The readings suggest that perhaps his father is violent and/or indifferent. Also that his mother may be dead or generally not in the picture at all. There remains a lot of mystery that readers must figure out for themselves. The story is told from the town's perspective and never really mentions any one person or narrator. It begins with Emily's funeral: "When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town attended her funeral: the men out of a kind of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women out of curiosity to see the inside of his house, which no one except an old servant – a combined gardener – had seen for at least ten years” (Falkner 714). It starts with Emily's death, then goes back in time to where her father kept her isolated, until he died. The town took pity on her after her father died, leaving her with nothing but a house, a servant, and no man to marry. It took him 3 days to abandon his father's corpse, unable to accept his death. “The day after his death, the ladies prepared