Miss Emily and her father in this story represent the Old South, with its rigid aristocratic traditions of propriety. Part of the mythos associated with this culture had to do with aristocratic families having enough wealth to live a certain circumscribed lifestyle that was an essential part of their dignity. When her father dies, Miss Emily is left with the house but with almost no money. Because her father has dismissed her suitors, she remains single despite her beauty and is now above the normal age for marriage in her society; even worse, their are no prospective husbands left of the proper class. Her father's death means to her the death of her life and identity.
Her first response is denial. She refuses even to admit that he is dead:
The day after his death all the ladies prepared to call at the house ... Miss Emily met them at the door, dressed as usual and with no trace of grief on her face. She told them that her father was not dead. She did that for three days, ...
Next, she moves on from denial to grieving:
Just as they were about to resort to law and force, she broke down, and they buried her father quickly.
She never fully recovers from the death of her father, though, and becomes a recluse. She is next described as becoming "sick" for several months, something we would probably now describe as depression.
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