The effect of the final paragraph is to create shock and horror. Throughout the entire piece, Faulkner does give clues that Miss Emily could have inherited some of her family's insanity, but because the narrator's view is peripheral, the reader doesn't know anything more about what goes on inside the Grierson home than the town does. It is only in the final paragraph where all the puzzle pieces come together to answer the questions created throughout the story. Why did Miss Emily buy poison? Why did she purchase men's items in the store? What had happened to Homer Barron? What had happened to Miss Emily? The answers to these questions are shocking and disturbing. The reader is left staring at the gray hair and indentation on the bed along with the town, and Faulkner never directly says what happened, but the implications are clear.
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