Concerning Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily," a consensus exists among critics, teachers, etc., about Emily's motivation for killing Homer. Emily is obsessed with holding on to the past and avoiding change. She was raised in the ante-bellum South, was part of a prominent family living in a prominent house, and was important and central to the town and local economy. All that is past. She is a type or symbol of and for what the South endured following the Civil War. As such, she refuses to let go of anything and everything. She won't even let a mailbox be placed on her house.
In short, Emily knows Homer is not the settling-down kind of guy, and she kills him so that she can be with him forever. She refuses to let go.
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