At the turn of the  nineteenth century southern women commonly conformed to the expectations of their societies with little resistance. Societies during this era expected a proper lady to know the chores of the house and to strictly obey her elders. When old enough to wed, a southern woman was supposed to marry a gentleman within her socio- economical tier, bear children, and start a family. Along with these expectations, society wanted these women to act and dress a certain way. In the gothic horror,  "A Rose for Emily" the story's true meaning behind is not to scare readers, but to understand the burdens a southern woman encountered in order to meet the expectations of  society and her family.

Southern women were expected to uphold traditions and not to question or change the southern ways (Smith 142). Southern women were told by society to grow into perfect ladies.  "Ladies" were supposed to be well dressed, be well mannered, and possess all the qualities of a house wife. "If you are different, you are isolated, not only from people of your own age but from those of your parents' generation and from your children's generation too." (Mitchell 949). To be different in society ostracizes you both socially and emotionally. In Gone With the Wind, Scarlet is all about reputation and could not bear to be an outcast from society. The story depicts a small community, in which it was unspeakable for a woman to be perceived as mentally ill or any form of crazy. The story's protagonist, Miss Emily, showed all the signs of mental illness, but the townspeople were completely unaware of how her father's would affect her. Three days after his death, Miss Emily was never once brought to a mental health professional to try to help her deal with the death of her father. "She told them that her father was not dead" (Faulkner 175), being in denial of something that serious should have clued the townspeople that something was wrong with Miss Emily. Throughout the story there were signs of Miss Emily's illness, but the signs were denied or ignored because southern ladies do not have those sort of incidents and would always act proper and do what is expected from society. Because of her high class family and all the demands that came along with living the life of a Southern woman, the mental illness could have occurred because of all the pressure. Many southerners put up with the kinds of demands Miss Emily faced. Those that could not handle these demands would go, what is known as "crazy". It can be noted that Miss Emily was "sick for a long time," though no one offers more specific details as to the type of illness that she was going through (Faulkner 175). After the death of Emily's father, the ladies of the town come to Miss Emily's home to offer their comforts, and they had saw that she had "no trace of grief on her face" (Faulkner 175), she showed no reasonable responses to her father's death which lead to the assumption that something is wrong with her but the people chose to ignore it.

Another tradition of southern belles was the expectation for women to marry and have a family. Emily is the daughter of a controlling southern man who never thought any man was good enough for his daughter, and because of him she never marries or bears any children. The townspeople felt sorry for the girl who couldn't start a family because of the insanity in her family. The 'society's' view of women is major influence on women's actions, which provokes Emily's murder of Barron. By Emily's mindset of murder it kept Barron from leaving her without out hurting her public image. In the story it states that Barron Homer said "that he was not a marrying man" (Faulkner 177), knowing this, Emily prevents Barron from leaving her; in her mind keeping up the tradition is better than people knowing the truth. "If you could just keep from them all the things that must never be mentioned, all would be well!" (Smith 142). Smith talks about keeping secrets from love ones so no one would get hurt and everything would stay the same. Miss Emily does not want her reputation ruined and just wants everything to stay the same. From a high standing family, Emily has always felt the burdens of great expectations from her small town. Generations way before her established certain traditions by which her community viewed her as having a "hereditary obligation" (Faulkner 173) to uphold those traditions. The society in which women's status was most important, a southern belle always looked and acted her best. With putting a women's best foot forward she would also fulfilled her expectations as a woman in the 1930's.

Southern pride is a big deal in the south that comes from the ranking positions and the superiority of a family's ancestors. Depending on one's social status, a family was considered higher or lower to other families around them. In the book "A Rose for Emily" all the people in town knew her every move outside of the house from what she bought to what she was wearing that day before her passing. The women of the town waited until after Emily's death to look inside the old grand house out of curiosity. "It was a big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies" (Faulkner 172). The outside of her home is described in detail, but the inside is not revealed until the end of the story. In the story, it says no person in the last ten years has seen the inside of her house. Faulkner also points out the story that once Miss Emily buys a silver toilet seat and some men's clothing. It was assumed that she was married without second thought, or to go Miss Emily about the relationship with Barron because that sort of behavior was unusual for Emily. Southerners made it their business to know everyone else's business and everyone was judged upon their social standing, but everyone in town went to Emily Grierson's funeral as a sign of respect. The awful smell that Emily ranked of everyday, the townspeople avoided to acknowledge it except behind her back.  In the book, Judge Stevens pushes to address the matter and basically says that a gentleman must not be rude to a lady, "Dammit, sir...will you accuse a lady to her face of smelling bad?"(Faulkner 175). It was expected to show respect to everyone and that is why pride and statuses are so important because the higher in the ranking someone is or the older the legacy the more respect someone receives.

Emily goes through tragic losses throughout the story. Coping with them in what people now know today as mental illness. Back in the 1930's a southern belle was the image that every southern woman sought out to be. If a woman was from a higher class a lot of demands were expected of her such as getting married and having kids. Miss Emily suffers through the hardships of all the expectations from the society and her family because she lives in a mindset of an old fashion southern way.
