During the 1870s in the town of Jefferson, Mississippi, noblesse oblige was frequently practiced by the social elite. Noblesse oblige is the feeling of responsibility of higher classes to act with generosity and respectfulness toward people in the lower classes and was considered a common courtesy. The town practiced the act of noblesse oblige toward a woman named Emily Grierson. Emily was born into a family who had a reputation for thinking they were better than everyone else. They had convinced themselves that they were so great and had come to believe that the town owed them something. It is implied that Emily's father raised her on his own since the mother is never mentioned in the story. The town admits that Emily’s father isolated her…show more content… They especially did not think she would lower her standards for Homer. The elders also had a hard time believing that Emily and Homer were in a serious relationship. The old women said, “Of course Grierson would not think seriously of a Northerner, a day laborer” (807). The town knew her father taught her better than that, but Emily was now controlling her own life. They believed that Emily should demonstrate noblesse oblige to Homer, but nothing…show more content… They thought, since her father's death was so devastating for her, she would lower her personal standards to have a man in her life. The town generated a great way to prevent the relationship from happening. They called her arrogant cousins from Alabama. Emily's family had a falling out with these same cousins earlier on in the story over the estate of her great aunt Wyatt. The town wanted them to come stay with her in efforts to get Emily to evaluate her life and to take a look at her priorities . The goal was to get her to realize she cannot lower her standards for a man of a lower social standing, such as Homer
