Her father waved the whip, not only to expel the young men who came to court one by one, but also made Emily keep far away from all possible things that lured her towards chaos and degeneration. Her father carefully guarded her and protected the “father’s authority” and cultivated chastity, that interrupted Emily’s socialization experiences, in this process, her personality couldn’t finish the normal development [6].
In front of her father, Emily could not realize herself or grasp her own, destiny of strength under the absolute control. Emily was just her father’s private property. Under her father’s severe control, Emily suffered loneliness and torment. On the one hand, the inherent “lady” concept penetrated into the depths of her soul cause her to be pure in heart without any desire; she must obey the unique ethical standards for the Southern aristocracy to protect their noble parentage and elegant manners. On the other hand, as a woman; she restrained her love and depressed her normal sexual psychology and requirements. She could not exist as a vivid woman of flesh and blood, but as her father’s daughter—a member in the noble Griersons family.
When women feel that they are separated with society, nature, others, and even isolated by themselves, they will have a kind of inexplicable feeling of loneliness, agony and pain. According to psychological theory, human beings have different levels of basic needs for their healthy development. When inpidual’s needs or desires cannot be met, people are most likely to find a way to vent and eventually go crazy: Being crazy is an extreme form of self-realization, it allows the constrained “infringement” be able to vent. In that terrifying atmosphere which imprisoned her spirit, Emily was not the first crazy woman. “People in our town, remembering how old Lady Wyatt, her great-aunt, had gone completely crazy at last”(3;ch.1). “With insanity in the family she wouldn’t have turned down all if her chances if they had really materialized”(6;ch.3). From this point of view, the family environment and social background of Emily’s growth brings profound impact on her whole life. Under enormous psychological and spiritual pressure for long time, Emily suffered loneliness and finally went crazy [7]. Under the influence of patriarchal society and the womanhood discipline in the South, her right to pursuit the happiness and love as a woman has been deprived and violated again and again; her feelings and desire for marriage have been repeatedly stifled and that surpasses the line of what she could bear. Being destroyed and poisoned in her spirit and soul, Emily struggled in loneliness, resentment, depression, and torment. The collapse of the spiritual world, distorted humanity has accomplished her metamorphosis character and crazy action. Emily’s crazy and abnormal psychological behavior is going to occur sooner or later, only depending on the time, once there is a chance it would be “unable to escape.”[8]
2.2 Stubbornness
Miss Emily is not only lonely, but also very stubborn which can be seen from two aspects in the novel. When the delegation went to her home and tell her that the tax situation, Miss Emily said: “See Colonel Sartoris. I have no taxes in Jefferson”(8;ch.3). “Colonel Sartoris had been dead almost ten years” (8;ch.3). The answer let people couldn’t say anything. When miss Emily’s father died, she would not let buried, from here also can be deeply felt her stubborn disposition, the novel described:“The day after his death all the ladies prepared to call at the house and offer condolence and aid, as is our custom 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, with the ministers calling on her, and the doctors, trying to persuade her to let them dispose of the body. Just as they were about to resort to law and force, she broke down, and they buried her father quickly (11;ch.4)” . 献给艾米丽的一朵玫瑰花中艾米丽的性格分析(3):http://www.751com.cn/yingyu/lunwen_18484.html