Question

Had miss emily really shut up the top floor of her house? why does the narrator say "evidently"?

Answer 1

Thinking back, the narrator recalls, “Now and then we would see her in one of the downstairs windows.” Likely, it only occurred to the narrator after learning about Homer Barron that Miss Emily was always in a downstairs window. In fact, earlier in the story, the narrator only says that “a window that had been dark was lighted and Miss Emily sat in it” when the men of the won sprinkled lime around her house to kill the offensive smell that emanated from it. He does not specify where in her house the window was. Moreover, he declares that Miss Emily “had evidently shut up the top floor.” Obviously, it was only “evident” that Miss Emily had closed off the upstairs of her home after her death when the townspeople forced their way into the house, up the stairs, and into the tomb-like room where the body of Homer Barron lay. This passage also plays with the notion of seeing and being seen, the ambiguity of watching and being watched. The narrator states, “Now and then we would see her.” He goes on to explain that whether Miss Emily was “look...