Emily’s Hair symbolizes the passage of time and the decay of Emily’s beauty and youth. As time passes, Emily’s hair turns gray and, eventually, she cuts it so that she looks like a child. These changes reflect Emily’s inability to move on from her rich, entitled life, going so far as to change her hair to connect with her drained youth. 

The Arsenic symbolizes destruction. The townspeople interpreted the purchase of arsenic as Emily trying to end her life, but it could've also meant that she was trying to kill Homer so she could be with him forever. 

Emily is a symbol of the failing Southern aristocracy, embodying the negative effects of loneliness and clinging to the past, acting as the primary focus of social commentary on the South’s progression as well as shifts in values and traditional structures. 

The bad smell that lingers around Emily's house represents that the Southern Aristocracy was still there even though it had died out. It also symbolizes how Emily can't accept the reality that her father is dead. 

Death represents isolation. Everything Emily loved was ripped away from her by the hands of death. She was abandoned by everyone and no one would ever love her. Homer's death represents Emily's desperate search for love. Emily killed Homer so that he could be with her forever, which is shown when it is revealed that she had been sleeping next to Homer's dead body for years.

Furthermore, although it isn’t blatantly explained, it’s suspected that Emily kills Homer and preserves his body so that he can’t leave her like her father and former romantic partner do. She strives to fill the growing void within her and maintain tradition and structure, refusing to pay her taxes in Jefferson because she didn't need to in the past. Hence, her entire character is a juxtaposition of itself, which produces a sense of intrigue and sympathy in the readers. 

The narrator, on the other hand, is a static round character whose perspective on Emily changes throughout the story: one moment she’s someone he/she pities and roots for --another she’s the antagonist he/she silently wishes would commit suicide; besides, that, he/she doesn’t change; there’s no growth, neither negatively nor positively.  His/her purpose is to be the townspeople’s eyes and henceforth our eyes, witnessing Emily physically change and isolate herself.