did not say she was crazy then. We believed she had to do that. We remembered all the young men her father had driven away, and we knew that with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her, as people will. (II)

Emily might have inherited some mental instability from her family.  The townspeople are really not that surprised that she hasn’t left the house since Homer Barron disappeared.  Homer himself said he was not a marrying man, and the town felt sorry for her when he left (or so they said). 

Emily obviously wanted to make sure that if she could not have Homer, no one could.  She told the pharmacist that she wanted arsenic for rats.  When a strange smell came out of her house, she drove away the people who came about it.  She always behaved so oddly that no one really questioned it.  They just believed that her male housekeeper couldn’t keep a kitchen well.  They were afraid to confront her, and instead broke in and sprinkled lime, and after time the smell went away.  It wasn’t until Emily herself died that they found Homer’s body.

Emily Grierson is characterized as an eccentric woman with a penchant for isolation. These traits are not the product of old age, or a consequence of mental illness (that we know of). Instead, these behaviors stem from an overprotective upbringing that made her socially inadequate.

In the story, we learn that Mr. Grierson, Emily’s father, was known for his influence, his threatening demeanor, and his possessiveness of Emily, whom he always kept isolated from people whom he considered less worthy of his family. Essentially, Mr. Grierson thought that nobody was ever good enough for Emily, or for a Grierson, to that effect.

According to the townsfolk narrator:

We had long thought of them [Emily and her father] as a tableau, Miss Emily a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip, the two of them framed by the back-flung front door.

The town people were fully aware of the situation and even felt sorry for the young Emily, whose youth seemed to be extinguishing away for no good reason.

So when she got to be thirty and was still single, we were not pleased exactly, but vindicated; even with insanity in the family she wouldn't have turned down all of her chances if they had really materialized.

The people from town could even appreciate that Grierson’s death could mean a form of freedom for Emily. They even shift their anger toward the Grierson clan, in general, and spare Emily in full knowledge that she had no other choice but to do whatever her father expected of her.

When her father died, it got about that the house was all that was left to her; and in a way, people were glad. At last they could pity Miss Emily. Being left alone, and a pauper, she had become humanized.

Therefore, the reason why Emily never found a suitable lover in her youth is because her father was too protective and territorial of her to allow her to even try.  The result of this form of captivity was that Emily never had any opportunity to meet, get to know, or even form any kind of stable relationship with someone of the opposite sex…at all. 

All that wasted time made her all the more awkward and prone to loneliness. So inept was she in the making of human connections that the only two men that she was able to establish any relationship with, Tobe and Homer, were both linked to her in unhealthy ways: Tobe, as a modern day slave, and Homer as her victim.

The impression given in the story, though no details are provided, is that Miss Emily's father, Mr. Grierson, was a very controlling man. One thing that contributed to Miss Emily's not finding a suitable husband was her family's social status, or at least the social status the Griersons wanted to project. The narrator states that the people of the town "believed that the Griersons held themselves a little too high for what they really were." Thus Mr. Grierson many have turned away suitors if he didn't think they were of the right social status: "None of the young men were quite good enough."

Second, Mr. Grierson may have simply intimidated young men from calling on Miss Emily. The narrator paints a picture, a "tableau," of Mr. Grierson standing inside the gate of his home, holding a whip, with Emily in the background at the front door of their home. That he is seen "clutching a horsewhip" indicates that others were frightened of him and that he dominated Emily completely. 

Third, it is also implied that Emily's own strangeness may have contributed to her lack of prospects. The narrator mentions a great-aunt of Emily's who "went completely crazy." Furthermore, the narrator observes, "even with insanity in the family she wouldn't have turned down all of her chances if they had really materialized." Insanity in the family is one thing, but in Emily herself it could be a deal-breaker. Latent or pending insanity in Emily, perceived by others as an odd personality, could have been part of what kept Emily's marital bliss from materializing. 

Although the story doesn't exactly say, the reasons Emily remained single into her thirties may have had to do with her high social class, her intimidating and controlling father, and her mental condition.

The Griersons were a wealthy notable family and Emily was a Grierson, the daughter to one of the wealthy men. The Griersons were known for their uptight and somewhat cocky and antisocial nature. Coming from such a background Emily had a hard time building relations not only with men but also with women. The men around the place were regarded unworthy of making a husband for Emily: “None of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily and such. We had long thought of them as a tableau.” Emily grew of age but showed no signs of getting married or harboring relations that may lead to marriage “So when she got to be thirty and was still single, we were not pleased exactly, but vindicated.” Her father played a major role in the situation because he turned away all the men who were brave enough or considered themselves able to marry her daughter. “We remembered all the young men her father had driven away”.

I am going to take a guess here and assume you are asking about Miss Emily in "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner.  The answer to your question is found at the end of Section II. where we are told, "We remembered all the young men her father had driven away,..."(290).  There are a few inferences we can draw from that statement, one being that her father might not have considered any of the young men "suitable," and another being that he was selfish and wanted to keep Emily at home to take care of him. 

Another aspect that you might want to consider is the time during which this story takes place.  World War I was likely to have eliminated many eligible men, and the Depression is likely to have made many men financially "unsuitable," even after Miss Emily's father dies.

Additionally, given the setting of the story, a small Southern town, it is likely that there were few if any men whom either Emily or her father would have considered worthy of the daughter of a clearly wealthy man.

I hope this helps.  Good luck!

In a 1959 interview, William Faulkner explained why he titled the short story "A Rose for Emily"--in essence, he said that she had experienced so many disappointments in her early life that she deserved something as beautiful as a rose:

. . . it's simply that she had no life at all.  Her father had more or less kept her locked up. . . . In this case there was the young girl with a young girl's normal aspirations . . . who was brow-beaten and kept down by her father, a selfish man. . . .

Even though Miss Emily ultimately murdered her "suitor," Homer Barron, Faulkner had a difficult time imposing a harsh moral judgment on her actions because he felt that those actions were, in part, a direct result of her relationship with her over-bearing and selfish father.

All we know of Miss Emily's father is that, when she was a young woman of marriagable age, "none of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily and such," the implication being that Miss Emily's father, not Emily, rejected all possible suitors.  Emily's father, then, cut off Emily's hopes, as Faulkner put it, "to find love and then a husband and a family."  Once the group of eligible suitors was eliminated, Emily's chance for a normal life disappeared.

If there is any doubt as to what kind of man Emily's father was, or what their relationship was like, the town tells us

We had long thought of them as a tableau, Miss Emily a slender figure in white in the background, and her father a straddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her clutching a horsewhip, the two of them framed by the flung-back front door.

We are presented with a symbolic representation of a dysfunctional relationship and a cruel man.  The fact that Miss Emily stands behind her father, with her father "a straddled figure" in front, indicates Miss Emily's subservient relationship, and the whip in her father's hand can only represent his controlling and cruel nature.

Although it is a cliche to say that Miss Emily represents a repressed woman, it is nonetheless an accurate statement of her condition.  That the repression came from her own father is especially cruel--a man who should have had the interests of his daughter in his heart turned his back to her figuratively and literally, thereby setting in motion the events of Miss Emily's blighted life and her attempts to achieve her version of a "normal" life.

Although the narrator of Faulkner’s story does not reveal much information about Miss Emily as a young girl, there are several hints that indicate that finding the right beau would have been a challenge. First and foremost is the looming presence of the overbearing father who raised her alone. Although she had some relatives in Alabama, her father had feuded with them and communication had been cut off, leaving him to be young Emily’s sole parental figure. There is also her social status to consider: the Griersons were one of the best families in her generation, and it was often thought that no boy would be quite good enough to be her suitor.

In addition, reports of a great-aunt’s insanity had filtered into town. Amidst these rumors that insanity ran in the family, it is possible that any potential suitor who deemed himself worthy of Miss Emily's hand might shy away from becoming involved with a family considered “tainted.” A final consideration would be her finances: at the time of her father’s death, it became known that she was a pauper. It is likely that their financial situation had been dwindling for some time, a factor that would certainly affect the younger Emily’s prospects for a good marriage.

It is difficult for Emily Grierson to have a suitor when she is young because she is too haughty and her father is so domineering.

The townspeople feel that the Griersons have held themselves "a little too high for what they really were." When young men have called on Miss Emily, none of them "were quite good enough to Miss Emily and such," and they were driven away by her father. Added to this repulsion of her suitors, the oppressive hold of patriarchal dominance is suggested in the portrait of Miss Emily and her father. In this picture, Miss Emily is in the background wearing white on her slender figure while Mr. Grierson is in the foreground with his back to his daughter. He clutches a horsewhip in his hand, an act that symbolizes his dominance and Emily's isolation. 

Even after he dies, Mr. Grierson dominates his daughter. When the ladies of the town call to extend their condolences, Miss Emily appears and calmly informs the ladies that her father is not dead. For three days, she continues to insist that he is alive, but finally, the physicians convince her that her father is, in fact, dead.