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1、1 An Analysis of Emilys Love in A Rose for Emily I. Introduction William Faulkner was considered by many to be the greatest writer of fiction that the United States has yet produced. He was born in New Albany, Mississippi in 1897 and raised in nearby Oxford, is pictured as the prototype of the soft-
2、spoken Southern gentleman, gentle, kind, and courteous and also “cold, a master of withering rebuff”(Vope.81). He was the most famous of all contemporary writers of the American South, who is remarked in “Writers in Crisis” as “not merely represents but was the Deep South as no other American noveli
3、st may quite chime to be”. Most of his major works were set in the imaginary Yoknapaowpha County and its main town of Jefferson called “the mythical kingdom”(Geismar.47), which bear marked similarities to Faulkners native Oxford. He also depicted the particular psychological stresses associated with
4、 the decline of the south from its romantically glorious past. Above all, “Faulkner represents the moral confusion and social decay that followed in images of haunting power and violence”. He received the 1950 Nobel Prize for Literature, William Faulkners reputation and influence had spread to every
5、 part of the world. Faulkner was noted of the Southernersassociation with the South tradition, not only physical, but spiritual as well；so he took pains to picture a group of Southerners who were desperately submitted to the old way of life. But as an artist of the twentieth century, he observed the
6、 gradual changes of the South: the old veterans were dying off, and the old loyalties were adjusted to conform to new conditions. The loss of the South tradition and the appearance of the North industrialization aroused not only the devastation of the Southern plantation system, but also the macabre
7、 disillusionment to the Southern descendants, as the South knew them. Whereas, they saw that world changing into another kind and they were themselves of that new changed world, yet apart from it. Faulkner revealed with intensity the rootless of the Southern descendants. They witnessed that Northern
8、 industrialization penetrated the south, but their inherited Southern aristocracy forbade their acceptance of the new order of life. They stubbornly objected to the invasion of the northern way of life, but in vain. So the Southern 2 descendants had to suffer from the loneliness and bitterness of be
9、ing an apart-from in a new world. The disillusionment of the Southerners was well revealed in the portrayal of Emily in A Rose for Emily. A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner was a short fiction that has roots in the southern United States with appealing overtones of mystery that was told in a histo
10、rical context. It was published in 1930. It was one of the best known and the most widely read among Faulkners short stories. The story took place in a mythical town that William Faulkner called Jefferson, Mississippi. The time of the story was during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centurie
11、s when the town was learning to live with South loss in the Civil War of 18611865 and the consequent dismantling of the slavery based society that had preceded it. The story expresses Faulkners theme of the confrontation of the old South and the civilized modern society. In A Rose for Emily Faulkner
12、 wrote the conflicts between the old tradition and the new order, and the doomed defeat of the old tradition. Emily lived in her “big, squarest frame house.set on what once had been our most select street”, but her house was on its way to “coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and gasoline pumps”
13、. And the once “most select street which was filled with houses decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies” was then encroached and obliterated by “garages and cotton gins”. The invasion of the northern industrialization did not stop at t
14、hat, it also intruded into the minds of the Southerners. Faulkner admired somewhat the merits of the South tradition-the compassion and humanity men like Colonel Sartoris and his peers inherited forced them to tell a kind lie to Emily so as to look after the single lady without insulting her dignity
15、. But “only a man of Colonel Sartoris generation and thought could have invented it”(Faulkner.103), the mortal values of the South tradition were lost. The new generation of public officials may be more efficient and businessman-like. They were more practical: “the next generation, with its more mod
16、ern ideas” (Faulkner.103), produced some little dissatisfaction to the “hereditary obligation upon the town” (Faulkner.105). The new generation was not as kind and dignified as the old generation. They showed much less respect to even a nobly lady like Miss Emily; they suggested just “sending her wo
17、rd to have her place cleaned up” when some town people complained the odd smell from Emilys residence, but the old generation like Judge Stevens totally objected to the ideas, for it was shameful to “accuse a lady to her face of smelling bad”. 3 The conflicts between the old generation and the new o
18、ne hinted the decline of the Southern tradition. Faulkner believed that it was the moral values-courage, honor, pride, compassion, literary and justice that produced the glorious Southern kingdom, but the new generation lost the virtues, thus losing its faith and force. The Southern civilization was
19、 decaying, and the northern mechanization was penetrating the South with its merciless and ambitious way. All these led to the inevitable ending-the death of Emily or the fall of the Monument. Which made her a tragic victim? In the short story A Rose for Emily, William Faulkner told the sad story of
20、 a woman who has had an extremely sheltered life. It was a tragic story in which Miss Emilys hopes and dreams for a normal life are hopelessly lost. The story told Emilys life, from her being a teen to her death in her house. The towns people did not like her, her family did not like her. She confro
21、nted with the conflicts between individual and society, tradition and reality, fell in love with and finally killed her love, Emily, who was deprived of the chance of establishing a normal relationship between her and society, escapes from reality and ultimately goes insane. When she died, everybody
22、 showed up to Miss Emily. The only person to see Emily was her old manservant, a black man that was the cook and the gardener. The only time that the town would see him was when he went to the grocery store to shop. He would never talk to anybody while he was there. The end of Emily life never saw E
23、mily out of her house. The town questioned this, but Emily soon just became another story with the town. William Faulkner wrote about two lovers; Emily Grierson and Homer Barron, with conflicting personalities that eventually lead up to Emily poisoning Homer in his sleep. Faulkner discussed their di
24、ssimilar social backgrounds and emotional behaviors as well as symbolizing Emily with “the old times” and Homer with “the new times.” Emilys love was a tragedy. Her tragedy was her characters tragedy. Emily builded a great wall in her heart which caused the result. Love was the only helping straw af
25、ter her father died. So Emily cherished the love between her and Homer Barron. The strong feeling of possession and her unhealthy character cause her tragedy. Emilys marriage was also a tragedy. This paper analyses Emilys views on love and marriage from her experience of being in love that is differ
26、ent from that of ordinary people in some particular social background. And this rose for Emily was not only for herself, but also for the successors, for today and future. When peoples mind become thinner and more confused with the post-industrialization, this 4 roses warning is quite important. II.
27、 Influence of Her Father Emily had a father who was a strict man and he did not let her have a healthy social life. He made her an outcast in her own community. Miss Emily was kept at home by her father and was almost hidden from the world. Her father caged her inside the same house with the same bu
28、tler. But she still loved her father, and after he dead she still kept the photo of her father. A. Emilys love when her fathers alive The Grierson family was a big family of great wealth with a well pronounced rich lineage. Miss Emily Grierson was the socialite of her town. Naturally with this statu
29、s there was a certain reputation she has to withhold. She not only represented her family name but in a sense the people of her town. Because she was such a dominant figure the townspeople have put her on a pedestal and were very judgmental of her actions. During the time in which her father was ali
30、ve Emily was seen as a figure to be admired but never touched. She had many suitors but according to her father none were suitable enough. Emily was revered as a goddess in the townspeoples eyes. At that society, father was the leader. Emilys father was a power man in the family. He was uncaring, ab
31、usive, and arrogant. Apparently he kept Miss Emily hidden from fitting suitors and did not let her make a life of her own. Miss Emily had always been kept in confined environments that only her father knew what she would do. When her father was alive, he turned away any man that she had, because no
32、man was ever good enough for his daughter. Whenever a male would came to the house to see Emily, he would greet them at the door, and saw them off before Emily could even say hello. He did not allow Emily out and marry. Under her fathers control, Emily has no freedom of love. Thats a door before Emi
33、ly, and the door we may be think it was her father. So her father, there was no imagination needed, for from the context we can plainly see that he was a very overbearing man that didnt allow her to see men for any reason at all. He kept her locked away inside the house and never let her leave his s
34、ide. Nevertheless his impressionable nature has been left to us in the very beginning of the story where it was shown 5 to the reader from the thoughts of the town as such “Miss Emily a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette with foreground, his back to her and
35、clutching a horsewhip”(Faulkner 107). Emily, being highly concealed by her father, had to live with many restrictions of life, resulting in a pronounced backlash and profuse alteration of her personality. It was this image that offered this lingering image of a demonizing man with intimidation as hi
36、s most favored pass time. When Emily was young, she was followed by her father, never left. When Emily became a beautiful girl, many young men engaged her. But her father stubbornly tried to keep the fame of the noble family. Emilys father, who entertained rigid ideas of social status, deprives her
37、of youth, love and happiness by preventing her from marrying her town fellows during his lifetime to maintain the dignity of the “high and mighty Grierson”. He was tenacity to the old traditions which survives even after his death. He was in his lifetime prevented any town youth from marrying her da
38、ughter, “for the young men were not from distinguished family like Grierson. As the town people commented, the Grierson held them a little too high for what really were. None of the young men were quite good enough to Miss Emily so such” (Faulkner.106). The deceased father used to force away all the
39、 young men that were in love with her. And he did not allow Emily get in touch with anyone. So Emily and her father live together. Her Father was the only spirit of Emily. Through we couldnt understand all of was wrong or right, but we can discover Emilys first step was wrong. Not for her after her
40、father. B. The love after her fathers death When her father passed away, she felt like she had nothing. And the love of Emily and father was not only shown in the actions, but also shown in the spirit .The love of Emily and father was not ended but became strong. Her fathers passing away was a devas
41、tating loss for Emily. Never being able to develop any relationship with anyone else it was as if they world completely crumbled around her. Emily tried to hold on to him in some way even though his spirit had left. So, she did not think her father died. After her fathers death, Emily still lived un
42、der his fathers shadow of her aristocratic family-the Grierson. Miss Emily stubbornly clung to the past. She refused to release her father for burial, and kept his portrait in a prominent place in her living room: it was a connection to the old tradition, and her spiritual support. The day after his
43、 death all the ladies prepared to call at the door, but Emily was dressed as usual and 6 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
44、body. Just as they were about to resort to law and force, she broke down, and they buried her father quickly. Miss Emily did not accept the passing of time: neither did she accept changes, nor the loss that accompanied her. Emily maintained her aristocratic dignity. She refused to cooperate with mod
45、ernization in the pastel service, answering the tax notice on the “paper of an archaic shape in a then flowing calligraphy in faded ink”. (Faulkner.107) Her clinging to the past developed into such obsession and homicidal mania that she killed Homer Barron when she knew he would not marry her. After
46、 her fathers death, it seemed there remained no door. However, Emily still seemed separated. The door still existed. Why? At that time, Emily herself was the door. She closed the door because of two reasons. Firstly, she became accustomed. Secondly, she wanted to protect herself. In this story, we s
47、aw a lot of trouble people. Her sisters wanted to control Emily. They did not love her but wanted to control her. So the door needed to be closed. Then some people who lost their kind heart also wanted Emily to pay taxes. All these things told Emily that the door should be closed. If she opened the
48、door while without her fathers protection, then, who could protect her? But Emily opened the door for a man. 7 III. Love Between Homer Barron and Emily All of us known the love were beautiful .The love of Emily and Homer Barron was an unhappy tragedy, the reason of which lies in the social tradition
49、s as well as Emily herself. And no one help her. A. Emilys beautiful love with Homer Barron Love was one thing that all human have, Emily also thirsted for love. Her fathers death was a devastating loss for her. She could not bear the thought of being alone and needs a man who loved her. While Miss Emily was still distressed by her fathers death, Homers love brought Miss Emily out of her sorrow. Homer Barron was a foreman of Construction Company. He was a Yankee-a big, dark, ready man, with a big voice and eyes lighter than his face. The little boys w