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1、华南农业大学珠江学院毕业论文 On Symbolism in A Rose for Emily 张婉玲 指导教师： 王宁川 系： 外国语系 年级专业： 英语（国际贸易） 提交日期： 2012.05.24 答辩日期： 2012.05.29 答辩委员会主席（签名）： 评阅人（签名）： 年 月 日28Abstract Based on the analysis of the deeper meaning of setting, characteristics and objects in A Rose for Emily, written by William Faulkner(1897-1962)
2、, the paper attempts to explore the narrators way to express his ideas and deepen the themes. Analyzed through the symbolic meaning of characteristics, it discusses the relationship between Emily Grierson and Homer Baron, Emily Grierson and the community, which reflects the social changes and confli
3、cts at that period, aiming to study Faulkners critical historical consciousness toward the American South. Besides, it focuses on the symbolized object-rose, which is not only an indispensable element giving prominence to the theme of the novel, but also a clue to reveal the narrators attitude to th
4、e heroine. Moreover, it finds Faulkner used different symbols to represent the same thing, therefore, by interpreting the symbolic meaning of other objects, it helps to explain how Faulkner expressed the multiple themes: alienation, the passage of time, death, let go of the past, and compassion. Thi
5、s thesis also aims to provide more suggestions and ideas for other future researchers.Key words: William Faulkner; A Rose for Emily; Symbolism;Themes摘 要献给艾米丽的玫瑰是威廉福克纳的代表作之一。小说中象征手法的运用赋予了这部作品更为深刻的象征意义，正确解读小说中的象征符号对理解作品起着重要的作用。通过对小说中背景、人物及事物的隐含意义的分析，论文拟研究福克纳是如何通过象征手法表达主旨并深化主题的。通过分析人物的象征意义，探讨角色之间的人物关系，
6、论文揭示了小说中反映的当时的社会变化及冲突，分析了福克纳在文中所表现的历史意识。论文也重点分析了玫瑰的象征意义，因为玫瑰不仅仅突出主题，还反映了作者对女主人翁的态度。此外，福克纳在小说中通过不同的事物指代一个事物，因此，论文通过解释这些事物的象征含义，分析了小说中的多重主旨：孤独，时间的流逝，死亡,放下过去以及怜悯。关键词：威廉福克纳；献给艾米丽的玫瑰；象征主义；主旨ContentsAbstractI摘 要IIIntroduction11 Symbolism21.1 What is symbolism21.2 The Symbolist Movement31.3 Function of Sym
7、bolism42 The Application of Symbolism in Other Literary Works52.1 Poetry52.2 Novels73 A Rose for Eminly103.1 A Brief introduction to William Faulkner103.2 A Brief Introduction to A Rose for Emily104 The Application of Symbolism in A Rose for Emily114.1 The Circumstances114.1.1 The House Symbolizes M
8、iss Emily114.1.2 The Town of Jefferson Symbolizes Old Tradition and Advancement124.2 The Characters144.2.1 Miss Emily Grierson Symbolizes Old South Tradition and Alienation144.2.2 Homer Barron Symbolizes New North164.2.3 Tobe, the Manservant174.3 Objects174.3.1 Hair, Watch and Stationery Symbolize T
9、ime174.3.2 Taxes Symbolize Death194.3.3 Death Symbolizes Passage of Time194.3.4 Rose Symbolizes Love, Secret, Tragedy and Tribute20Conclusion22Notes23Acknowledgements28声明29Introduction American author William Faulkners short story, A Rose for Emily, was first published in the April 30, 1930 issue of
10、 Forum. The story contains a wealth of meaning, communicated through various interconnected and somewhat complex themes. This famous short story has gained academic concerns for years and been interpreted in many different ways. Interesting discussions and researches has been made from different per
11、spectives.In The Tangled Fire of William Faulkner (1953), the author, William Van O Connor(1915-1966) ,who produces many articles, reviews and books, including studies of Wallace Stevens and William Faulkner, points out that it is a misread to see the story as conflict between the values of the Old
12、South and the new order. In his opinion,The Old South and new order are merely a part of a flavor and tone of the story, not the pole of conflict 1, and the theme should be a denial of normal emotions invites retreat into a marginal world, into a fantasy2. Judith Fetterley, a literary scholar who is
13、 influential in leading a reappraisal of womens literature of the 19th and 20th centuries, approaches A Rose for Emily from a feminist perspective. In her book The Resisting Reader: A Feminist Approach to American Fiction(1978) ,she claims,the grotesque aspects of the story are a result of its viola
14、tion of the expectation generated by the conventions of sexual politics3. The two influential literary critics, Cleanth Brooks(1906-1994) and Robert Penn Warren(1905-1989), regard Miss Emily as a pathological case. In their Understanding Fiction(1979), they give a brief introduction psychological co
15、nsideration of A Rose for Emily, but also state it should not be justified in merely psychological term. Emily Griersons Oedipus Complex; Motif, Motive, and Meaning Faulkners A Rose for Emily(1980) explores the story through Freudiam psychoanalysis for a Freudian interpretation of Emilys relationshi
16、p to her father. Blythe Hal(1944- ) provides a surprising motive for why Miss Emily Grierson murdered Homer Barron-Homer was probably a homosexual.By tracing conventions employed by Edgar Allan Poe, Usher,Poquelin, and Miss Emily: the Progress of South Gothic(1960),concludes the genre of the story i
17、s Southern Gothic. The story was also used to be analyzed in the application of writing techniques such as flashback, which is used to present action that occurs before the beginning of a story, as well as foreshadowing, which creates expectation for action that has not yet happened. This thesis foc
18、used on the application of symbolism. By narrating the symbolic meaning, this essay analyzes how the symbols reflect the interconnecting themes- the interaction between the past and the present, human loneliness and isolation, the search for love and companionship, and death versus life.1 Symbolism1
19、.1 What is symbolism The word symbolism is simply defined as a noun which refers tothe use of symbols to represent ideas,especially in art and literature4,while symbol means a person, an object, an event,etc that represents a more general quality of situation5 in the Oxford Advanced Learners English
20、-Chinese Dictionary. As to its etymology, the term is explained as which is derived from the word symbol which derives from the Latin symbolum, a symbol of faith, and symbolus, a sign of recognition, in turn from classical Greek symbolon, an object cut in half constituting a sign of recognition when
21、 the carriers were able to reassemble the two halves. In ancient Greece, the symbolon, was a shard of pottery which was inscribed and then broken into two pieces which were given to the ambassadors from two allied city states as a record of the alliance6. But still we can not exactly figure out what
22、 symbolismis since the word can have an extremely wide meaning. Obviously, it would be better not to concern its meaning in general, but to narrow it down. Therefore, it will be only spoken in literature in the thesis. In literature, a symbol is most often a concrete object which is used to represen
23、t something broader and more abstract,often in moral, religious, or philosophical concept of value7. It is something that represents or stands for something else. Like metaphors and similes, symbols are another kind of figurative language. But a symbol has a larger meaning than a metaphor or simile-
24、a meaning which can often be multiple or ambiguous. It is more suggestive, more complex, and often hard to interpret. Then, the practice of representing things by symbols, so as to convey deeper meanings and get expressive effects, is symbolism. In Charles Chadwicks words, symbolism can be defined a
25、s the art of expressing ideas and emotions not by describing them directly, nor by defining them through overt comparisons with concrete images, but by suggesting what these ideas and emotions are, by re-creating them in the mind of the reader through the use of unexplained symbols8. For Alfred Nort
26、h Whitehead(1861-1947), the British mathematician and philosopher, symbol evokes loyalties to vaguely conceived notions, fundamental for our spiritual natures. The result is that our natures are stirred to suspend all antagonistic impulses, so that the symbol procures its required response in action
27、9. Therefore, the application of symbolism can leave the readers enough imagination since it requires their own comprehension.1.2 The Symbolist Movement Symbolism in literature was a complex movement that deliberately extended the evocative power of words to express the feelings, sensations and stat
28、es of mind that lie beyond everyday awareness. Different poets of the Romantic Period, such as, Johann Christian Friedrich Hlderlin(1770-1843) in Germany, Shelley in England, often used private symbols in their poetry. But in the usage of literary historian, Symbolist Movement designates specificall
29、y a group of French writers beginning with publication of Charles Baudelaires Les Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil, 1857).The open-ended symbols created by Charles Baudelaire (1821-67) brought the invisible into being through the visible, and linked the invisible through other sensory perceptions,
30、 notably smell and sound. The aesthetic was developed by Stphane Mallarm and Paul Verlaine during the 1860s and 70s. In the 1880s, the aesthetic was articulated by a series of manifestos and attracted a generation of writers. The name symbolist itself was first applied by the critic Jean Moras, who
31、invented the term to distinguish the symbolists from the related decadents of literature and of art. 101.3 Function of Symbolism In the same way a painter uses shape, color, perspective and other aspects of visual art to create a painting, a fiction writer uses characters, setting, plot, point of vi
32、ew, theme and various kinds of symbolism and language to create artistic effect in fiction. Symbolic meanings of main characters, time, scenes and colors and so on which are indispensable elements giving prominence to the theme of the novel because they reveal the hidden relation between main charac
33、ters and give great artistic power to the language of the novel. Moreover, the symbolic meanings help construct the connotations of the novel and then deepen the theme. Therefore, writers often employ symbolism into their writing in order to clearly express their opinions, specify the theme of the l
34、iterary work, so as to help to the comprehension of the story. Further more, as an indirect mode of expression, symbols suggest much more than what they seem to be, thus making the ideas stick in the readers heart. 2 The Application of Symbolism in Other Literary Works2.1 Poetry Symbol as a literatu
35、re device was long used by many poets. One way that enable Edgar Allan represent (1809 -1849) to express Dark Romanticism was through his use of symbolism. Throughout history and literature, ravens have been symbols of many things- bad luck, death, the black magic powers of wizards such as Merlin, o
36、r as the familiars of evil-doers. In Poes The Raven (1845) the poem, the bird is used to represent some or all of these things, whats more, it is used to further the mood of melancholy and uncertainty of ones thought. Through out the poem, the raven is also able to illustrate the self torture the na
37、rrator inflicts upon himself through his imagination. Although most of Robert Lee Frosts (1874-1963) poems depict New England landscape, he does not rest only on the description of the scenery, some of his poetry are symbolic. For examples, in Rose Pogonias (from A Boys Will, 1913), Early in Frosts
38、poetry, flowers stand for beloved, his wife Elinor; in The Pasture(from North of Boston, 1914) spring becomes a symbol for origin or source, almost in a Proustian sense; in The Road Not Taken (from Mountain Interval, 1916) , the forked road symbols for choices in life; in Stopping by Woods on a Snow
39、y Evening(from New Hampshire, 1923), the journey in the poem represents lifes journey. As a poet, playwright and literary critic, T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) is regarded as the most important American poet of 20th century. In Eliots poetry, water symbolizes both life and death. His characters wait for w
40、ater to quench their thirst, watch rivers overflow their banks, cry for rain to quench the dry earth, and pass by fetid pools of standing water. Eliot not only draws upon the traditional meaning of water: water cleanses, water provides solace, and water brings relief , but also indicates water can a
41、lso lead to drowning and death. In his famous poet The Waste Land (1922), a milestone of the modern western poetry, the Fisher King is the central character. Eliot saw the Fisher King as symbolic of humanity, robbed of its sexual potency in the modern world and connected to the meaninglessness of ur
42、ban existence. But the Fisher King also stands in for Christ and other religious figures associated with divine resurrection and rebirth. Samuel Taylor Coleridges (1772-1834) often gives sun and moon different symbolic meaning in his poetry. In his representative work The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
43、(1798), the sun and the moon represent two sides of the Christian God: the sun represents the angry, wrathful God, whereas the moon represents the benevolent, repentant God. Dejection: An Ode (1802) begins with an epitaph about the new moon and goes on to describe the beauty of a moonlit night, cont
44、rasting its beauty with the speakers sorrowful soul. Similarly, Frost at Midnight also praises the moon as it illuminates icicles on a winter evening and spurs the speaker to great thought. William Butler Yeats(1865-1939) is best remember as a poet, and generally acknowledged as the foremost poet in
45、 modern times. M.H. Abrams (1912- ) describes Yeats as a realist-symbolist-metaphysical poet with an uncanny power over words(1986). The gyre, a circular or conical shape, appears frequently in Yeatss poems to symbolize his belief in fate and historical determinism as well as his spiritual attitudes
46、 toward the development of the soul, since creatures and events must evolve according to the conical shape.In The Second Coming(1920), Yeats employs the figure of a great beasta horrific, violent animal to function as a primary image of destruction in the poem and then change it into an easily imagi
47、ned horrifying monster, making an abstract fear become tangible and real, so as to symbolize the complex ideas about the state of the modern world. In Leda and the Swan(1924), Yeats rewrites the Greek myth of Zeus and Leda to comment on fate and historical inevitability. Through the description of the its physical characteristics, the swan broke its common image of ideal and beauty, but becomes a violent divine force. 2.2 Novels Wuthering Height (1847) is Emil