1、 （ 20_ _届） 本科毕业 设计 英语 Emily as a “ Rose” in a Rose for Emily 内容摘要 威廉 福克纳是美国南方文学的领袖。其中献给艾米丽的一朵玫瑰是约克纳帕塔法世系里的一部小说。小说题为献给艾米丽的一朵玫瑰，但整部小说只是在结尾提到两次 “褪色的玫瑰色窗幔、玫瑰色灯罩 ”。本文认为艾米丽小姐就是那朵玫瑰，然后从这个角度对小说的南方传统、南方的没落贵族以及艾米丽的爱情进行分析，从而更好的理解小说的主题和作者的创作意图。 关键字：玫瑰 ;艾米丽 ;南方传统 ;南方的没落贵族 ;爱情 Abstract William Faulkner was one of
2、 the most influential American novelists. His short story A Rose for Emily, was those among his best works， taking place in the imaginary Yoknapatawpha County. Although the title of the short story is A Rose for Emily, rose is only mentioned two times at the end of the story. This thesis aims to hav
3、e a further analysis of the southern American tradition, the Griersons and Emilys love from a different perspective “Emily is the rose”. As a result, we have a better understanding of the story and what the writer are trying to convey. Key words: rose; Emily; southern American tradition; the Grierso
4、ns; love Content Abstract .II 1. Introduction.1 2. Emily as the “rose” of the south.2 2.1 Emily as a rose of southern tradition . 2.2 Emily reflects the authors nostalgia . 3. Emily as the “rose” of the Griersons. . 3.1 Emily is his fathers rose . 3.2 The Griersons status in the town . 4. Emilys lov
5、e just like the rose . 4.1 Emily pursued her love bravely . 4.2 Emily killed his lover . 5. Conclusion . Bibliography. Acknowledgements . 1. Introduction William Faulkner (1897-1962) is one of the leading American authors of the 20th century and received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1949 for hi
6、s powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel. He was famous for the skill called the stream of consciousness and a regionalist and spent most of his life in a small, particular area of the United States, the Deep South with its bitter history of slavery, writing about
7、 the scenes and people he knew best, civil war and destruction. He also wrote about the society in the South by inventing families which represented different social forces: the old, decaying upper class; the rising, ambitious, unscrupulous class of “poor whites”; and the Negroes who labored for bot
8、h of them. And most of his stories took place in Yoknapatawpha County in his imagination. And A Rose for Emily is among Faulkners best novel for his “Yaknqpatawpha Kingdom.” This novel tells a story of an eccentric spinster, Emily Grierson. An unnamed narrator details Emilys tragic life. Miss Emily,
9、 growing up in the Sothern noble family, was ruled by her father with an iron fist by turning away every suitor the young girl had; after her fathers death, she had a boyfriend, an unlikely Yankee guy named Homer, who refused to marry Emily. So Miss Emily poisoned her lover and lived with his body u
10、ntil she died. This story is a typical example of Faulkners artistic achievement: the exploration of psychological reality, the social structure and mores of a Southern community, the nature of time, and the relation of the past and present. Although the title of the short story is A Rose for Emily,
11、 rose is only mentioned two times at the end of the story. This thesis aims to have a further analysis of the southern American tradition, the Griersons and Emilys love from a different perspective “Emily is the rose”. As a result, we have a better understanding of the story and what the writer are
12、trying to convey. 2. Emily as the “rose” of the south Readers who first read the title may have questions in mind: who is Emily? Who gives Emily flowers? Why they give her a rose not other flowers? Emily was a typical representative of the declining noble family who was so well acquainted with the t
13、radition way of plantation life. So to those who felt sorrowful and nostalgic of the falling world, Emily was their rose. The author was one of them, though he showed hatred for the old rotten things which he described. Going, one of the scholars who explored the symbolic and implications of the “ro
14、se” in the title, held the opinion that “the treasured memory of old confederate veterans and the moral obloquy of the righteous and curious of the later generation” (Going,1958:27) The next two parts aims to analysis this story from these two perspectives. One is Emily was the rose of the southern
15、tradition. The other is Emily was the rose of the author. 2.1 Emily as a rose of southern tradition Emily was the rose of southern tradition, who was respected by the old generation in the town. When Emily was dead, men went to her funeral and showed “a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monu
16、ment”. “A fallen monument” means the tradition of the Southern America was completely gone after Emily was dead, because when Emily was alive, she was a tradition, a duty, and a care. Then she was dead, the monument fallen. The story took place in the American South, when the civil war just ended an
17、d the advancement of the North industrialization accelerated up the disintegration and the fall of southern plantation. The new social and economic order bred after the war has not only abandoned the secret of the old positive moral values, its also adopted the more ruthless and ambitious way of the
18、 industrialized North (Wan Peide, 1981: 227). In the southern descendants eyes, the disappearance of the comfortable life, the southern good order, and the southern admirable moral were such a sin. However, they could do nothing about it as they faced with the prosperity of the northern industries,
19、which declared to the people that their times went away forever. People in the town felt nostalgic for the old ways of life. Without outstanding talents, beautiful appearance, immortal feats, Emily represented one generation, just for she was born in a noble Griersons family with abundant prosperity
20、 and high social status and she was arrogant, cold and standing above others. As Southern tradition was completely disintegrated, people in the town regarded her as the embodiment of the tradition and the symbol of the responsibility “Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care”. They saw Emily a
21、s a hereditary obligation upon them. Since America was found in 1776, there was difference between the north and the south. The main income resource was plantation economy in south, while modern industry dominated the economy in north. American Civil War was caused by the difference between them. At
22、 Faulkners time, the decline of south aristocrats was an inevitable situation. Emily had no choice to born in such a family. Therefore, when Emily could not live by herself at forty, the old generation sent their daughters and granddaughters to her with the same regularity and in the same spirit as
23、if the children went to the church on Sundays with a twenty-five-cent piece for the collection plate. What emerges from behind Emily was not just the history of her family and that of the county Yoknaptawpha, but also the history of the history of the whole aristocrat south as well. Thus, her traged
24、y was simply a miniature of the declining south, her death standing for the fall of monument- the fall of the old tradition. Emily vanished, so was their Southern dream. Therefore, she was their rose, something very valuable. After Emily was dead, the town people put a rose on Emilys coffin. The ros
25、e represented the town people cherished the memory of their old Southern tradition. 2.2 Emily reflects the authors nostalgia Faulkner, the author, uses the symbolic significance of the rose to show his admiration and compassion for Emily. Faulkner said.” the old verities and truths of the hearts, th
26、e old universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomedlove and honor and pity and compassion and sacrifice” （ Liu,2002） A Rose for Emily follows the principle. The story focus on Emily Grierson, a noble lady who tenaciously defends her love and refuses to accept the passage of time,
27、or the inevitable change and loss that accompanies it. As a descendent of the Southern aristocracy, Emily is a typical of those in Faulkners stories who are the symbols of the Old South but the prisoners of the past. Henceforth, it deserves perpetual remembrance as it is the case with the protagonis
28、t, a woman with virtues like dignity, courage, honor, compassion and perseverance in pursuit of love and the old tradition. Faulkner uses A Rose for Emily as the title of this short story and a rose normally reminds people of beauty, love, innocence, romance or eulogy, we can conclude that the novel
29、 implies the other theme that the story desires to bring out Faulkners song of praise for Emily. He set a high value on Emilys strong character and staunch which preserved her desperate defense of the traditional moral value. When Emily lost all things she had possessed, she maintained her dignity,
30、sticking to the moral standards left by her father and by her aristocratic southern family. She won great compassion and admiration from the public as well as the author. Although Faulkner disagrees with her destruction activity to keep her love, he demonstrates his admiration and sympathy for her c
31、ourageous love pursuit. “Its important to remember that Emily Grierson, for all her eccentricities, not to mention her serious mental illness, is never laughed at or treated with contempt or disgust. She has seen first and foremost as a human being, albeit as a tragic one. (Wanpeide,1981).” Hence Fa
32、ulkner gives her a symbolic “rose”, which represents love, beauty, youth and innocence, to show the authors great respect and sympathy for her. Her extreme action of murder, gory and abominable, is just typical of Faulkners works “images of haunting power and violence”. Faulkner understood Emilys sa
33、dness and pains, sympathizing with her misery of losing all her opportunities to have love and happiness. Emily was a symbol of old values, standing for tradition, duty and past glory. But she was also a victim of all those she cared and embraced under the control of the culture. Faulkner implied hi
34、mself, nobody could stop the tragedy of a poor woman and a rose was to show his respect and sympathy for her, just as “a kind of compensation, a sort of grief” (Shen Zhihe, 1955). From the explanation of the Faulkner, we can learn that Faulkner, as a southern writer Faulkner regarded Emily as the tr
35、adition representative of America, shows deep sympathy for Emily, and from the description of the Negro slave, we know that Faulkner actually disapproved of the Southern tradition. There is not much description of the Negro, but he attained great importance in the story. Faulkner showed much sympath
36、y for him, feels guilty conscience as a member of the South and was disgusted with Keeping Slavery System. From the writers view, black slaves were kindhearted and loyal, the first morality of the slaves was “wait, bear and the ability of existence”. The southern tradition-slavery system made Tobe live a walking corpse life and spend his time quietly. He
