Alienation In Hemingway’s In Another Country and Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily

摘 要：本文嘗試對兩篇小說中體現的隔絕問題從根源、內在和外在力量及主觀努力上方面進行探討。

Abstract: The essay is an attempt to discuss the alienation in two short stories respectively written by Hemingway and Faulkner. The factors attributable to the alienation include roots， internal and external force and mental efforts.

關鍵詞：海明威，?？思{，異化，內部，外部

Key words: Hemingway， Faulkner， alienation， internal， external

作者簡介：甄真（1980-），女，漢族，吉林省吉林市人，大學本科，學術經理。

[中圖分類號]：I206 [文獻標識碼]：A

[文章編號]：1002-2139(2011)-24-0063-01

Hemingway’s war heroes are suffering in another country and Faulkner’s southern lady Emily is living in another time and space. Both writes reflect the theme of alienation in the stories In Another Country and A Rose for Emily respectively.

First， the alienation has roots. Hemingway’s wounded soldiers are taken back from the frontline in World War I and they have to undergo a rehabilitative period in a hospital. The doctors trick them into believing that the machines are omnipotent for their damaged body， but they know very well that they are lab mice. Besides， they are injured physically at the battlefield but more wounded in the community. The people around them keep away from them and despise them because they won’t be able to fight again with a broken leg or with a destroyed hand. They have as little value for the war as for the society. Emily， in readers’eyes， comes from the last generation of American southern aristocracy. She seems to be the enemy to everybody in the new industrial civilization. Her pride and her reluctance to face the reality in outside world make herself a resident of a tomb. The tomb appears so weird that the town people draw a line between Emily and themselves.

Second， there are two forces that are attributable to the alienation in the stories. One is internal and the other is external. Solders are kept trying the machine therapy and they visit hospital on regular basis. However， they lose their confidence to live a life in the society. One character cries out that “I cannot resign myself”. The inner fall of self-esteem prevents them from getting back on their feet to relive their lives in the society. Meanwhile， the external force， the society’s abhorrence for their disabled body throws them into the abyss of despair. As for Emily， her mentality separates her from the rest of the town Jefferson. Her allegiance to the southern tradition remains so powerful that her clashes with the community are irreconcilable. For instance， her refusal to pay tax collides with the social values in the town and no wonder the town people cannot see eye to eye with her on other matters. More often than not， the people in the town tend to gossip her and shun from her as possible as they can. The external force to alienate Emily will not be more obvious than the fact that Faulkner deliberately uses “we” as the narrator and also refers to the people in Jefferson as if in the town there are only two people， one is “we” and the other is Emily.

Finally， the wounded soldiers seem more actively engaged with the life in the community whereas Emily is willing to hide away from the rest of the world. As the soldier is on his way to the hospital， he has a choice of three bridges. He prefers the bridge on which a woman sells roasted chestnuts. He feels “it was warm， standing in front of her charcoal fire.” Here， he’s taking initiatives to return to his normal life and he also hopes to be married. On the contrary， Emily would rather live in the past and never wants to be accepted by the outside world. She is too nostalgic to face the real world outside of her windows and that is the symptom of a mental disease. Her murder of Homer Barron is not only the consequence of her disease but her determination to destroy the new values because Homer Barron is a Yankee from the American northern society.

In conclusion， both writers shed light on the theme of alienation in their story. Hemingway stresses on the separation between the individual and the community during wartime while Faulkner puts more emphasis on the clashes when the old generation live in the course of historical changes.