The Analysis of Emily’s Tragedy in A Rose for Emily

【摘要】威廉·福克納被譽為美國二十世紀最偉大的小說家之一，其著名短篇小說《獻給愛米麗的一朵玫瑰》，自1930年發(fā)表以來，受到了廣泛關注。小說以美國戰(zhàn)后南方社會變遷為背景，講述了貴族后裔愛米麗小姐充滿悲劇的一生。學者們從不同的角度對該小說進行解讀，并提出各自獨特的觀點。本文以對該小說謹慎忠實的理解為依據(jù)，旨在探討造成愛米麗人生悲劇的內在原因和外部因素，如：愛米麗自身的性格特點，愛米麗所處的家庭背景和社會環(huán)境等。

【關鍵詞】《獻給愛米麗的一朵玫瑰》；威廉·福克納；悲劇；原因

【Abstract】William Faulkner is now regarded as the greatest American novelist of the twentieth century. A Rose for Emily， the well known short story by him， enjoys global popularity ever since its birth in 1930. Based on the background of the social changes of South America， the novel tells a tragic story of an aristocratic descendant Miss Emily in a small southern town called Jefferson. Scholars analyzed the story from different aspects and put forward their unique ideas. Based on a cautious truthful interpretation of the novel， this paper attempts to discuss the underlying reason and the external causes for Emily’s tragedy from three aspects─Emily’s personality， her family background and the social environment.

【Key words】A Rose for Emily； William Faulkner； tragedy； reason

【作者簡介】ZHANG Huitong， Qingdao West Coast New District Jiaonan first senior high school， the student of Class 12 and Grade 2016.

1. Introduction

A Rose for Emily is a book first regarded as a horror novel， but finally people found it tells much more than a horror story. As a great literature work， it has been studied by scholars from many different aspects.

In this paper， the author analyzed Emily’s tragic fate in the special period of America and further studied the reasons for Emily’s tragedy. There are three parts in this paper. The first part starts with a general introduction of the author and story. The second part tells the background of the story， the social and family background. The third part is analysis of the reasons for Emily’s tragedy from both inner and outside aspects. Finally， there will be a conclusion of the paper.

2. A Brief Introduction of William Faulkner and A Rose for Emily

2.1. A Brief Introduction of the Author

As a writer of the 20th century， William Faulkner （1897-1962） is noted for Yoknapatawpha stories in which the fictional Yoknapatawpha County is the setting. The county represents the Old South. Since he received the 1950 Nobel Prize for Literature， William Faulkner earned worldwide reputation and influence.

William Faulkner spent most of his life in Oxford， where influenced him greatly. Therefore， most of his works described people’s life in the South. Oxford with some fictional modification was a prototype of Jefferson， the setting of A Rose for Emily.

2.2. A Brief Introduction of the Story

A Rose for Emily is one of William Faulkner’s most famous short stories. As a descendant of the noble Grierson family， Emily Grierson is the central character of the short story. Dominated by her father who insisted on the rigid ideas of social status， Emily Grierson was prevented from marrying fellows in the town during his lifetime， which lead to her loneness and poverty after father’s death. Later， she fell in love with a Yankee， Homer Barron， who was disregarded by the whole town. Emily arrogantly defied her kin and the community by insisting on marrying Homer. Unfortunately， she found he had no intention to marry her. Desperately， Emily killed him and then isolated herself from society for more than 40 years. Emily lived lonely in her house and slept with Homer’s body until her death.

3. The Background of the Story

3.1. The Social Background

The story took place in a southern town named Jefferson after American Civil War. It is a period when the south was experiencing a giant revolution. With the north industries developing in the south， the north ideology hit the south traditional customs and moral seriously. Therefore， southern people lived in the contradictions between accepting new ideas and missing the traditional life. So they had to search for a symbol of tradition in remembrance of the past. Unfortunately， Emily was right the succedaneum， symbol and monument of a bygone era in the eyes of older generation.

3.2. The Southern Family Background

In the southern America， the notion of family is based on the plantation economy and agricultural culture. In such a society and economic structure， the father， an owner of the plantation， controls his “small kingdom” like a king. Moreover Puritanism spreads in the south and strongly upholds the supreme power of the father in a family. The father not only controls his children’s thought but also their destiny. Emily was just lived in such a family.

4. The Reasons of Emily’s Tragedy

The tragedy of Emily is not incidental； instead， it’s inevitable with reasons. In this paper， the author analyzed these reasons from the internal reasons， such as Emily’s own personality， and the external reasons， which includes the influence of Emily’s father， the traditional southern culture as well as the conflicts between two different ideologies.

4.1. The Inner Reason of Emily’s Tragedy

The Personality of Emily. Emily’s tragedy can be described as the tragedy of her character to a large extent. She was same stubborn and violent as her father. Her ruthless desire to control others finally overcomes her sense and reason. The pressure of outside world and betrayal of lover push Emily to make the most desperate choice， she kept her lover forever by killing. Since then， she enclosed herself in her imagined kingdom and refused to accept the passing of time. “When the town got free postal delivery， Miss Emily alone refused to let them fasten the metal numbers above her door and attach a mailbox to it.”

Emily broke the traditional female model of humility， tolerance， gentle and selflessness. She was so proud， aloof with great stubborn character. She fought against people in the town tirelessly， made bold resistance to protect her right to pursue freedom and dignity as a person. All these revealed her characteristic ─ a rose with thorns.

However， she cannot totally get rid of the shadow of traditional female virtues and social moral concept. She struggled but a small compromise make her plunged into the abyss of tragedy.

4.2. The Outside Reasons of Emily’s Tragedy

4.2.1. The Tyranny of Emily’s Father

Emily Grierson was born in a decayed aristocratic family. She was dominated by father who was a representative of aristocrats’ old values and traditional southern culture：” none of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily and such. “Her father drived away all young men from Emily， thus Emily was still single when she was thirty. Emily lost the chance to live a normal life of a woman ─ to love， to be loved， to marry and the value embodied through marriage. It’s her father who deprives Emily of her youth， love and happiness.

4.2.2. The Influence of Traditional Southern Culture

In the Bible， women are depicted to be subordinate to men and the resource of all sins. In the South， people believe in Christianity， so they regard women as the incarnation of sin.

Emily was the victims of the traditional southern culture. After father’s death， Emily thought she might break the shackles of the traditional social values. She cut the hair， longing for love， husband and a family like a common woman. However， the town people never took her as a person of flesh and blood with human feelings. As Grierson family stands for the old southern traditional manor system， people in Jefferson feel obliged to make her a monument of the old southern culture.

When “Homer Barron， a Yankee”， came to Jefferson， into the emotional world of Emily， her emotion broke out like volcanic eruption after long-term spiritual oppression. Miss Emily， a Grierson， fell in love with” a Northerner， a day laborer”. It was intolerable for Jefferson people and violated the conduction code on treating the Northerners. Jefferson people attacked them with vicious slander. They forced pastor of Baptist church to persuade Emily， let Emily’s conservative cousins to save her. Until Homer Barron disappeared， did the town people settled down and lived the past quiet life.

4.2.3. The Conflict Between two Social Ideologies

The sharp conflict between the two different types of social ideologies ─ capitalism and slavery is another reason of Emily’s tragedy.

The foreman， Homer Barron， is a typical character who carried the kind of Bourgeois moral values. He sought for private interest and lack moral disciplines； he indulged in wine and women but refused to bear any moral responsibilities. He dated Miss Emily overtly but not meant to marry her. His moral values conflicted with that of Emily， a representative of the old moral values. They could not be together； yet， unfortunately， she fell in love with him. She could not endure his behavior， the conflict between them developed to climax. The only way to solve the conflict was violence — to kill him. It is the result of conflicts， to be more exact， the result of moral confusion.

5. Conclusion

Given the above analysis， we can arrive at the point that Emily’s tragedy is not only because of her own imperfect character and thought， but because of her family background， criticizes of townspeople， betrayal of her lover and so on. Emily’s tragedy was not only the tragedy of herself， but the tragedy of all the southern women. This novel strongly condemned non-human moral codes， conventions and social values which bring destruction to human nature.

To conclude， A Rose for Emily is monumental work of endless literary value. It depicted the society at the Civil War time， the traditional southern culture， the developing northern industrial culture， the conflict between them， which has great influence on the real and spiritual world of people at that time. This paper just makes a brief review on the novel from Emily personal aspect to make the readers have a better understanding of her tragedy.

References：

[1]Faulkner，W.A Rose for Emily[M].Beijing：Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press，1990.

[2]陳華.福克納的愛米麗[J].四川：四川師范大學學報（社會科學版），2005，32，3：90-93.

[3]劉愛英.從淑女到魔鬼——試從社會學批評角度看《紀念愛米麗的一朵玫瑰花》的悲劇意義[J].四川外語學院學報，1998，2：33-46.

[4]吳偉仁.美國文學史及其選讀[M].北京：外語教學與研究出版社， 1990.