初2英语AroseforEmily分析(人物,象征,背景)

2021年1月20日发(作者：apologize什么意思)





A rose for Emily


This story happens after the American Civil War, in Jefferson Town. It
’
s a story
about an eccentric spinsternamed Emily Grierson whose marriage is totally manipulated
by her father. Two years after her father
’
s death, poor Emily is acquainted with a
northerner called Homer Barron, a day laborer and she falls in love with him. However,
their relation is short-lived as Homer becomes tired of her and intends to get rid of her. In
order to keep Homer at hand, Emily kills him with arsenic and
“
obtain
”
him, thus, she
sleeps with his corpse for decades. This is the truth that villagers find after her death.
From my own perspective, this masterpiece reflects the decline of the southern society
and reveals the conflicts between the two different value systems and two societies after
the American Civil War. Then, I will explain my opinions from the following three aspects:
character, symbol and setting.


Emily is an embodiment of the south, the old and tradition. At the very beginning of
this story, the writer recounts the decoration of her house which is still 1870s style, isn
’
t
change any more. Besides, she is also obstinate. When the new government compel the
taxes on her
，
she refuses to pay the tax and even ridiculously mentions a colonel who
has been dead almost ten years. Another example is that she prevents people from
installing mail-box on the wall. She keeps the traditional views all the long
，
but resists to
change anything. However, poor Emily is a determined woman. Regardless of
people
’
scriticism, she insists on marrying a northerner whose social position is
apparently lower than her. It is known that in that period of time, hierarchy is prevailing and
deep-rooted through out the society. It particularly has a profound influence on marriage.
When someone chooses a partner, he or she must consider the social position of the other
party to the marriage. However, Emily chooses to disobey the convention and challenges
tradition. Given this situation, her failure is quite expectable. However, she cannot get rid
of the shackles of the Southern conventions. After all, she captures her lover in her own
way and the love is treated with honor.


Her father, the old Grierson, is also an incarnation of the South, patriarchy and tradition.
He was very fastidious about her daughter
’
s marriage and drove away every man





1






who
caught
the
fancy
of
her.
“
When
she
got
to
thirty
and
was
still
single
”
.Obviously,
both her body and mind are enslaved by her father
’
s traditional concept. Therefore, she
feels released when her father is dead, and there is no
“
trace of grief on her face
”
.


In this novel, Emily symbolizes the South, old and tradition, the Yankee represents
the North, new and modern. Both young guys might be interested in each other when
they first meet. But they possess altogether different values or concept of lives. So they
inevitably separatedbefore long. The conflict between the two partners symbolizes the
conflict between the South and the North. And the absurd murder aggravates the
contradictions.


The
“
Rose
”
, that is never mentioned in this novel, is always interpreted
conventionally as a symbol of love. It might be used as the love Emily gets from her
lover. But in my opinion the rose mainly represents decay and death. At the time the
villagers went to her room and found the valance curtains of faded rose color and the
rose-shadedlights in the room. Actually, the author plays a trick on Miss Emily. In fact,
she doesn
’
treally get any love from any man whether it is from her lover or her father.
Emily could have a favorable marriage but for her father
’
s interference. She could
have got her deserved love from Homer. But on account of her obstinacy and pride,
she receives tiredness and indifference, instead of affection---rose, from him. Thus, as
an outsider, the author or the villagers, they give a rose as a tribute to Emily. Besides,
the rose also stands for the author
’
s and villagers
’
pity, sympathy and lament for
Emily, whose mind is imprisoned in the past and fails to adapt to the change.
What
’
smore, the author,
“
William Faulkner objectifies his complicated and emotional
involvement in the South and in the people who grow up and live there ever since
”
.(
英
美文学选读应试指南，
P237)


The story teller begins his story when it is post-civil war. In Jefferson Town, in the
South, which is defeated by the North, everything including concept and some sense of
value is gradually replaced by the new concepts from the North. In this background, due
to the restriction of the traditional ideas, some people are imprisoned in the past and
ignore the passageof time. And Miss Emily is one of them. The whole story is set in
Emily
’
s house. But the story has a time span of over two scores. Her house is depicted
as