The Conflicts in A Rose for Emily

The Conflicts in A Rose for Emily Abstract This passage attempts to, from a delicate way to analyze the conflicts about the life of Miss Emily in the world-famous short story A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner, an American writer. The author first starts from the conflicts in Miss Emily‘s life, analyzing the reasons of the conflicts. Furthermore, from literal devices in this passage, William Faulkner explains to the readers how the conflicts are displayed. Based on the above, the author points out that Miss Emily‘s character tragedy lies in the obstinate traditional sense of hierarchy in the Old South of America. The conflicts, between the new system in the New South during its foundation and the old system in the Old South, as well as her greatly twisted character, lead to her tragic fate. Through the series of the specific analysis, the readers are able to make full comprehension of the article. Key words: Conflict Refuse Old South New South North - i - 本篇文章力图用一种很细致的方法来透析威廉.佛克纳的著名短篇小说《献给艾米丽的玫瑰》中所出现的种种冲突。作者首先从艾米丽生活中所出现的冲 突切入，进而分析存在这些冲突的原因，然后本篇文章又从威廉. 佛克纳所使用的多种文学手段来进一步说明他是如何把这些冲突展现给读者的，由此读者 不难发现艾米丽的悲剧植根于美国南方特权阶级顽固的传统观念，这些冲突的 发生实质上是南方旧体制，旧观念和北方新体制，新观念的冲突。通过一系列 紧密的分析读者可以更透彻的理解这篇文章。 冲突 拒绝 旧南方 新南方 北方 - ii - The Conflicts in A Rose for Emily Introduction William Faulkner, an outstanding southern writer of the U.S.A., was a regionalist, spending most of his time in a small region—Deep South. He invented a county Yoknapatawpha , the capital is Jefferson ,in his imagination . Most of his stories took place in this imaginary place. ―A Rose for Emily‖ is one of them. Faulkner successfully advanced two modern literary techniques: stream of consciousness and multiple point of view. His frequent themes were history and race---family epic, melon-drama (with exaggerated conflicts and emotion), tragedy and comedy. All of these involve war, race, class, soil, and family violence. He defines his ideals in terms of their opposites. He has few characters that have normal sense, and Miss Emily, the main character of the short story, is a typical one who resembles almost all the aspects of William Faulkner‘s writing style mentioned above. Miss Emily Grierson, a typical character described in his world-famous short story “A Rose for Emily”, is the emblem of the Old South and the victim of the Old South‘s traditional ideas. Her unusual behavior, proud and aloof character and nearly seclusive lives are always the targets criticized by traditional critics. Miss Emily refused to accept the postbox, the symbol of modernization; and refused to pay taxes, which means that she refused to accept the progress of the society; and refused to accept the passage of time…So Miss Emily‘s life are filled with conflicts. And the conflicts lied in the new ideas in the New South and the old ideas in the Old South. - 1 - Chapter I There are several conflicts in the story including paying taxes, the smell, the disposal of the dead body of her father, the purchase of poison, her marriage, and the mailbox. On paying taxes, the townspeople want Emily to conform to their standards of living. Emily refuses to succumb to their pressure because of a so-called arrangement made between Colonel Sartoris, who was the mayor at that time, and Emily exempts herself from ever paying taxes. In reality, the arrangement was really to save face or Emily‘s reputation because she has become poor. Faulkner is so cautious even in the words he uses to reflect this arrangement of a bygone era: ―Only a man of Colonel Sartoris” generation and thought could have invented it, and only a woman could (1)have believed it.‖ However, the town council of Jefferson‘s next generation has changed their values, demands Emily pay as all the rest of them. Faulkner notes that the townspeople sent the Baptist minister–Miss Emily‘s people were Episcopal–to call upon her, and they also send threatening letters demanding she pay her taxes. But Miss Emily said, ―perhaps he considers himself the sheriff…I have no taxes in (2)Jefferson.‖ And she repeated one sentence in fury again and again, just as ―see Colonel Sartoris. I have no taxes in Jefferson.‖ Under such circumstances, the city authorities were forced to give up collecting her taxes. On townspeople‘s complains about the smell, the townspeople had no courage to ask her to get rid of it. That happened, shortly after her sweetheart deserted her. Four townspeople reduced themselves to the roles of nighttime prowlers, ―slunk‖ around (3)Miss Emily's house and ―sprinkled‖ lime. Creeping away, they see Miss Emily - 2 - (4)silhouetted in the window, ―her upright torso motionless as that of an idol,‖ From the descriptive words, the readers can see that Miss Emily has been dominating the community. On the disposal of the dead body of his father, when her father died, she became ―crazy‖. Faulkner wrote, ―She told them his father was not dead. She did that for three (5) days.‖No one could persuade her to dispose of the body until they were going to resort to law and force. Then she broke down and they buried her father quickly. They remembered all of the young men her father had driven away, and they knew that nothing left; she would have to cling to that which had robbed her. On the purchase of poison, Faulkner depicts Emily and her family as a high social class. Emily did carry herself with dignity and people gave her that respect. Emily was a strong willed person especially when she went into the drug store for the (6)arsenic. She said ―Arsenic‖, ―I want arsenic.‖ the druggist wanted to know what she wanted it for and she answered back ―I want the best you have. I don’t care what (7)kind.‖ Needless to say, the druggist never got an answer. The druggist gave Emily poison out of fear and respect, possibly. On the marriage of Miss Emily with Homer Barron, after the shock of her father‘s death, Miss Emily got another shock from Barron because he did not want to marry her. Homer was just as a liar to Emily. She had a tragic life, one of the reasons was her father‘s death, and we can notice this because when he died she denies it. She didn‘t want to be left alone and when Homer tried to leave her she prefers to kill him. Homer was a Forman for a road construction company, Faulkner writes ―… a foreman - 3 - named Homer Barron, a Yankee—a big, dark, ready man, with a big voice and eyes (8) lighter than his face.‖ Emily‘s father probably would not be pleased with this affair with Homer. Homer was a ―commoner,‖ a ―northerner‖ and did not fit the social standards of her father. Emily, like most women dreamed of getting married and having a family and most of all, being loved. The gossip around town was spreading; the townspeople said ―when she got to thirty and was still single, we were not pleased, but vindicated; ... She wouldn’t have turned down all of her chances if they had (9)materialized.‖ Emily wanted to be loved, and she was determined that Homer would be her true love to rescue her from fear, of being left alone. Emily took a great liking to Homer, but Homer‘s feelings about the relationship were different. It was rumored that ―even Homer himself had remarked--he liked men, and it was known that (10)he drunk with younger men in the Elk’s club—that he was not a marrying man.‖ Homer left Emily and the town for three days, and then came back. While Homer was gone, Emily was still preparing for her wedding. She bought invitations and clothes for Homer. Emily grew fearful of Homer‘s departure, afraid of being left alone again. Faulkner writes ―A neighbor saw the Negro man (Tobe) admit him at the kitchen door (11)at dusk one evening. And that’s the last we saw of Homer Barron.‖ Miss Emily could not accept change to any degree. She was unable to ameliorate as the rest of society did. The new generation became the backbone and the spirit of the town. The old south is becoming the New South. Miss Emily did not allow a house number to be placed on her house when the town received free postal service. Miss Emily‘s ability to refuse change was very strong. She conquered the town. And - 4 - she was not willing to face new things. Mentioning so many conflicts here, William Faulkner has his own ideas. And it is only the first step of creating the story successfully. When the readers understand Emily, they can a clearer view of actions that go on during the story. William Faulkner‘s use of conflicts proves to a positive way to exemplify the reader‘s feelings about certain characters and tribulations they experience. - 5 - Chapter Most of us may think Miss Emily is a queer woman. However, if we carefully go through this short story, we would find that she is not queer at all. William Faulkner shows great sympathy to Miss Emily, the lady of a declining aristocratic family. It is not Miss Emily‘s own fault that caused her tragedy. One reason is that her father‘s influence over her is deep-rooted all her life. Being the last descendant of the Grierson‘s family, it seemed that it was Miss Emily‘s responsibility and duty to be ―a (12sort of hereditary obligation upon the town.‖) Another reason, the influence, or the restriction of the town folks in Jefferson never stopped. She had been regarded as ―a fallen monument‖ which was respectfully sought guidance from by the old town folks and became the symbol of the Old South. What they wanted to see was a never degenerative true noble southern lady. After the American Civil War, everything of the Old South had been on the way of decline and death. Most of the southerners could not adapt to such kind of change, they refused to accept such kind of change. They eagerly tried to find an image, an unusual person to stand the glorious past for them to respect and recall. Miss Emily, the last descendant of the Grierson, just living in such period of time. Therefore we can safely conclude that it is the influence of her father, the town folks, the environment and her own character that caused the twisted humanity of Miss Emily that resulted in her tragic fate. We know clearly that her father was an absolute authoritativeness to her --- the horsewhip in the hand (the emblem of authority), a spraddled silhouette (her father‘s firm, obstinate character) and his back to her (the emblem of Miss Emily‘s fate - 6 - controlled by her father). There is no doubt for us to say that Miss Emily would be controlled and influenced by her father all her life and so is the fact. Miss Emily was not married when she was almost thirty because ―all the young men her father had (13)driven away.‖ After her father‘s death, she refused to have her father buried, saying her father was not dead. In fact, it is just because ―with nothing left, she would have to (14)cling to that which had robbed her, as people will.‖ However, her reaction to her father‘s death did not really mean how much she loved her father, but it was just because she had already been accustomed to be controlled by her father. Being a normal young lady, she was not ready to be an old maid. But her father had driven away all the young men around her, which was totally contrary to normal reaction and common sense. Miss Emily‘s so called aristocratic. And the character of this old family had been twisted, and ―that quality of her father which had thwarted her woman‘s life so many times.‖ Thus, the tragic fate of Miss Emily had already been destined. ―When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house which no one save an old manservant --- a (15)combined gardener and cook ---had seen in at least ten years.‖ Through these lines and the whole story, the attentive readers would surely find that the narrator is always using the collective expressions as ―we /us‖ and ―our town‖. In other words, the narrator, when making comment on the life and death of the eccentric Miss Emily, did not from an impartial judge‘s unbiased point of view. On - 7 - the contrary, the narrator, one member of the town folks, seemed to be in loss of thought and cherish the memory of the grave crisis of life and death of his own relative ―alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care a sort of hereditary (16)obligation upon the town.‖ The narrator went on ―she passed from generation to (17)generation --- dear, inescapable, tranquil and perverse.‖ The use of such a long bunch of self-contradictory adjectives is one of William Faulkner‘s typical writing style. These adjectives show the complicated and strained relation between Miss Emily and the other town folks, and more important, they show that it is a deep relation in innumerable ways. If we say that the reason why Miss Emily doesn‘t get married all her life is that (18)― all the young men her father had driven away ‖ when her father was alive, After her father‘s death, she once made friends with Homer Barron and fell in love with him. When she got ready to marry him, however, the town folks took the place of her father and barred the way of their marriage. The reason was very simple: Homer Barron was (19)a Yankee, ―a northerner, a day laborer.‖ How could Miss Emily, their noble lady be so degenerate to get married to a Negro, a northerner, a day laborer to smear Miss Emily‘s blood lineage. So when Miss Emily went to the drug store to buy arsenic, all the town folks (20)(21)thought ―she would kill herself ‖ and they all said ―it would be the best thing. ‖ Because if things really went on like this, Miss Emily would get married to that Yankee, which was the last thing they wanted to see. In the short story, “A Rose for Emily”, William Faulkner put Miss Emily in a - 8 - typical environment. This environment includes not only the surroundings around, but also the social background and family background. After the American Civil War, the Old South became declining and everything was rebuilt. But most of the southerners could not adapt to such kind of change and refused to accept it. They always thought of their glorious past, so they eagerly tried to find an image, an unusual person standing for their glorious past for them to respect and recall. Miss Emily just lived during such period of time. She was the last descendant of the Grierson, an aristocratic family, and a noble lady. So Miss Emily was the very person that the town folks were looking for .As the typical emblem of the Old South, Miss Emily tried to resist this change in vain during her life and kept herself in captivity of the past stubbornly. Such kind of social environment and her own personality led to her tragic fate. William Faulkner described the environment for Miss Emily from the very beginning to the end of the story. She lived in an old, classical house with peeled –off-colored walls .Such a house was the witness of her family‘s glorious past and also the mark of these days‘ decline . The house made up the very living environment for Miss Emily and strongly set off Miss Emily‘s personality by contrast, the street where her house located used to be a quite noble residential district while now it had been distorted beyond recognition, only Miss Emily‘s house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps --- an eyesore among eyesores. All the installations in the house were old-fashioned and out-of-date, color fading and were covered with a thick layer of dust and all smelled moldy .The doors and windows were always closed. The environment and atmosphere set off fate and - 9 - feeling greatly. Miss Emily, just like the house she lived was declining day by day. Extermination was her doom. It was just because she was perverse in such environment, refused to communicate with the outside, being unsociable and eccentric that she finally became abnormal and got mad. The Old South is declining. The old and the new conflicted greatly there. All the southerners wanted to change the whole situation, but it was absolutely impossible. Miss Emily was an aristocratic descendant, a noble lady. The social environment and her aristocratic family forbad her to be a normal lady, thus, she became arrogant, proud and aloof. It is just the kind of character that made her isolated from society and go extreme. To some extent, we may say that Miss Emily‘s twisted humanity led to the social environment and her family background. Miss Emily was stubborn and haughty, isolated from society and refused to accept the changes. Her character had been presented dramatically in the short story. For instance: she drove away two successions of town committee members twice successively; in the drug store, she imperiously ordered the druggist to sell her poison without any qualification. In that case, her words, her manner and arrogance all exactly reflected the haughtiness and honor of such an aristocratic lady like her. The exceeding display of her character was that she killed the Yankee with poison who was probably not ready to marry her. It is not by chance but by the historical, political and social environment that her character formed like this. At last, her character caused her to go to extremes. From the aspects we talked above, we can conclude that it is Miss Emily‘s father‘s character, the influence of the town folks and the social and natural environment and - 10 - family background that determined Miss Emily‘s character. - 11 - Chapter To embody all of the conflicts vividly, William Faulkner employs some good and effective techniques to write this short story. He creates a story with a good conflict about a woman who can not let go of the past. Meanwhile his use of character‘s image, symbolism, foreshadowing and narration are the five significant techniques. William Faulkner‘s use of character‘s image in “A Rose for Emily” is clearly important of the story, because he gives the readers an excellent contrast. The readers can easily see from the story that Miss Emily Grierson is the main character. When reading the story, the readers‘ horrible feelings come up immediately when the story ends with two dead bodies in the old and dirty house. One is Homer Barron, Miss Emily‘s lover. The other is Miss Emily herself. Since she was born, her life was confined or framed strictly in a circle by her stubborn, conservative and selfish father. Emily could not find her own real life. She was awfully stubborn in the opinion of the town people. After his father died, she refused to dispose his father‘s dead body, to pay the taxes and to use the free mailbox. Her minds and ideas still adhered to the past. Consequently she was not able to live a normal life. Emily overcame every trouble in Jefferson. But Homer Barron –a labor, a typical image of youth, a northerner was an image opposite to Emily. He was out of Emily‘s control. Yet Homer did not want to marry Emily. So she murdered him. She kept away from her townspeople and isolated herself in an old decaying house. Being out of noble origin, Miss Emily was proud and disdainful. Though Emily seemed independent, she indeed could not live without dependence of men—his father, Homer Barron and his Negro servant. At last Miss - 12 - Emily Grierson got nothing but a dead body of her lover—Homer Barron. She lay beside his dead body for years, as William Faulkner described, ―in the second pillow (22)was the identification of a head.‖ The two images which William Faulkner uses in this story are so bright or distinctive that they are quite representative to expose the real situation at that age which the North conquers the South in every aspect of people‘s lives. William Faulkner‘s uses symbolism throughout the whole story. Faulkner‘s does so to cloak an almost allegorical correlation to the reconstruction of the South. There are several different symbolic subjects in this story such as the house, the rose, the monument. Homer and the ―Yankee‖ views, and Miss Emily‘s old Negro servant represents death. Miss Emily actually symbolized the values and sins of the townspeople‘s ancestors. Miss Emily was definitely a complex character in that her character stood for the beliefs that she inherited from the Old South. The story is, in a way, a ―rose‖ to Miss Emily for standing up for things that she believed and died believing them. The rose is very important in this story, because a rose is full of symbolism, color and passion. The rose means that Emily needed somebody to love; she needed a rose from a person. The rose represents a kind of tribute to a woman like Emily, because she had a very difficult life. Although she always was in her house, the entire town knew about her. Emily‘s death was very important in the little town where she lived, because she was a classic there. Even though she did not have any friend there, people appreciate her and gave her a rose with the objective that she knew that they would never forget her. - 13 - William Faulkner uses symbolism to compare the Grierson house with Emily Grierson‘s physical deterioration, her shifts in social standing, and her unwillingness to accept change. The representation between herself and her house is shown through constant neglect and unappreciation. In one point that that Faulkner makes, the house is described to be stubborn and unrelenting, as Miss Emily is also portrayed on many occasions. As the plot progresses, the readers are made aware of the physical and emotional decline of both the house and Miss Emily. Just as the house is described as (23)―smelling of dust disuse.‖ Ultimately, Emily‘s own aging is given when her voice (24)said to be ―harsh, rusty, as if from disuse.‖ Just as their physical characteristics, Faulkner uses house as a symbol for Miss Emily‘s change in social status. Faulkner (25)wrote that in the prime, the house was ―big‖ and ―squarish‖ to illustrate the fact that Miss Emily‘s house is different from any other house in the community. While Miss Emily‘s house used to be a magnificent building in town, not simply symbolize her family‘s, and possibly the entire South‘s rich, strong and powerful past. Now ―the (26)house is surrounded by cotton gins, garages and gasoline pump.‖ William Faulkner suggests that the house is regarded as a ―a fallen monument‖ and Miss (27)Emily becomes a ―pauper‖. She also represents the ―old South‖. The unnamed narrator, the new generation of the Board of Alderman and the attitude of Homer Barron are the representatives of the ―Yankee‖ attitudes. From the story, the readers can find out that the North is known for being very adaptable to change. Homer Barron comes from the North with modern ideas. As to the Negro servant, he was usually symbolized ―death‖ as well as - 14 - depression and gloom. William Faulkner‘s use of symbolism plays an important role in making the story mysterious and shocking. Another unprecedented style is his use of foreshadowing. By using the literal device, Faulkner forces the readers to notice or feel the intensity of feeling and sights given off by the story .An artistic nature is vividly exhibited by the beloved being killed by Emily herself. When the people in Jefferson found out that she had purchased of the poison. What she really used it for was never expected from quiet, old Miss Emily. The purchase of the poison is the foreshadowing of Homer Barron‘s death, which leads to the climax of the story. William Faulkner‘s effective writing is his use of narration. Of course, in most stories the narrator is a key asset. He chooses to use third person narration in this particular story not only as a storyteller in common sense, but also as an observer from the outside. The narrator tries to show Miss Emily‘s word to us from the point view of respectable resident, therefore the readers can understand the town life as if the readers are really living there. The readers should pay more attention to the narrator using ―we‖ instead of ―I‖, revealing the majority of the townspeople who are judging Emily. William Faulkner writes this story in creative literal devices. Faulkner provides the necessary pieces of symbolism, speckled throughout of the action of the story, for the readers to assimilate and assemble to profoundly develop the theme to the story. Emily‘s life is represented by the rose and that's why the title is ―A Rose for Emily‖. Curiously, its a broken time line allows him to achieve maximum effect at the end of - 15 - the story. Foreshadowing creates the mysterious and suspenseful flavor to the story .It can also make the readers to reflect. The first plural person narrative style lets the readers easily understand the story. Anyway William Faulkner does a good job in characterization, anachronism, symbolism, foreshadowing and narration. - 16 - Conclusion Miss Emily was very pitiful. In her life, it seemed that she never lived for herself. Before her father‘s death, she lived for her father and her father‘s stubborn rigid sense of hierarchy which surely made Miss Emily‘s girlhood colorless. After her father‘s death, to the town folks, Miss Emily was the only link to the Old South. With the modernization of Jefferson, the aged people needed a thing— a person or an object — to link them with the past. So Miss Emily, the last descendant of the Grierson‘s family, was the very person to play such a role. It is reasonable for us to think of her character, the root of Miss Emily tragic character is the conflicts between the traditional ideas of the Old South and the modern ideas of the New South. The whole story is filled with conflicts. And it is just such kinds of conflicts that has twisted Miss Emily‘s character. William Faulkner successfully reflects conflicts in this article. Through the conflicts, the theme of the story is stressed. Therefore the short story gives the readers great impression. - 17 - Notes (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (18) (19) (20) (21) (22) (23) (24) (25) (26) (27) 吴伟仁编，《美国文学 史及选读》，北京外语教学与研究出版社，2002年 - 18 - Bibliography (1) Blythe, Hal. ―Faulkner‘s ?A Rose for Emily.‘‖ Literature for Composition. 4th ed. Ed. Sylvan Barnet, et al. New York: HarperCollins, 1996. (2) Brooks, Cleanth. ―On ?A Rose for Emily‘‖. Literature for Composition. 4th ed. Ed. Sylvan Barnet, et al. New York: HarperCollins, 1996. (3) Ed.X.J.Kennedy and Dana Gioia, An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama. New York: Longman, 2002. (4) Faulkner, William. ―A Rose for Emily.‖ Literature for Composition. 4th ed. Ed. Sylvan Barnet, et al. New York: HarperCollins, 1996. (5)Fetterley, Judith. ―A Rose for ?A Rose for Emily.‘‖ Literature for Composition. 4th ed. Ed. Sylvan Barnet, et al. New York: HarperCollins, 1996. (6)Larinde, Toyin. ―Biography of William Faulkner.‖ The Mississippi Writers and Musicians Project at Starkville High School. 11 Feb. 2000 Zane, J. Peder. ―William Faulkner‘s literary legacy.‖ 21 Sept. 1997. The News & Observer. 11 Feb. 2000 p1-8. (7)吴伟仁编，《美国文学史及选读》，北京外语教学与研究出版社，2002年 (8)刘安海 孙文宪，《文学理论》，武汉华中师范大学出版社，1999年 (9)张伯香等，《英美文学选读》，北京外语教学与研究出版社，1998年 - 19 -