A Rose for Emily

A Rose for Emily Abstract: This paper focus on William Faulkner’s short novel A Rose for Emily. Through the story of Miss Emily Grierson, William Faulkner reveals the conflicts between the decadent Antebellum American south and the incoming modern society. This essay mainly talks about the short novel in three aspects:the symbolical meaning of “Rose”, the use of n arrator “we”, the symbolism of house. Key words: the south; the north; rose; narrator; house Ⅰ. Introduction: William Faulkner (1897-1962) is a giant in the realm of American literature. He was a literary genius whose powerful works and creative vision earned him the 1949 Nobel Prize in literature. William Faulkner’s main works include Soldier’s Pay(1926), Sartoris(1929), The Sound and Furry(1929), A Rose for Emily(1930), As I Lay Dying(1930), Light in August(1932), Absalom, Absalom!(1936), Go Down, Moses(1942), etc. Published in 1930, A Rose for Emily is one of the best known and the most widely read among Faulkner’s short stories. The story contains some characteristics of Gothic fiction. It can be read as merely a piece of Southern Gothicism. For in this story, Miss Emily poisoned her lover in her bride room and every day she lay beside the corpse. The dim light and the dust in her house which had no connection with outside world imparted a suitably sinister and terrifying atmosphere. Meanwhile, the reason that the story happened was the conflict between the two local cultures and the Southern culture which is the basic of the story. Ⅱ. Literature Review: A Rose for Emily tells a story happened in the southern town of Jefferson and the time being after the South lost in the American Civil War. The story can be divided into 5 parts. The first part is about Miss Emily’s funeral, with a flashback to the family’s former pride and glory. The second part is about Emily’s stinking and decaying house, in which she received her early strict education. The third part is about a day laborer, Homer Barron, who had a good time with Emily until her kin made an interference with them. In the fourth part, Emily goes to a drugstore to buy arsenics with which she kills Homer and keeps his corpse in an attic room. Now she seldom goes out and finally dies. In the last part, the black servant opens the door to the outsiders so that they get a chance to see the room where Homer’s body is kept. Ⅲ.Opinions: A. the Symbolical Meaning of “Rose” Rose is always interpreted conventionally as a symbol of love. It might be 1 applied here in the story when we think that Emily has been trying to win the love of a Northerner and finally she gets it. But actually, “rose” is used in the story in a rather ironical sense, for Emily kills the man so as to keep forever the love she “obtains”. At the time when the town people find Homer Barro n’s body, they also find the valance curtains of faded rose color, the rose-shaded lights in the room. Hence, as an ironic romantic tribute to Emily, rose has become a symbol of decay and death. Besides, rose could possibly stand for the pity, sympathy, or the lament that the narrator, “we”, or the reader, shows for Emily and all those who are imprisoned in the past and fail to adapt to the change. In conclusion, “rose” has been intentionally chosen by the author to objectify his complicated and emotional involvements in the South and in the people who grow up and live there ever since. B. the Use of Narrator “we” In A Rose for Emily, William Faulkner choose the narrator “we”. “We” are the ordinary people of the town, representing the gossip of the town. They are, most of the time, not participants but observers of the events. They are rather detached from Miss Emily and therefore different from the “ladies” or “old people”who are more socially involved with Miss Emily and thus tending to be more judgmental. The townspeople are mainly interested in keeping track of the events and sharing the information with people coming from outside the town. Yet, as people living in a small town in the South, they have their own values and attitudes. So inevitably there are gaps in the narration that are bound to cause confusion on the part of the readers or the listeners of the story. That leaves a lot of room for reader participation. C. the Symbolism of House In A Rose for Emily, William Faulkner does not talk much about the inside of the house, whose “front door remained closed”, just as everyone in Jefferson does not know much about Emily. Miss Emily is compared to her house in many different ways. Descriptions of the decaying house symbolize Miss Emily’s phys ical and emotional decay, as well as her mental problems. When comparing the Grierson house with Emily Grierson, the house is used to symbolize Emily’s physical deterioration, her shift in social status and her reluctance to accept change. Ⅳ. Conclusion In the story A Rose for Emily, William Faulkner reveals the conflicts between the decadent Antebellum American south and the incoming modern society through the story of Miss Emily Grierson. By using the symbolical meaning of “Rose”, the n arrator “we”, and the symbolism of house, William Faulkner makes the story very successful and populated. 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