题 目，Inheritance and Transcendence of the
Southern Complex
-----A Rose for Emily
2010年 4 月 20 日
目 录
Acknowledgements .................................................................................................. ii 摘 要 ..................................................................................................................... iii Abstract .................................................................................................................. iv 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Introduction to “A Rose for Emily” .............................................................. 1
1.2 Relevant information of the Southern Complex ........................................... 1 2. Inheritance of the Southern Complex ................................................................. 2
2.1 Expression of the common themes ................................................................ 2
2.1.1 Patriarchy ................................................................................................ 2
2.2.2 Feminism ................................................................................................. 3
2.2.3 Racial discrimination .............................................................................. 4
2.2 Reflection of the Shared Writing Techniques ............................................ 5
2.2.1 Narrative techniques ............................................................................ 5
2.2.2 Symbolism ............................................................................................ 6
2.2.3 Gothic characteristic ............................................................................ 8 3. Transcendence of the Southern Complex ..........................................................12
3.1 Representations of New Themes ..................................................................12
3.1.1 Electra complex ......................................................................................12
3.1.2 Escape from reality ................................................................................12
3.2 Employment of New Writing Techniques-----Fantastic plot .......................13 4. Conclusion ..........................................................................................................16 Bibliography ...........................................................................................................18
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Acknowledgements
On the completion of my thesis, I should like to express my deepest gratitude to all those kindness and advices have made this work possible.
Deepest gratitude goes first and foremost to my tutor Miss Liu who gave me valuable instruction, and urged me to begin ma research work as soon as possible. She has walked me through all the stages of the writing of this thesis. Her effective advice, shrewd comments and quick corrections have kept thesis in the right direction. Without her consistent and illuminating instruction, this thesis could not have reached its present form
Second, I am greatly indebted to Miss Zhao and Miss Tong, who have instructed and helped me a lot during the thesis opening report. Their right instructions give me a lot of helps.
Last my thanks would go to my beloved family for their loving considerations and great confidence in me all through these years. I also owe my sincere gratitude to my friends and my fellow classmates who gave me their help and time in listening to me and helping me work out my problems during the difficult course of the thesis.
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摘 要
《献给爱米丽的玫瑰》是威廉?福克纳最著名的短篇小说,这部小说反映了美国南方内战后的变化。福克纳通过这篇小说的主题表达了他对家乡美国南方的浓浓的“南方情结”。
为表达这一主题,他采用现代主义中一些典型的写作手法。目前,国内外学者对福克纳的长篇小说研究较多,研究的焦点主要集中在他的代表作《喧哗与骚动》、《我弥留之际》,《押沙龙》、和《八月之光》,国内外学者对该短篇小说也有研究；都是着重侧重于南方情结中的父权主义；女性主义；然而对南方情结全面的研究；以及对南方情结的超越的研究较少,这篇小说几乎代表了威廉?福克纳的所有小说的主题和写作技巧；即对南方情结的继承。而且；它还在思想主题和写作技巧两方面有其独特性；超越了作者其它小说的思想内容和写作特征；即对南方情结的超越。
本文旨在对福克纳的小说有一个更全面更完整的认识；深刻洞察该小说家新的审美追求和创作追求。
关键词: 献给爱米丽的玫瑰, 威廉?福克纳, 南方情结, 继承, 超越
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Abstract
<<A rose for Emily>>is one of the most famous short novels by William Faulkner, this novel reflects the change before and after the civil war in southern America. Through this novel, he expresses his deep “southern complex” for his hometown---southern America.
In order to convey this theme, He used some of the typical modernist writing techniques. At present, domestic and foreign scholars focused more on the full-length novelof William Faulkner, mainly on his masterpiece "The Sound and the Fury," "As I Lay Dying," "Absalom", and "Light in August" ,Many scholars also study the short stories,mainly focused on the one aspect of South complex such as patriarchal, feminism, however, a comprehensive study on the South Complex, especially the studies on the Transcendence of southern complex are few. This novel almost consists of the themes and writing skills of all the novels by Faulkner, that is the Inheritance of Southern Complex. Moreover, it is unique on both thought theme and writing skills, which transcendent the content and writing features of other novel, that is the transcendence of Southern Complex.
This article aims at a more complete understanding to Faulkner's novel,so as to have a more comprehensive and profound insight into the novelist's new pursuit for appreciation of beauty and composition creation.
Keywords: A Rose for Emily, William Faulkner, Southern Complex,
inheritance, transcendence
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1. Introduction
1.1 Introduction to “A Rose for Emily”
A rose for Emily is a famous short story. The author---William Faulkner, was a great writer who won the Nobel Prize. He was regarded as one of the greatest writers in America. Although he was famous for his novels, his short stories also win the world’s respect for him.
The story “A rose for Emily” took place in the town Jefferson of Yoknapatawpha
country which was the author’s imagination. And it was a picture of a typical southern town.
The story told that the woman, Miss Emily, killed her lover, Homer Barron and put the dead body in her room for 40 years. People did not find the fact until Miss Emily died. Miss Emily, the main character of the story, was a graceful and quiet and real lady from an aristocrat family.
Some people think the short story as a horror tale, Faulkner himself modestly referred to it as “a ghost story”, but many critics recognize it as an extraordinarily versatile work. In answer to a question whether the story came from his imagination, Faulkner said that it did, but maintained that the fact that young girls dream of someone to love exists a priori.[2]
The story can be divided into five parts, the first four of which differ little in length, while the fifth part is shorter. The basic elements of the story are told in fragments, a little at a time, with a confusing sequence of events, typical of much of Faulkner’s writing of that period.
1.2 Relevant information of the Southern Complex
Southern complex are always expressed in the south literature by the south American writers. South literature can be traced back to American writer Edgar Allan Poe in 19th century. South American writers tried to re-use their own pens to depict the southern society,history and thought, which exist before the world war, during the Civil War and the modern time.
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Before and after the Civil War, the South obstinately sticking to their own interpretation of modern history, which suppress the development of the Southern literary thought. The lose in the Civil War, the dark society appeared in the rebuilding process and the emergence of new south influenced by impact of the capitalism who seek nothing but profits, all of these contribute to form the social reality of the Southern America.[3]
The South American Literature which decribed the South social history, customs, social changes gradually developed into a beautiful wonderful work in American literature.
2. Inheritance of the Southern Complex
2.1 Expression of the common themes
2.1.1 Patriarchy
“A Rose for Emily” begins with the death of Emily, an alienated spinster living in Jefferson, South America in the late nineteenth. In the early times, under the patriarchy of her puritanical father, Emily is prevented from marrying the townspeople, and therefore after her father’s death, she is left alone and penniless. In
“A Rose for Emily”, we can see the Patriarchy and Womanly Morals result in Emily’s
tragedy--Under the patriarchy of her puritanical father, Emily has been deprived of everything that a woman desires and deserves. She was prevented from marrying the townspeople by her father while he was alive, and was disregarded for loving a North guy by the townspeople after his death.
First, there is a very metaphorical description of Emily’s father, “We had long thought of them as a tableau, Miss Emily a slender figure in white in the background, her father a straddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip, the two of them framed by the back-flung front door.” Faulkner gave a
vivid picture of Emily and her father’s relationship: being controlled and to control.
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Then, apart from the symbolic image of Emily’s father, there is another aspect suggesting his extreme patriarchy over her. While Emily was young, her father drove away all the young men around her for fear that she might be hurt by any of them. Her father is like a guard who tries to drive away anyone or anything which is against the traditional morals and conventions.
Therefore, this deprivation of inter-personal relationship prevents Emily from being independent and mentally stable. Actually, he protected her from anyone in the outside world, shying her away from the whole society. Emily’s dependence on her father continues even after his death. She refuses to release his body for burial; she keeps his portrait in a prominent place in her room. Her father’s influence on Emily is
tremendous. As Faulkner puts, “that quality of her father which had thwarted her woman’s life so many times had been too virulent and too furious to die”. As a consequence, after her father’s death when she is in her 30s, Emily is all alone without anyone to love or anyone who loves her, and ends up lonely all her life till the moment she dies.
2.2.2 Feminism
The heroine of this novel-- Emily lived a life miserable, lonely and empty, because the South American regarded the males as the absolute center of the community,they discriminated, oppressed and dominated women, moreover, they had excessive demands on the aristocracy, nobility could not live as normal civilians, they were blamed for falling in love, getting married with normal people especially the damyankees. As a woman and a noble woman, emily has dual role, she suffered domination and oppression, and finally kill her only lover, to obtain the status of female subjectivity.
After the death of his father who was traditional, she fell in love with a guy in order to grasp the “OK Love” in her life---- Homer Barron. He is a foreman from the
north to take a daily wage, and “cuss the riggers”. she and her loved soon travelled by
carriage, people are convinced that she had fallen, but she lifted her head high to show
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that she did not care.
She ignored the law, hiding the purpose of buying arsenic.She refuse to choose the way people are willing to suspect ,such as self- give up, suicide, but to poison the her unfaithful lover,she prepared alone the products for her wedding , including men pajamas……her extraordinary courage and calm win the world's admiration.
Facing the infidelity of her lover, the name door lady was at the edge of breakdown, in the view of the south people, she had no alternative but to committ suicide. However, she refused to yield to fate completely and chose to rebel with inner calm .After assassinating her lover, she had his body sealed and kept it sleeping by her side for forty years. Her love was reborn, which overthrowing the secular arrangement.
From the above analysis it can be seen, the tragedy of women character by William Faulkner has the old tradition of the natural love of the South and the strong sense of feminism.
2.2.3 Racial discrimination
Despite being born and raised in south, Faulkner has never given up the condemnation of racial discrimination and slavery system. Faulkner had never created an evil black character, on the contrary, many impressive role in Faulkner's novels is black people. Toby, the black butler in "A Rose for Emily" is a good example. Toby appears only seven times in the novel, each time without a word, but it did not affect his decisive role to set off the theme of this novel though with so slightly description.
Emily was on Toby’s serve to survive ,though he was enslaved in the lower
classes.He worked in Emily home from young age, "day after day, month after month, year after year." He bore bitter hardships,contributing his life to help an aloof ,arrogant, and eccentric mistress, being regarded as her only contact with the outside world. Emily died, Toby has need to exist longer ,therefore, he "disappeared " the same day of Emily's death,
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To some extent, the description of the little black slavery guy reflected the fact that the general social status of blacks was not recongized and racial discrimination was still prevalent.Moreover the disappearance of Toby strongly indicates that the hopeless situation of old order, the black slavery will cease to exist accompained with the extinct of aristocratic class,
Obviously, although Faulkner love and cherish the traditional values of the South, he intellectually knew the evils which the slavery and racism had brought,.He hope people regard South society under a perspective with great enthusiasm and humanism.
2.2 Reflection of the Shared Writing Techniques
2.2.1 Narrative techniques
The use of time is one of the main features of Faulkner’s writing style. No matter it is past and present, they are not presented in the readers linearly, but to to reconstruct by the imagination of the author. In Faulkner's novel, there are two use of your time which is important and typical: first, the past was restructed slowly and gradually by the narrator who exists in the present or recent past. Second, the past to now and then to the past again, or to some time in the past. In either case, the people will never see the present as a pure and independent time there, it is always full of the past, and it is only meaningful because of the past, Its complex nature comes from the integration. In addition to the use of time, Faulkner used the narrative explicitly or implicitly to reflect his changing concerns through central figure.
Faulkner's superb writing skills in short story "A Rose for Emily" is in the use of freely. This article discusses the narrative features of the novel from the time of inversion, and personal pronouns referring to fuzzy.[8]
First, the time inversion, French narratologists, Genette hold the idea that the story time and narrative time inconsistency referred to as "time inversion", narrative
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