A brief analysis of characters of A Rose for Emily

Abstract: “A Rose for Emily\, by William Faulkner, begins and ends with the death of Miss

Emily Grierson, the main character of the story. William Faulkner divided the story \five sections, the first and last section having to do with the present, and the now of the narration, with the three middle sections detailing the past\was, and to analysis her characters. In this paper, the author did not regard Emily as a sick and twist woman as many other people, and aims to help the readers understand this story better in another point of view.

Key words: character; symbolism; tragedy;

《献给艾米丽的玫瑰花》人物简要分析

摘要：《献给艾米丽的玫瑰花》是著名作家威廉·福克纳短篇小说的代表作。作者讲文章分

为五个部分，首尾两章描写现在，中间三章描写过去，并以主人公艾米丽小姐的去世情节描写首尾呼应，结构新颖。本文着重对文章主人公艾米丽究竟是怎么样一个人，她的性格究竟如何进行探讨。在这篇文章中，作者一反前人认为认为艾米丽是一个病态，扭曲的人的观点，旨在希望能从新的观点帮助读者更好地理解这篇文章

关键词：人物性格；象征主义；悲剧

Introduction

“A Rose for Emily” was a horrible and tragic Gothic fiction by William

Faulkner, a famous American writer. It was a story about the life of Miss Emily, who was the last aristocrat in the southern America. Emily’s father did not allowed his only daughter to meet anybody who admired her, and sealed her up in their own tower, and regarded as “a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town”. [1]When she finally met Homer Barron, “a Yankee--a big, dark, ready man, with a big voice and eyes lighter than his face”, [2]everybody said they would get married. Then, Mr. Homer Barron disappeared. Poor Emily went to visit the druggist

for some arsenic, and townspeople thought her might commit suicide, but she did not. Forty years later, Miss Emily died, townspeople went to her funeral to mourn her, no matter men or women, old or young, to grieve the “fallen monument”[3]. To their surprise, when their entered her room that did not opened for forty years by others expect Miss Emily herself ,their were astonished at “The man himself lay in the bed. ” “rotted beneath what was left of the nightshirt, had become inextricable from the bed in which he lay; and upon him and upon the pillow beside him lay that even coating of the patient and biding dust.” [4]That was Mr. Homer Barron, who was disappeared for forty years. Absolutely, Miss Emily killed him.

1 The background of this story

William Faulkner was an important writer in the modern literature period time not only in America but also in the whole literary world. He was the most prominent writer in southern America, and famous for his Yoknapatawpha country. Faulkner’s attitude towards the southern “aristocratic” families that he wrote about was ambiguous. Alongside his censure of their injustice to the African America, there was some indication of pity or sympathy. His famous short stories “A Rose for Emily”, was a good index to the mixed feeling that his works reveal.[5] This story happened after the American Civil War, the southern America was defeated by the northern, and had to end the slavery and the industrialization progress which brought by the northern was in prosperity. In this story, we can see the Emily and the townspeople, who represented the southern Americans after the Civil War. They were so afraid of losing their wealth, position, and stepping down the stage of history of their own accord. In the town where Emily lived, as the last aristocrat, her was well respected by the townspeople, and she was regarded as the symbol of the old traditions and the past glory. When she still alive, people might has the illusion of going back to their past lives, once she died, their realized that their past had already gone. The new power came from north destroyed their dreams, it was the world for the bourgeois.

The heroines Miss Emily Grierson, a southern “aristocrat”, who herself was a tragedy because of her reluctance of leaving the stage of the history that her should leave. Of course, as the last aristocrat of her family, Emily would not understand this.

Faulkner expresses the content of Miss Emily's character through physical description, through her actions, words, and feelings, through the narrator's direct comments about her, and through the actions, words, and feelings of other characters. In this story, we can see the writer’s technique of metaphor and his circle narrative style, and the writer maybe wants to tell us something more under the passage, every time we read this story, we could find something new. The secret was that Faulkner used the technique of metaphor. Metaphor, as an artistic technique of expression, usually makes the literature arts richer in structure and deeper in significance. By using metaphor, “A Rose for Emily” skillfully reflected the southern America on the wane through the expression of character’s tragedies and endows the heroine’s destiny with strong emotion and insightful social meaning,[6] it made this story much attractive.

2 Emily—the sacrifice of society

2.1 Emily’s miserable life

Emily was the main character in this story, and all her life can be described as miserable. The story started off with Ms. Emily's funeral, which impressed us the feeling of sorrow. It states that \fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old man-servant--a combined gardener and cook--had seen in at least ten years.\[7] As we can see, Ms. Emily was sort of a mystery to citizens of the town. Faulkner continuously used symbolism in the story. When the deputation came to her house for her taxes, Faulkner described how the house and Ms. Emily looks, “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\[8] this statement explains the Emily’s family was a noble one, she was an aristocrat, however, it has past, they situation now was not so good, and the house gave off a depressing mood for us.[9]

When Ms. Emily was young, her deceased father used to force away all the young men that were in love with her. The summer after her father death, she fell in love with a Yankee by the name of Homer Barron. Everyone in the town was whispering about their relationship and wondering if they were married. After a while, they did not see Homer Barron any more, and some times later, Emily too.

After they buried her, they came to the room that wasn't opened. When they opened the room they were greeted by great amounts of dust. They also explain that the \decked and furnished as for a bridal: upon the valance curtains of faded rose color, upon the rose-shaded lights, upon the dressing table, upon the delicate array of crystal and the man's toilet things backed with tarnished silver, silver so tarnished that the monogram was obscured.\[10]They also saw a man's collar, tie, suit, shoes, and discarded socks. \shockingly, lying right there in the bed was the man. For a long while we just stood there, looking down at the profound and fleshless grin. The body had apparently once lain in the attitude of an embrace. What was left of him, rotted beneath what was left of the nightshirt, had become inextricable from the bed in which he lay; and upon him and upon the pillow beside him lay that even coating of the patient and biding dust. Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, and leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair.\[11]

It was Emily, who afraid that Homer Barron leaves her, and poisoned him. Many readers regarded Emily as a sick and twist person, she would prefer to destroy one thing that she could not get rather than let it away. However, but I have to say, her was a lonely person and strong lady in some degree.

2.2.1 A lonely rose blooming in the tower

Miss Emily Grierson was the socialite of her town, but she was the loneliest one in the town. When her was young, her activities were strictly controlled by his father, she had no chance to see the people outside, and she had to behave well because of her status, and there was a certain reputation she has to withhold. She not only represents her family name but in a sense the people of her town. During the time in which her father was alive Emily was seen as a figure to be admired but never touched. Emily was revered as a goddess in the townspeople's eyes.

When her father passed away, she cut off her hair as a sign of breaking away from her father's control. For the first time in her life she felt free even though she was already thirty years old. However, it was a devastating loss for Emily, because

thirty years’ life in the tower made her never being able to develop any real relationship with anyone else, of course, no love, and she was already did not know how to make friends with others. She was extremely lonely and sad, she needed someone to love her. Barron’s appearance for her was what the spring to the thirsty, and the rain for the dry fields. However, she was such a dominant figure the townspeople had put her on a pedestal and were very judgmental of her actions, and she was “a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town”.[12] She could not get married with a northern guy, Emily did not get any support from the society, as the writer said, “None of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily and such.”[13] Though her father died, Emily was not free, but she wanted to fight for her rights, she would never let Barron leave, no matter what she had to pay for it, she chose to fight back to the society.

2.2.2 Emily—The rose struggling in the storm

Emily Grierson came from an \

her father for thirty years, she had no chance to saw anybody else, when the restraint of her father was cut, Emily found her new freedom, and she set out to fulfill her desires of finding love and living her own life. However, her status forced her to act as a noble and dignity lady. In Homer Barron a laborer from the north, Emily founded love, but there were many difficulties she had to conquer to marry.

When she felt in love with Homer Barron, she tried to persuade him to stay with her, but she failed. So she killed Homer with arsenic then sleeping with his dead body every night until her death. What she did was so senseless, and was unacceptable for common, we considered her as crazy and sick. However, in my opinion, it was the only thing she can do that situation. Emily was living in such a special period, the influence of the Civil War was so great that she can not face and burden but had to escape. She was not a weak woman, she wanted to pursuit her own right, but what she had to face was not only her father, but the whole society. When her father refused everyone who wanted to meet Miss Emily, she used to reject her father, but failed. When she wanted to get married with Barron, the townspeople disagreed. Elder, she locked herself in her house, and refused to pay the taxes, ignored the postman, and companied with Barron, though he was died, because he would never leave her, hurt

her, and never changed. What she wanted was just the peace, or in the other words, she hoped to living a life as before. Now, we can see that, Emily was not herself but a symbol of the whole southern people, her thought was the reflection of the southern people, and whatever she did was the struggle of the southern people. The industrialization destroyed their lives, their comfort, and their satisfaction. The elder were on her side to protect her, and dismissed her taxes, for them, “Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town”,[14] their regarded her as their ideal, their hope, and their consolation. When Emily died, they knew that the age of southern has gone.

Emily was not a weak woman, she did what she can do to catch her own rights, to pursuit the happiness, however, her father did not give it to her, neither Homer Barron nor the society. She was struggling in the world by herself, and she had to show the town that even though she was the last Grierson, she was going to keep her head up high and act like a true noble woman. She lived a hard live in her whole lifetime, maybe, her happiest time in her life was when she lived with the dead body.

2.2.3 The inventible tragedy of Emily

Emily’s tragedy was not only her own destiny, but was the inventible

consequence of the society progress. As the author mentioned before, Emily was the symbol of the southern American, her destiny was the reflection of the southern American’s fate. William Faulkner was a southern writer, and he knew the truth clearly that the age for southern American was no longer existed, it was the time for capitalism and the bourgeois. But he had a mixed feeling of this. On the one hand, he realized that it was a progress of society, the slavery should be abolished, and the country should on the way to industrialization and modernize. On the other hand, as a southern American, he felt pity and sympathetic. “A Rose for Emily” showed this kind of mixed feeling. Emily was the last of a long line of the southern “aristocrats”. Obstinate, asocial, out of step with the tenor of modern life, she lingers, when alive, she was the “monument” to a glory gone with the wind, never return. With the end of the Civil War, the democracy and freedom will finally substitute the slavery.

In this situation, the symbol of the southern American—Emily, still held her head up high, worked to make a living and not lived by the support of another.

However, much did she try she was still considered as \fellow townsmen. With her growing interests in Homer Barron, she heard the comments of his “lower classes” but she didn’t care. She was going to live her life the way in which she wanted to. Clearly she knew that her didn’t want to commit, of course not at first, but later there was another catalyst in changing Emily; when “Poor Emily” knew previously that Homer Barron was not intending to stay with her, she finally went to the drug store demanding in the most noble and dignified manner “I want arsenic”.[15] At this point it appeared that Emily was fighting against the town and Homer Barron, and indicated her own destiny.

3 Conclusion

In my point of view, Emily was not a sick or twisted woman, she was a woman

who want to keep her dignity and to pursuit and grasp her own happiness. Her story was not only a story of a noble woman’s life, but indicated the social situation at that time, and indicated those who wanted to stay in the stage of the history longer but finally displaced by the new power. After the Civil War, the life in America was completely changed. And a new government was built, and the old one should be dismissed, no matter how unwilling you are.

Notes

[1]；[2];[3];[4] William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily [5] Chang Yaoxin, A Survey of American Literature

[6] Metaphorical interpretation of A Rose for Emily Xiang Erlan School of Foreign Languages, WUT Wuhan 430070 Hubei China [7];[8]William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily [9] Critical analysis A Rose for Emily

[10];[11];[12];[13];[14];[15] William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily

Bibliography

[1] William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily

[2] Critical analysis A Rose for Emily

[3]Metaphorical interpretation of A Rose for Emily Xiang Erlan School of Foreign Languages, WUT Wuhan 430070 Hubei China [4]The Character of Emily

[5]Chang Yaoxin, A Survey of American Literature