A Rose for Emily书评.doc

Book Review of A Rose for Emily-The Conflicts between Old and NewA Rose for Emily is a masterpiece written by William Faulkner with sort of Gothic style. This short story is too abundant to penetrate completely. Therefore, I would like choose a perspectivethe conflicts between old and new to discuss about.Change is a natural rule as same as life and death. While, at the beginning of the new thing emerging, the old generation always defenses the ancient tradition with total efforts. In this short story, Emily is a symbol of old traditions of South. She sticks to her family honor and turns down everything fresh. We can see that from these typical conflicts I select below.The first conflicttax affair was appeared in para.5. At the first sentence “when the next generation, with its more modern ideas this arrangement created some little dissatisfaction.” The new generation cant permit Emily to be free from taxes. They invoked the challenge, “they mailed her a tax”, while the old fought back“and there was no reply”.In the fires round, the new generation got a disappointment. Then in para.6, the second round started. The government set up a special meeting to save their first failure. Finally, they decided to dispatch a deputation to persuade Emily face to face. “Knocked at the door through which no visitors had passed since eight or ten years earlier” illuminates that the hostess of this house eludes the historic revolution. It was the old Negro not Emily herself who handled their reception. Next, the description of Emilys house makes people feel creep. “It smelled of dust and disuse” “It was furnished in heavy, leather-covered furniture” “the leather was cracked” etc. Especially, a profound “stood” in the last sentence when picturing the crayon portrait of Emilys father illustrates that the old thoughts were still alive.Para.7 has the first appearance of Emily. “They rose when she entered.” They “rose” may be out of their respect to the old cultural Emily stood for, or may be because they were surprised by Emilys appearance. “a small, fat woman in black” “a thin gold chain descending to her waist and vanishing into her belt” shows that she hated changing. “She looked bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water” This magical sketch makes peoples hair stand on the end. The old thoughts were degrading but the old warrior didnt vanish. Para.8 exposes Emilys distasteful attitude towards new thoughts. “She did not ask them to sit.” The “just” explains the absolute arrogance of Emily, it causes that “the spokesman came to a stumbling halt”. Although the conflict hadnt started yet, Emily occupied the superiority.Para915 is a fierce argument between Emily and deputation. “Her voice was dry and cold”. The repetition of “I have no taxes in Jefferson” accounts for the “dry” and “I received a paper, yes” “Perhaps he considers himself the sheriff” and “See Colonel Sartoris” “Show these gentlemen out” demonstrates the “cold”. “dry” and “cold” also mean that she despises newfangled stuffs.Para.16 is a transition. In first conflict, “she vanquished them, horse and foot”, then it naturally leads into the second conflict “she had vanquished their fathers thirty years before and the smell.Chronologically, the second conflict happened earlier than the first. Para.17 gives the background of “the smell” affair “her fathers death” “her sweetheart went away.” These two disasters create suspense to readers. Whats the relationship between them and “the smell”?Para.1822, the author drug out “the smell” affair from womens complaints. “the mayor” who was “eighty years old” expressed his incapability“what will you have me do about it?” The mayor is also a protector of old generation. Therefore, he made a negative decision on handling “the smell” problem.Para2325, town people showed their dissatisfaction again. “One from a man who came in different deprecation” narrates his fear towards the judge. “One younger man, a member of the rising generation” made a more powerful utterance. Obviously, Judge Stevens disliked “the younger mans” bold tone, so he said “Dammit, sir” to disapproved of him.Para.26 says how the town people solved the “smell” problem. Without the endorsement from government, four men determined to handle this difficulty by themselves. From the view of a long distance away, they were “like burglars” “sniffing along the base of the brickwork” “one of them performed a regular sowing motion.” Until now, readers might understand what they doing were. Suddenly, the author cuts shot closer. “a window that had been dark was delighted and Miss Emily sat in ither upright torso motionless as that of an idol.” This portrait of Emily truly scares me. She saw the invasion of someone else, perhaps she has already collapsed mentally, and hence she did nothing but sat like a stone. In this conflict, the new generation won. After all, “after a week or two the smell went away”.Besides the occurrence I analyzed above, the love tragedy between Emily and Homer Barron also can be considered as the consequence of the conflict between North and South. 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 separated before long.