a rose for Emily.doc

A probe into Emilys tragedy In “A rose for Emily” The novel “A rose for Emily” is the famous writer William Faulkners masterpiece and it is seen as one of the most excellent novels of him. In this novel, the author succeeded in creating a typical character -the declining southern aristocrat Miss Emily. The reasons why the author created the character and the reasons which led to the tragedy of Miss Emily could be seen from two aspects .One is the whole society environment that the powerful and developed northern industry civilization colliding with the declining southern culture .The other is the Electra complex of girls at that time.We know that the author William Faulkner is a southern writer and the leadership of the southern literature. As a witness of the declining of the southern plantation civilization, the author had the aid of the character Emily to express his love to the southern civilization and showed the desperate struggle in keeping the southern civilization and struggle against the powerful northern industry civilization which will destroy the south declining civilization .This also shows the authors deep love to the south .Emilys tragic fate was utilized by Faulkner to regard as a memorial ceremony for the declined southern civilization. This novel had discussed Emilys tragic fate from the aspects of the social and psychology to show the weakness and feebleness of the south before the powerful and energetic north .In the novel ,the author describe Emily as “a tradition ,a duty and a care, a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town” From this ,we can know that the author create Emily as a traditional southern woman with the earnest love to south .She had developed strong dependence on the southern life style and social culture .In the novel ,there was a vivid description when Emilys father died: “Emily kept her fathers dead body for a long time till someone would begin to use law force and after his fathers death and her sweetheart s going away .People hardly saw her .She just kept herself in the room and keep away from the social and surroundings”. This reminded us a lot .We know Emily was a declined aristocrat in south. Facing with the powerful northern industry civilization, she seemed pale. After her father who was a typical southern aristocrat died ,Emily felt that her southern dream was broken .After her fathers death ,it seemed that the northern atmosphere began to replace the southern atmosphere .Before ,it is said that her father Colonel ,the mayor had invented an involved tale to the effect that her father had loaned money to the town ,which the town ,as a matter of business ,preferred this way of repaying and his generation could invented him and there is no hand in taxes .But after her father death and the more modern ideas came into the village .The action revealed the running away of the aristocrat of her and showed the decline of the whole southern society .Since people ceased sending their children to Emilys home to learn china-painting lessons ,Emily closed all the windows and doors ,only let a negro-her servant to come out and in .The collapse of the southern system confined Emily into his house which had been inherited to her and she was cut off from the outside world .What on earth did Emily want to resist? Eventually, it was the southern spirit civilizations passing way made her so crazy. The kind of spirit included the family status of the aristocrat, the proud personal honor and self-respect, the bearing and gracious manner of the ladies that day etc. When all these unforgettable things couldnt bear the developed industry culture of the capitalism ,there was no way but to involve in the changed culture .If you rebelled against it ,there was only one way ,that was going to die .However ,Emily was just the woman who confined herself in a imagination of booming of the past civilization in south .This resulted in the distortion of her spirit and real world the people and the time .Then she failed in the battle against the industry civilization, eventually she was abandoned by the times .The tragedy of Emily ,not only lied in the personification of her stubborn ,but also lied in that she as a declined and past class rebelled such a powerful class that she would failed at last because of the wide gap between the two classes .Emilys struggle could be seen as the meaningless struggle and her stubborn character intensified the tragedy of the struggle .In such a traditional society where the social value was overturned ,Emily was a lonely dancer .Her struggle was like an orphan in the doomed pursuit ,with the tragedy flame lighting the wide darkness which was useless. However ,the southern old tradition which she pursued and insisted deprived the belongings of her love ,her youth and even significance as a man .In such times filled with selfishness and speculation ,lust and luxury ,who would on earth insist such a doomed faith and even gave up all of her love ?The author Faulkner wrote this novel when the light of humanity was becoming weaker .Emilys long-lasting struggle ,the persistence of pursue and the courage of going ahead became more brighter and attractive .Also the persistence to the tradition result in the tragedy of Emily . Another reason that accounted for the tragedy of Emily was that she had the Electra complex. We knew Emilys mother died when she was little .She grew up with his father. Under the help of her father, she became such a beautiful traditional woman with good bearing and gracious manner .When Emilys father was alive ,people in the village described this family in a picture: “Emily stands behind her fathers sight of back ,Emily had no feeling to every youth man and her father run away all the young men.” From these aspects ,we could know that to Emily ,her father was like a protective God and she regarded him as her backbone of spirit and part of her life .As Freud said girls have developed affection to their fathers and in the eyes of the girls ,their fathers were protective umbrellas .Once this stable relationship was destroyed ,the girls would feel that their protections were deprived of and abandoned by others .So did Emily .After her father died ,she struggled in the room for three days and believed that her father was still alive and she grabbed her fathers dead body and prevented others from burying her father .To Emily ,the death of her father indicated that the backbone which supported her fell over .She didnt know how to keep life going. The time she loved her father out of the character of the protective Gods of her father to her, she also hated her father, because she felt that her rights were deprived of and she was abandoned. Her father had grabbed all the things she had: her life, her hope, her faith ,her dream ,her value and her affection to the southern culture .All these things going by together with her fathers passing away .The relationship with love and hatred influenced the relationship between she and her lover Homer Barron .For one thing, Homer waked up her depressed sexual passion .As a young woman, she had the needed passion,however the hatred to her father made her hatred to all men .Because her father deprived of all that she had .The more important is that to love with Homer Barron means the rebellion against the southern culture which her father represented . A struggle between feeling and reason put on .At last, in the battle of struggle, the honest defender Miss Emily sacrificed the passion and poisoned her lover- Homer Barron and defended the respect of the southern civilization. In fact ,Miss Emily loved Homer Barron ,but as a honest defender of the southern civilization, she must kill Homer Barron in order to kill the love passion and then offer her sacrifice .In this doomed uncombined love ,the long-lasting love would cease the destroy passage in the silence of death .So she kept Homers dead body until she died . The Electra complex leads to the devotion to her father .The more important is the feeling which is hard to part with the southern civilization and pursuit to the value