A Rose For Emily.ppt

1、Unit 8 A Rose for Emily,A Rose for Emily,献给艾米丽的一支玫瑰,First published in 1930； In Faulkners fictional city, Jefferson, in his fictional county of Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi； It was Faulkners first short story published in a national magazine Forum.,A Rose for Emily,A Rose for Emily is a five-pa

2、rt short story narrated by the townspeople of Jefferson, Mississippi, in the plural first-person perspective (we).,Free-talk:,Did you find this story depressing? Uplifting? Disgusting? What is your overall reaction to the story?,Brief analysis of the story:,Setting (背景） Character （人物） Plot （情节） Poin

3、t of view （视角） Theme （主题） Style （风格） Symbolism （象征）,1. Setting (背景）,A creepy old house in Jefferson, Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, 1861-1933 (approximately),As the South emerged from the Civil War and Reconstruction and attempted to shed the stigma of slavery, its residents were frequently torn

4、 between a new and an older, more established world order.,Context:,Religion and politics frequently fail to provide order and guidance and instead complicate and divide. Society, with its gossip, judgment, and harsh pronouncements, conspires to thwart the ambitions of individuals struggling to embr

5、ace their identities. (Emily),Context:,2. Plot: 情节,straighten out the plot； The story begins and ends with the “end” of Emilys story. Try to draw a time line from Emilys life before her fathers death to her own death.,Narrative order in the story,Deathtaxbad smellfather diesmeets HomerArsenicHomer d

6、isappearsChina-painting lessonDeath,1864 Miss Emily Grierson is born. 1870s The Grierson house is built. 1894 Miss Emilys father dies. 1894 Miss Emily falls ill. 1894 Miss Emilys taxes are remitted (in December).,It was a big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and

7、 spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies P. 409,Back,Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town, dating from that day in 1894 when Colonel Sartoris, the mayor remitted her taxes, the dispensation dat

8、ing from the death of her father on into perpetuity. P. 410,Back,So when she got to be thirty and was still singlewhen her father died, it P. 412,Back,1894 Miss Emily meets Homer Barron (in the summer). 1896 Emily buys arsenic; Homer is last seen entering Miss Emilys house. 1896 The townspeople beco

9、me concerned about the smell of the Grierson house and sprinkle lime around Emilys place.,So she vanquished them, horse and foot, just as she had vanquished their fathers thirty years before about the smell. That was two years after her fathers death and a short time after her sweetheart had deserte

10、d her. P. 411,Back,1896 Miss Emily stays in for six months. 1896-1898 Miss Emily emerges and her hair gradually turns gray. 1899 Miss Emily stops opening her door, and doesnt leave the house for about five years. 1904 Miss Emily emerges to give china-painting lessons for about seven years. 1911 Miss

11、 Emily stops giving painting lessons. Over ten years pass before she has any contact with the town.,Now and then we could see her at a window for a moment, as the men did that night when they sprinkled the lime, but for almost six months she did not appear on the streets. P. 415,Back,From that time

12、on her front door remained closed, save for a period of six or seven years, when she was about forty, during which she gave lessons in china-painting P. 415,Back,1926 They “newer generation” comes to ask about the taxes. This is thirty years after the business with the lime. This is the last contact

13、 she has with the town before her death. 1938 Miss Emily dies at 74 years old. Tobe leaves the house. Two days later the funeral is held at the Grierson house. At the funeral, the townspeople break down the door to the bridal chamber, which no one has seen in 40 years.,Plot Diagram,2,1,3,4,5,Initial

14、 Situation,Death and Taxes move from a huge funeral attended by everybody in town to this strange little story about taxes.,Conflict,Taxes arent the only thing that stinks. Lots of bizarre stuff about Miss Emily; Miss Emily V.S. government leader Miss Emily V.S. town people,When her father died she

15、refused to believe it for four days; The summer after her father died, she finally gets a boyfriend; When worried that her boyfriend might leave her, she bought some poison and her boyfriend disappeared, and there was a bad smell around her house. ,Complication (rising action),The Towns Conscience,T

16、he town was horrible to Miss Emily when she started dating Homer Barron. They wanted to hold her to the southern lady ideals her forbearers had mapped out for her. She was finally able to break free when her father died, but the town wont let her do it. When they cant stop her from dating Homer them

17、selves, they sick the cousins on her.,Where is Climax in the story?,Climax,“For Rats”,Emily wanted to hold tight to the dream that she might have a normal life, with love and a family. When she sees that everybody the townspeople, the minister, her cousins, and even Homer himself is bent on messing

18、up her plans, she has an extreme reaction. Thats why, for us, the climax is encapsulated in the image of the skull and crossbones on the arsenic package and the warning, “For rats.”,For Rats,Suspense,Emily buys the arsenic. The town is in suspense over whether they are married, soon will be, or neve

19、r will be. Their reactions range from murderous, to pitying, to downright interference. We also learn that Homer Barron was last seen entering the residence of Miss Emily Grierson on the night in question. So, we can be in suspense about what happened to him.,Denouement (Falling action),The Next 40

20、Years The story winds down by filling us in on Miss Emilys goings on in the 40 years between Homers disappearance and Emilys funeral. Other than the painting lessons, her life during that time is a mystery, because she stayed inside.,Conclusion,The Bed, the Rotting Corpse, and the Hair The townspeop

21、le enter the bedroom thats been locked for 40 years, only to find the rotting corpse of Homer Barron.,3. Point of view （视角）,First Person (Peripheral Narrator) first people than first person”,4. Theme （主题）,Tradition versus Change Through the mysterious figure of Emily Grierson, Faulkner conveys the s

22、truggle that comes from trying to maintain tradition in the face of widespread, radical change.,Jefferson is at a crossroads, embracing a modern, more commercial future while still perched on the edge of the past, from the faded glory of the Grierson home to the town cemetery where anonymous Civil W

23、ar soldiers have been laid to rest. (P409-410) Emily,The Power of Death,Death hangs over A Rose for Emily, from the narrators mention of Emilys death at the beginning of the story through the description of Emilys death-haunted life to the foundering of tradition in the face of modern changes.,Emily

24、 attempts to exert power over death by denying the fact of death itself. Her bizarre relationship to the dead bodies of the men she has love is revealed first when her father dies. Unable to admit that he has died, Emily clings to the controlling paternal figure whose denial and control became the o

25、nlyyet extremeform of love she knew. She gives up his body only reluctantly.,When Homer dies, Emily refuses to acknowledge it once againalthough this time, she herself was responsible for bringing about the death. In killing Homer, she was able to keep him near her. However, Homers lifelessness rend

26、ered him permanently distant. Emily and Homers grotesque marriage reveals Emilys disturbing attempt to fuse life and death. However, death ultimately triumphs.,5. Style （风格）,What kind of story is it? A love story A detective story A Gothic story ,A Rose for Emily written is perhaps the quintessentia

27、l example of Southern-Gothic literature and an effective allegory of the relations between the north and south during the authors time.,Southern Gothic is a literary tradition that came into its own in the early twentieth century. It is rooted in the Gothic style, which had been popular in European

28、literature for many centuries.,Southern-Gothic literature,Gothic writers concocted wild, frightening scenarios in which mysterious secrets, supernatural occurrences, and characters extreme duress conspired to create a breathless reading experience. Gothic style focused on the morbid and grotesque, a

29、nd the genre often featured certain set pieces and characters: drafty castles laced with cobwebs, secret passages, and frightened, wide-eyed heroines whose innocence does not go untouched.,Although Southern Gothic writers borrow the essential ingredients of the Gothic, writers of Southern Gothic fic

30、tion were not interested in integrating elements of the sensational solely for the sake of creating suspense or titillation. They were drawn to the elements of Gothicism for what they revealed about human psychology and the dark, underlying motives that were pushed to the fringes of society.,Souther

31、n Gothic writers were interested in exploring the extreme, antisocial behaviors that were often a reaction against a confining code of social conduct. Southern Gothic often hinged on the belief that daily life and the refined surface of the social order were fragile and illusory, disguising disturbi

32、ng realities or twisted psyches.,A Rose for Emily: a Southern-Gothic story,A Rose for Emily reveals the influence that Southern Gothic had on his writing: this particular story has a moody and forbidding atmosphere; a crumbling old mansion; and decay, putrefaction, and grotesquerie.,Faulkners work u

33、ses the sensational elements to highlight an individuals struggle against an oppressive society that is undergoing rapid change. Another aspect of the Southern Gothic style is appropriation and transformation. Faulkner has appropriated the image of the damsel in distress and transformed it into Emil

34、y, a psychologically damaged spinster. Her mental instability and necrophilia恋尸狂 have made her an emblematic Southern Gothic heroine.,6. Symbolism （象征）,a. Emilys House Emilys house, like Emily herself, is a monument, the only remaining emblem of a dying world of Southern aristocracy. Emilys house al

35、so represents alienation, mental illness, and death.,b. The Strand of Hair The strand of hair is a reminder of love lost and the often perverse things people do in their pursuit of happiness. The strand of hair also reveals the inner life of a woman who, despite her eccentricities, was committed to

36、living life on her own terms and not submitting her behavior, no matter how shocking, to the approval of others.,7. Character perhaps that was why what would have been merely plumpness in another was obesity in her. P.410-411,We had long thought of them as a tableau; Miss Emily a slender figure in w

37、hite in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back at her and clutching a horsewhip, the two of them framed by the back-flung front door. P.412,Indirect characterization often leaves the impression and judgment of a character to the reader and his imagination. The

38、writer gives us information about a character, but we must put the clues together and form our own opinions. Generally, there are five ways for a writer to provide indirect characterization.,1. The writer lets us hear the character speak. From the speech pattern and delivery (dialogue) of the charac

39、ter we can learn much characterization. Think about the words the character uses in dialogue and how the dialogue is delivered.,Indirect characterization,Her voice was dry and cold. “I have no taxes in Jefferson. Colonel Sartoris explained it to me. Perhaps one of you can gain access to the city rec

40、ords and satisfy yourselves.” “But we have. We are the city authorities, Miss Emily. Didnt you get a notice from the sheriff, signed by him?” “I received a paper, yes,” Miss Emily said. “Perhaps he considers himself the sheriff . . . I have no taxes in Jefferson.”,“But there is nothing on the books

41、to show that, you see. We must go by the” “See Colonel Sartoris. I have no taxes in Jefferson.” “But, Miss Emily” “See Colonel Sartoris.” (Colonel Sartoris had been dead almost ten years.) “I have no taxes in Jefferson. Tobe!” The Negro appeared. “Show these gentlemen out.” P.411,2. The writer can d

42、escribe how the character looks and dresses. Although the writer is giving this information, we must still take the information and decide for ourselves what it tells us about the character. We create the character in our imagination.,She was sick for a long time. When we saw her again, her hair was

43、 cut short, making her look like a girl, with a vague resemblance to those angels in colored church windowssort of tragic and serene.,3. The writer may reveal characterization by letting the reader listen to the characters inner thoughts and feelings; sometimes this is accomplished with interior mon

44、ologue. This method can reveal much about a character because we are basically hearing/seeing how (and what) he thinks and feels. The writer provides us with a look at the inner person.,4. The writer often provides characterization by revealing what other people in the story think or say about the c

45、haracter. We can form impressions, opinions, and judgments about a character by watching the interaction between the character and other persons in the story.,“Of course a Grierson would not think seriously of a Northerner, a day laborer.” -P. 413,5. The writer can also show what the character does

46、how the character acts. How a character acts can reveal much about his disposition and helps us understand what motivates his behavior.,考试题型：,I. Blank-filling (102= 20每空2分，共20分) e.g. 1. The _ is the sequence of events or what happens in a story. The _ refers to a clash between opposing forces, usual

47、ly forcing the main character into a dilemma. 2. In Heart of Darkness, Kurtz dies finally with a whisper cry, “_! _”, which is considered as his final reflection upon his whole life.,II. Multiple Choice (101= 10每小题1分，共10分),1. Lord of the Flies was _s first success in novel writing. A. Joseph Conrad B. William Golding C. Katherine Mansfield D. Samuel Beckett,III. Passag