1、A Rose for Emily,By William Faulkner,The author,The Background,The Plots,The Themes,Author,William Cuthbert Faulkner (bornFalkner, September 25, 1897 July 6, 1962), also known asWill Faulkner, was an American writer and Nobel Prize laureate fromOxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of wr

2、itten media, includingnovels,short stories, aplay,poetry,essaysandscreenplays. He is primarily known and acclaimed for his novels and short stories, many of which are set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, a setting Faulkner created based on,Lafayette County, where he spent most of his life, and

3、 Holly Springs/Marshall County.1 Faulkner is one of the most important writers in both American literaturegenerally andSouthern Literature specifically. Though his work was published as early as 1919, and largely during the 1920s and 1930s, Faulkner was relatively unknown until receiving the 1949 No

4、bel Prize in Literature. Two of his works,A Fable(1954) and his last novel The Reivers(1962), won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.2,In 1998, theModern Libraryranked his 1929 novelThe Sound and the Furysixth on its list of the100 best English-language novels of the 20th century; also on the list wereA

5、s I Lay Dying (1930) andLight in August (1932).Absalom, Absalom! (1936)is often included on Similar lists.,The details,Atmosphere Suffocating, or Depression Theme Love Tragedy Character MissEmilyisa mysteriousandarrogant woman. Emilyistotallyatragedyoftheold traditions.Sheisaprisonerofthepast,ofthe

6、socialandmoraltaboosoftheSouth.Notonly becauseshepurelyawoman,butalsothe stubbornconventionsmanacleherthatresult inherfrustratedlife,Time After American civil war Place InJeffersonTown Main Figure Emily Grierson, His father, Homer Barron, the villagers, the Negro,Setting When does it happen? It happ

7、ened in19 century, aftertheAmerican CivilWar. Where does the story happen? The story is set in the southern town of Jefferson.,A. The town frowned on her affair, the minister going to see her; the female cousins visiting; Emily ordered jewelry, preparing for marriage. Homer Barron going away and com

8、ing; Emily bought the rat poison. B. Emily was sick for long, later she was in love. C. The smell from Emily s house (from the rotten body); Emily s hair turning gray, her door closed; from 40 to 50,giving china-painting. D. Emily lived to the age of 30, and her father died. E. Emilydiedat74. F. Sin

9、ce when she was about 60, the tax problem had remained unresolved. Answer: DBACFE,I. The meaning of the title: what dose a rose symbolize? The meaning of the title is ambiguous, capable of various interpretations. A rose is a traditional symbol of love and a pledge of faithfulness. From the story we

10、 can see Miss Emily was denied love. So, in this sense, the title has an ironic meaning. A rose for somebody can also mean a kind of memorial, an offering, in memory of somebody. It shows the authors sympathy and deep respect.,II. Emily, such a grotesque, old recluse, seems to be privileged in the t

11、own. Why?,III.Why does she buy the rat poison, the arsenic?,Because Emily stands for a kind of old tradition of southern country. People in this town can not face the failure of the war from their inner hearts, so they try to protect their only symbol.,To kill HomerBarron and never depart with him.,

12、IV. HomerBarronwasneverseenlater. Doyouknowhiswhereabouts?,He was killed by Emily， and he was lying in Emilys home forever.,The plot of the story evolves around many conflicts: the conflicts between Miss Emily and her father the conflict between Miss Emily and the town, the established codes of cond

13、uct the conflict between Miss Emily and Homer Barron, the conflict between the South and the North the conflict between the past and the present.,The plot of the story evolves around many conflicts: the conflicts between Miss Emily and her father the conflict between Miss Emily and the town, the est

14、ablished codes of conduct the conflict between Miss Emily and Homer Barron, the conflict between the South and the North the conflict between the past and the present.,This story happens after the American Civil War, in Jefferson Town. Its a story about an eccentric spinster named Emily whose marria

15、ge is totally manipulated by her father. Two years after her fathers death, poor Emily is acquainted with a northerner called Homer Barron, a day laborer and she falls in love with him. However, their relation is short-lived as Homer becomes tired of her and intends to get rid of her. In order to ke

16、ep Homer at hand, Emily kills him with arsenic and “obtain” him, thus, she sleeps with his corpse for decades.,Conclusion Thismasterpiecereflectsthedeclineofthe southernsocietyandrevealstheconflicts Between thetwodifferentvaluesystemsandtwo Societies aftertheAmerican Civil war. Emilyis anembodimento

17、fthesouth,theoldandtradition. Inourdailylife,everythingischangingeveryday. As anindividual,wecanonlyadaptourselvesto theproteanenvironmentandshouldlearnto Accept newthings.Onlywhenwekeeplearning everydaycanwesurviveinthisworldwhichis fullofcompetition.,The Causes of the Heroines Tragic Life in A Ros

18、e for Emily,The story A Rose for Emily takes place in Faulkners fictional city Jefferson, Mississippi. The historical setting of this story is post American Civil War. The story reflects the southerners love and detestation of the old tradition and their distrust of the ideology of northern industri

19、al capital. In this short story, the heroine Emily used to be a southern nobility.,Historical reason,The civil war destroyed much of the wealth that had existed in the South. But in the eye of the Jefferson citizens , Emily is still the signal of old southern prosperity . She is kind of a monument.

20、On the one hand , the southerners know they are no longer rich. On the other hand, to keep the memory of yesterday, they try hard to preserve the old tradition.,Religious causes There are all sorts of religious groups in America. Among the American people,36% are Protestants, and over three fifths o

21、f all American religious people are Protestants(張奎武，2008: 285).In the mind of the puritans , women should be reserved and must suppress sensual passion. In the short story ,the heroine Emily is a representative “southern lady” who is destroyed by the religious doctrines. Her father wants to,keep her

22、 “holy and pure”, so he drives away all the wooers of Miss Emily. The chasteness of a woman is more important than her position as a human being . Thus her natural desire can not be satisfied and result in mind twisting. Emily is deeply influenced by the religious belief . After the death of her fat

23、her ,she gets free physically , however, she can not remove fetters from her mind. The doctrine of women has rooted in Emilys mind.,So when her affection for the northerner become the laughingstock of the town ,she resorts to an extreme way, that is , killing Homer. This is the way she vents after y

24、ears of inhibiting from desire and passion. It is a powerful accuse of southern society. It is a powerful accuse of southern society.,People in the town In the short story, the people in the town seem to care for the heroine and worship the aristocrats. But in fact ,they are just trying to preserve

25、the old tradition and interfere in her private life. So the people in the town play a role as catalyst to the heroines tragic life. The dark mind of the town people is mentioned several times in the passage. “So when she got to be thirty and was still single, we were not,pleased exactly, but vindica

26、ted; even with Insanity in the family she wouldnt have turned down all of her chances if they had really materialized.” From the tone of the people , their schadenfreude is cleared exposed. Their assumption is full of ridicule and irony. They are glad to find that in fact Miss Emily dose not have th

27、at many suitors. When they know that all the things that Emilys father leave for her is,just a house . They become happy again . All they care about is not Emilys life , they just feel a sense of superiority in showing pity to Emily.,Family influence Family is supposed to be the first school of a pe

28、rson ,while parents are the first teacher of their children. The experience of ones childhood can have a through impact on his latter behavior. Emily was born in a downfallen noble family of south America. She lives with her father since she was born. Emily seldom leaves home . She is just like the “prisoner ”