简析《献给爱米丽玫瑰》中“玫瑰”象征意义

简析《献给爱米丽的玫瑰》中“玫瑰”的象征意义

【摘要】《献给爱米丽的玫瑰》是20世纪伟大的小说家福克纳最优秀的短片小说之一,在小说中,通篇没有提到玫瑰花,也没有人献花给爱米丽。本文分析了玫瑰的多重象征意义,认为它既象征爱米丽的爱情,又象征爱米丽本人,同时还象征着美国南方种植园主制度。

【关键词】象征意义、玫瑰、爱情、美国南方种植园主制度

the symbolic significance of the rose in a rose for emily

miao ting

【abstract】

a rose for emily is a short story by american author william faulkner. the term rose does not appear in the text of the novel but simply in the title and the surface, working as a symbol. this paper is intended to analyze the multifold meanings of rose since it symbolizes the love of emily, emily

per se, and the southern slavery in america.

【key words】symbolism, rose, love, southern planters system in america

1.introduction to a rose for emily

first published in the april 30, 1930 issue of forum, a national magazine, a rose for emily was written by american author william faulkner. and it is faulkner’s first short

story.

faulkner’s a rose for emily is narrated from the viewpoint of the town of jefferson, mississippi, where the grierson family was the closest thing to true aristocracy. the story presents a powerful argument that privilege can sometimes be a prison. to the outside world, it might have appeared that miss emily grierson grew up in the lap of luxury. however, it was a lonely existence, for her father ruled emily’s life with an iron fist, turning away every suitor the young girl had; no one was good enough for his daughter. not surprisingly, the first thing emily did after her father’s death was to find a companion and a very unlikely one at that-a yankee day laborer named homer barron. she went out driving with homer in a flashy yellow-wheeled buggy, and bought him extremely personal articles-a silver toilet set, a nightshirt. today our first assumption would be that he was her lover, but this was the small-town south, and another time. the townspeople assumed she had gotten married-secretly, of course, because under the circumstances a big society wedding would be in bad taste. for a while emily convinced herself that the townspeople still respected her. after all, she never really intended homer to supplant her father in the eyes of

the town. he couldn’t have, because he was neither a son of the south nor a pillar of the community; homer’s role was simply that of a consort, filling a vacancy at emily’s side. it was through emily’s arrogance that permitted the purchase of arsenic. this was an act of liberation from her father’s restrictions. it then, allowed her to act as she wanted in retrieving what was bereft in result to her father’s dominance. the logical conclusion-that emily had murdered her lover-could not be incorporated into the myth that the townspeople had constructed around her. it was unspeakable, so no one spoke of it. forty years later, after emily died the townspeople cautiously entered the house that few had visited since the death of mr. grierson, apart from those grandchildren of colonel sartoris’ china painting lessons. there they were moved, but not really surprised, to find a decomposed skeletal body on a sumptuous bed in a locked room, and emily’s iron-gray hair lying on the pillow beside his head. in a rose for emily faulkner shows the tragedy that resulted from our adherence to social roles that constrain, rather than liberate, our true selves.

2.the symbolic significance of the rose in a rose for emily