【abstract】a rose for emily is one of the most famous short stories of william faulkner, who is the southern representative writer of american literature. this passage gives comments on the character emily grierson from the viewpoint of the feminism.
【key words】feminism emily right live
a rose for emily is one of the most famous short stories of william faulkner, who is the southern representative writer of american literature. this story shows the conflict between the old system and the new one in the south of america. in this fiction, the author used many styles, including feminism, to describe the main character—emily grierson.
feminism appeared with the women emancipation in western countries between the late 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. from then on, people began to think about the rights of women. writers just showed their concerns about this in their literature works. but at that time, it was not easy for them to express their ideas in their works clearly. however, careful readers can find their thoughts by careful reading.
from the viewpoint of the feminism, the fiction a rose for emily narrated how the character emily was hurt by the patriarchy and the lady system of the south of america ,how she protested against the society with her behavior wordlessly.
at the beginning, emily stayed with her father. she was the teacher of some children. she leaves an impression to readers that she was such a good woman. “miss emily a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip, the two of them framed by the back flung front door."for about thirty years, her father was her only kindred, and he had a great influence on emily. maybe, she had nothing to worry about. but her father was a man who was proud, severe, tyrannical, and autocratic and regarded emily as property. because of his protest, emily was still single when she got to be thirty. she loved her father even though he was so obstinate and autocratic. therefore, when her father died, emily could not accept the truth. she told the townspeople that her father was not dead and refused to bury him. she loved her father, and she did not want to separate from him.after his father's death, she just stayed in her house most of the time, sad and lonely. this made us have pity on this poor single woman.
however, emily can't live like this. she can't confine herself to her so-called dignity. she must go out to make friends with others, even if only with some children and a yankee. later ,she began to fall in love with this big , dark, ready man in spite of the townspeople's whispering "of course a grierson would not think seriously of a northerner, a day laborer"and saying "even grief could not cause a real lady to forget noblesse oblige-without calling it noblesse oblige" but emily didn't care how people looked on her. "she carried her head high enough-when people believed that she was fallen." in her opinion, she had the right to choose and to love. in the south ofamerica and in her time, as a woman, her decision of choosing boyfriend and marriage should be made by the men kins. but emily just did it for herself. barron was her boyfriend. his appearance made her tired of her lonely life; she hated this boring life and tried to touch people outside. she pursued her love bravely. even though when she heard that "homer himself had remarked that he was not a marrying man" ,she still went out to show others she had her rights to love,“they passed on sunday afternoon in the glittering buggy , miss emily with her head high and homer barron with his hatcocked and a cigar in his teeth, reins and whip in a yellow glove”. all others ,who wanted her to set a good example to young people because she was one of the aristocracies ,began to interfere her love. some ladies began to say“ it was a disgrace to the town and a bad example to young people” if homer had no intention to marry her. emily sticked to her love and “ she had been to the jeweler's and ordered a man's toilet set in silver, with the letters h. b. on each piece" . two days later, " we learned that she had bought a complete outfit of men's clothing, including a nightshirt ". from these, we can feel how much she loved the man who brought happiness and hope to her life. she did not want to give up her love. she dared to love. her behavior went beyond that social background. feminism is used here to criticize the hypocrisy of the southern society.
feminists ask for their own freedom and rights by their behavior. emily was a strong-willed woman in her society, not only because she chose to love, but also she did have her own ideas to live. when she knew that homer would not marry her and would desert her, the townspeople all said,"she will kill herself."did emily really follow people's comments to kill herself? she really went to the druggist to buy some "arsenic". but it was not for her. she chose to live on and to undertake all the pain of losing her love, who was poisoned by herself. to live in that patriarchy, she needed much courage. as a woman who didn't like to communicate with others and was not accepted by others, we could see how harsh her living surroundings were.however, emily existed for nearly another forty years although she thought it was meaningless for her to be alive. she used her behavior to struggle for her right to live, even if her life was not the same as she had expected.
although this story was a tragedy in the end, emily had once tried her best to fight against the reality and attempted to make her fate under her control. she was a good woman who should be understood and complimented. she set a good example to those who lived in that society that women can be themselves. they can have their own rights to love and to live.
参考 文献 :
[1]朱立元.当地西方文艺理论.上海:华东师范大学出版社, 2007.
[2] william faulkner.这十三篇.上海:上海外语 教育 出版社,1932.
