View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by CSCanada.net: E-Journals (Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture,... Du Fang/Canadian Social Science Vol.3 No.4 2007 18-24 Who Makes a Devil out of a Fair Lady? —An Analysis of the Social Causes of Emily’s Tragedy in A Rose for Emily QUI FAIT D’UNE DEMOISELLE DROITE UN MONSTRE ? —UNE ANALYSE DES CAUSES SOCIALES DE LA TRAGEDIE D’EMILY DANS UNE ROSE POUR EMILY Du Fang1 Abstract: William Faulkner (1897—1962) is now regarded as the greatest American novelist of the twentieth century.“ A Rose for Emily” was his first published short story in 1930. It depicts Emily Grierson, a noble old spinster, who falls in love with a Yankee, Homer, and later kills him and has slept with the dead body for forty years. Since then, Emily isolates herself from the outside world and lives lonely in her house until her death. Since its publication, “A Rose for Emily” has enjoyed great attention due to its adroit plot and impressive character, so that the readers merely view it as a Gothic novel. They are impressed and horrified by the gloomy atmosphere as well as the grotesque behavior of Emily. However, this story cannot be read merely as a detective story so as to overlook the profound meaning behind it. Emily’s killing of Homer is not due to her blood-thirsty nature, rather it is the result of the southern society. After analysizing the social causes of Emily’s tragic change from a lady into a devil, eventually the paper comes to a conclusion that Emily’s degradation is a series of consequence of the southern social system: patriarchal chauvinism, puritan womanhood, conflict between community and individual. In fact, she is the victim of the southern tradition and culture. Through this kind of study, the reader can get a further understanding of the then American south and Faulkner’s intention to write such a horrifying short story. Key words: social causes, patriarchal chauvinism, puritan womanhood, sense of community, individualism Résumé: William Faulkner(1897-1962) est considéré aujourd’hui comme le romancier américain le plus connu du 20e siècle. Une Rose pour Emily est sa première nouvelle publiée en 1930. Ce livre décrit Emily Grierson, une vieille fille, qui tombe amoureux d’un Yankee, Homer, et le tue après pour dormir avec le cadavre pour 40 ans. Dès lors, elle s’isole du monde extérieur et vit solitairement dans sa maison jusqu’à la mort. Depuis sa publication, Une Rose pour Emily attirent beaucoup d’attention grâce à son intrigue habile et son caractère impressif, de sorte que les lecteurs le considèrent seulement comme une nouvelle gothique. Ils sont impressionnés et horrifiés par l’atmosphère sombre et le comportement grotesque d’Emily. Néanmoins, cette nouvelle ne peut nuellement être lue comme une histoire policière et on ne peut pas négliger sa signification profonde. Le meurtre d’Emily n’est pas dû à sa nature sanguinaire, il est plutôt le résultat de la socité du sud. Après l’analyse des causes sociales de la tragédie d’Emily transformant d’une demoiselle en monstre, l’article parvient à la conclusion que la dégradation d’Emily est la conséquence du système social du sud : le chauvinisme patriarcal, la condition féminine puritaine, le conflit entre la communauté et l’individu. En fait, elle est la victime de la tradition et la culture du sud. A travers cette étude, le lecteur peut avoir une meilleure connaissance du sud des Etats-Nnis d’alors et de l’intention de Faulker d’écrire une telle nouvelle horrible. 1 School of Foreign Languages, Central China Normal University, China. *Received 9 February2007 ; accepted 8 June 2007 18 Du Fang/Canadian Social Science Vol.3 No.4 2007 18-24 Mots-Clés: causes sociales, chauvinisme patriarcal, condition féminine puritaine, sens de communauté, individualisme Homer. Unfortunately, Miss Emily finds that Homer has no intention to marry her. Desperately, Emily kills Homer and has slept with the dead body for forty years. 1. INTRODUCTION Since then, Emily isolates herself from the outside world and lives lonely in her house until her death. By universal recognition, William Faulkner (1897—1962) is now regarded as the greatest American novelist of the twentieth century. Born in a southern 3. A GENERAL VIEW OF THE family, as a regionalist writer, Faulkner has successfully ECONOMY AND SOCIETY OF THE turned his southern material into human fables. In his AMERICAN SOUTH novels, he explores the problems of the South---human’s relationship to the land and nature, the corruption of Christian practice and the decline in Faulkner was a regionalist writer. In his human spirit. Thus, his novels can be interpreted on “Yoknapatawpha kingdom”, he gives a vivid different level. description of the southern society from its foundation of plantation system to the decline of the South. In order As one of his representative works, since its to gain a better understanding of his short stories and publication in 1930, “A Rose for Emily＂ has enjoyed novels, a general view of the American south cannot be great attention due to its adroit plot and impressive omitted. characterization. In this short story, Faulkner makes best use of the Gothic devices in narration. The reader is Historically, the American south comprised the impressed and horrified by the gloomy atmosphere as States Virginia, North and South Carolina, Alabama, well as the grotesque behavior of Emily. Many Georgia, Tennessee, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, researches on this short story are mainly focused on the Florida and Texas. Due to the special geographical Gothic elements or on Faulkner’s particular point of factors, from the beginning, the South was an agrarian view in narration, but less effort has been made on the society. And when the wealthy Cavaliers came to the analysis of the social causes of Emily’s tragedy. America, the growth of the aristocratic plantation system was stimulated. In the mid-1800s, the South was However, most of Faulkner’s novels concern the still a predominated agrarian society depending on a conflict and collision between his characters and society. large mass of slaves for its economic development. With Faulkner senses that corruption in religion and culture is its large plantations, the South gradually assumed an responsible for the tragic downfall of his characters, independence that finally asserted itself against the rest thus he is inspired to depict in his novels the human of the country. In the meantime, southern culture and tragedy made by social evils. Based on this idea, this tradition came into being. Because most of the early paper tries to examine thoroughly Faulkner’s portrayal immigrants were puritans, they brought in the puritan in this individual work of the way Emily is twisted into beliefs and morality. Calvinism, which required a stern a devil by males and by the southern social system. moral code, a rigid doctrine of original sin and Through this kind of study, the reader can get a further predestination, has exerted a profound influence in all understanding of the then American South and aspects of the American south. Under the Calvinist Faulkner’s intention to write such a horrifying short influence, sex discrimination was particular pervasive story. in the South, and numerous innocent women fall victim to the sex bias. Though the culture and tradition received hard 2. A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO A ROSE blows during the Civil War and went into decline during FOR EMILY the “Reconstruction” period which followed it, the whole South was still living in its past glories and achievements. After the Civil War, the invasion of the A Rose for Emily was Faulkner’s first published short northern industry and commercialization caused great story in 1930. It is set in the town of Jefferson in tension among the southerners and changed their codes Yoknapatawpha County. Emily Grierson, the central of morality and ways of life, which had been established charter, is a victim. Dominated by her father and his in the past two hundred years. rigid ideas of social status, she has been prevented from Being aware of these economic and social marrying during his lifetime, therefore, after his death changes, Faulkner presented in his novels the transition she is left alone and penniless. Later, she falls in love of the southern society, the decline of the southern with a Yankee, Homer Barron, who is disregarded by plantations and the consequence of modern the whole town and her relatives. Being a member of the industrialization. And this particular social background stubborn Grierson’s family, Emily arrogantly defies her also provides the very setting of A Rose for Emily. A relatives and the community by insisting on marrying 19 Du Fang/Canadian Social Science Vol.3 No.4 2007 18-24 typical southern town in the nineteenth century, in generation. Jefferson the southern tradition was dying off and the northern industrialization was invading the life of the 4.1.2 Patriarchal chauvinistic influence on southerners, but people were still living in the past Emily glories of the South and such social injustices as sex In “A Rose for Emily”, Emily is such a tragic figure who discrimination were still deeply ingrained. Thus, forever lives under her father’s domination, even after tension between the new and the old order arouses great his death. The reader can have a general impression of agony in people’s mind, as in the case of Miss Emily in the relationship between Emily and her father from the “A Rose for Emily＂. description as follows: We had long thought of them as a tableau.