1、A Rose for EmilyWilliam Faulkner Born in 1870 in New Albany,Mississippi.Grew up listening to the stories of American South.Wrote stories in adolescence.Won Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949.Died in 1962.Famous as a novelist and short story writer.Best known works include The Sound and the Fury,As I
2、 Lay Dying,and short stories “A Rose for Emily.”Known for his experimental style in fiction.This story begins with Emilys death,which attracts all the men and women in the town.The story then shifts into the past and tells the story of Emilys life.Colonel Sartoris,the mayor of Jefferson at the time,
3、remits Emilys taxes.Quite some years later,when a new generation of politicians tries to get Emily to pay her taxes,she refuses.The narrator also tells other pieces of Emilys life.For example,in the summer after her fathers death,Emily is attracted to Homer,a foreman from the North.The townspeople a
4、nd Emilys relatives talk about it and do not approve of their relationship.The narrator mentions,among other things,that Emily buys some arsenic,but refuses to explain why.It is only discovered at the death of Emily,when the townspeople find a mans skeleton in her bed.Its strongly implies that this
5、skeleton is Homer Barron.plot:non-chronological order.Chapter 1:Emilys death.Chapter 2:After her fathers death.Chapter3:In the summer after her fathers death.Chapter 4:Continuing the story of Emily and Homer.Chapter 5:After Emilys death.Function of non-chronological order:creating suspense.keeps the
6、 reader attentive.Foreshadowing:Emilys death.Tax issue.The smell.Purchase of the Arsenic.Homers disappearance.discoloration Place:Jefferson,a fictional city in American South.Time:Before and after the Civil War.The place and time give clues to the way of life most people lead,and the changes in the
7、city of Jefferson over a period of more than two dozen years.The exterior of the house:old“a big,squarish frame house”“had once been white,decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies”The interior of the house:old and dark “a dim hall”“a cl
8、ose,dank smell”“heavy,leather-covered furniture”“the leather was cracked”“a faint dust”“a crayon portrait of Miss Emilys father”Function of setting in the story:1)offers historical and geographical information.2)frames the regional practices:old beliefs and moral values of the South.Emilys appearanc
9、e when she is young:“a slender figure in white”“cold,haughty black eyes”“carried her head high enough”Emilys appearance when she is old:pale and weak“a small,fat woman in black”Her skeleton:“small and spare”Her eyes:“looked like two small pieces of coal”Her face:“pallid hue”Emily s stubbornness refu
10、sal to pay tax.insistence on buying arsenic.Keys to the Questions Events:the funeral;the death of Emilys father;Homers arrival;Homers date with Emily and his disappearance;Emily hasnt been out for a while and then teaches children to draw;Emilys death;the smell from Emilys house;Emilys refusal to pa
11、y taxes;Emily buys arsenic and so on.The major and minor events are interspersed.The story narrates from the end and is interspersed with flashbacks.The opening and the end is in the present,and the middle part is mixed memories told in disrupted time sequences.In Emilys father s time:his father pro
12、tects and controls her;Colonel Sartoris remits Emilys taxes.In Judge Stevens time:retaining the style of the old gentleman(refusing to tell Emily that the house is smelly).In Emilys old age:new mayors and aldermen completely abandon the old practices and ask Emily to pay the taxes.Emily is born in t
13、he South while Homer is born in the North.Emily comes from an old aristocratic family while Homer is a foreman of a construction company.Homer says that he is not a marrying man.Emily:the theme of the novel is directly related to Emily.Rose:suggests a feeling of nostalgia and admiration for Emily.The title gives the story a touch of romantic nostalgia.Melancholy,nostalgic and sad.The storyteller thinks of Emily as part of the community,part of tradition and a symbol of culture.The End
