威廉·福克纳《献给艾米丽的一朵玫瑰花》读后感
My Reflection on "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner
Funerary of the Old System
"A Rose for Emily" is a story about a lady called Emily from the once prominent Grierson family in a small town in the American South called Jefferson set in the post-Civil War era. As the patriarch of the family, Emily's father attached so much importance to their prestigious social status that he drove away all the men who came to court Emily when she reached a marriageable age for he deemed those young men beneath his daughter. After her father's death, left alone and in poverty and free from his control and dominance, Emily fell in love with Homer Barren, a foreman from the North who came to the town to build the sidewalks. By falling in love with Homer she was trying to rid herself of the bondage of family dignity and her father's influence. When she discovered that Homer had no intention of marrying her she poisoned him with arsenic. From that point onwards, Emily lived a secluded life in the old, enclosed house, and slept with the dead Homer, as a form of redemption, for 40 years until she died at the age of 74. Eventually, this secret of Emily’s was revealed after her funeral.
Published in April 1930, the short story written by American writer William Faulkner caused a sensation at that time. The work powerfully demonstrates the sharp conflict between different values and between the declining old order and the new order. As a tragic figure, Emily was distorted psychologically, making me bemoan her fate and wondering what kind of society changed her so much so that she lost her mind by killing her sweetheart and sleeping with the corpse afterwards. Finally, I came to understand the inevitability of the collapse of backward and inhumane American southern tradition when it was confronted with the modern civilization. Her tragedy is not only due to her own personality, but also an outcome of the society and times she lived in. Emily's death marks the end of southern nobility in a sense and signifies the opening of a new civilized era.
When Miss Emily was young, she had “a slender figure in white”, denoting that she was beautiful and pure. When she was about thirty, she drove in the yellow-wheeled buggy arrogantly with her lover. But eventually, she imprisoned herself in the house, occasionally with the light behind her, “her upright torso motionless as that of an idol”. She finally looked bloated, “like a body long submerged in motionless water, and of that pallid hue.” From the perspective of the townspeople, she was “dear, inescapable, impervious, tranquil, and perverse.”
She was haunted by the shadow of her father when he was alive. After his death, she became a shadow of the traditional values of the south: she eventually entered into a love affair, but it ended in failure, partially due to the intervention of townspeople and her own relatives. She never had a life of her own, never had control of her own destiny though she had made attempts (e.g., boldly courting Homer Barren), never realized or even wanted to realize her value. In fact, Emily was a victim of traditional values.
The character of Emily bears resemblance to that of Elizabeth Bennett, one of the main characters in Pride and Prejudice written by Jane Austin. Elizabeth lived in Britain in the late 18th century, when women were dependent on men financially and socially, and when social hierarchy was rigid and selection of spouses was based on social status, which we can see from the actions of Elizabeth’s mother. Only by marrying a rich man could she obtain a decent life. In such a social environment, marriage was the channel for women to seek social status and economic security. Despite the daily influence of her philistine mother, Elizabeth still retained her own unique personality and had her own thoughts. She represented the image of a woman who was bold and self-respecting when she refused Darcy who had enough wealth and high social status but looked so arrogant and conceited at first. She thought love is the basis of marriage. Eventually she married him not because of his wealth and status but because of his inner beauty and his qualities such as kindness, consideration and sincerity. Therefore, at the end of this story, she became the dominant figure in her marriage.
In the case of Emily, she did not get out of the haze of her family and social pressure unlike Elizabeth . The trigger of her tragedy was that her lover Homer Barren deceived her. The fact that Homer Barren was homosexual and still dating her made her break down and turned her from an innocent girl into a murderer. But did Emily really love him? Did she love him as a man, or did she love the "smell of freedom" he exuded? Both Homer’s Yankee identity and outgoing personality were completely opposite to Emily’s. His different way of life aroused Emily's long-suppressed yearning for freedom and love. Maybe she "loved" him just like a moth approaching a flame, embracing her imagined freedom, only to land herself in hell. When Emily's dreams of happiness were shattered, she chose to be a murderer and hid the secret forever until her death because her aristocratic pride allowed no failure.
In modern society, there are also many people like Homer Barren who are flirty and many people like the townspeople around Emily who took great pleasure in whispering “behind their hands.” Today it is universally accepted that women have their own minds and have the right to marry whomever they please and that their happiness shouldn’t be ruined by partners who don’t genuinely love them . Also, women must try to be brave enough to break from traditional fetter. and do not necessarily have to be stay-at-home moms because they have our own dreams and pursuits. In my opinion, getting enriched intellectually and philosophically by undertaking activities such as reading extensively and coming to understand oneself by self-examination thus becoming independent and self-respecting is a better choice. In other words, try to know who we are! Try to find where we come from and where we will go! Try to be ourselves!