A Book Report of A Rose for Emily

14890102 陈颖俏

A Rose for Emily is a novel with a dominating idea of love, even if it is neither romantic nor passionate, you can be totally affected by some inadvertent plots which reveals a hint of moving ambiance. It is so special that it can put people into entire reading with rapture, although the ending is painful, but it stimulates people to deep thought on the cause of this tragedy.

I’ve figured out three main factors-her father, the whole town and herself.

A. Her father is a typical feudal aristocratic. Through the word “tableau”, his stubbornness, conservatism and arrogance are drawn with a strong pencil. He tries to protect Emily by driving away the guys close to her, and simultaneously he intimidates Emily with arbitrariness. Out of dignity and nobility, he regards it the best way to keep her from the outside world. Such obsession has built up an invisible wall around Emily, made her “inescapable, impervious, tranquil, and perverse”. Even after his death, the wall never collapses.

B. People in the Jefferson town hold a contradictory attitude towards Emily, a mixture of fear and hatred. They are the backbone of the invisible wall, segregating her completely. When Emily and Barron fall in love, they whisper“Poor Emily” and describe it as a disgrace and a bad example. Unwilling to see her pursuit of happiness, they even write to her relations in Alabama forcing her to give in. They are cruel and indifferent as well. They never visit her and cease sending their children to learn painting, thus cut down all the connections between Emily and the town. What’s worse they think it’s the best thing that if she committed suicide. It’s them who turn Emily into “a tradition, a duty and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town”, a “fallen monument” and a true “Poor Emily”.

C. The most direct cause of Emily's tragedy is her own cowardice and paranoid. She willingly stays within the wall which traps her but provides her with a sense of security in turn. She does strive for a while, but it’s in vain due to various reasons. 1

She takes it seriously when dating with Homer Barron that even ignores the opinions of the people in the town. After the visit of the minister and her two cousins, the over-caring for others’ opinions have transformed into a hesitation that whether she should break the bound she has already been accustomed and a hostile on the arrival of love as well as her depravity. At that time, she doesn’t seem strong and tough enough, let alone the determination which she performs well when buying arsenic. She starts to doubt the true love. The dithering and doubt drives her afraid, crazy and abnormal, and she kills him before he leaves her. This not only ensures that Barron will never leave her, but also put an end to be peeped. Emily destroys the hope personally. In fact, she has a lot of things to cherish, if she can open her heart, her life will be as bright and terrific as roses. Perhaps she is aware of the concern of others, but due to her closed feelings, she turns such care down even it is strongly needed. Emily herself is the most faithful enforcer for the invisible wall. She has become a fallen monument.

Obviously, Emily’s tragedy has a complex origin, which is the inevitable product of the two generations of alternating parallel and shows the particularity and universality of the time. The mean heartless father, the selfish unkind town and an arrogant obstinate self causes the final tragic love story.

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第二篇：theme of a rose for emily

Resistance to change ----- This is perhaps the most recurrent theme in the book. Despite the family's fallen fortunes, Emily's father resists allowing any suitors to propose to Emily. This gradually erodes her chances of ever being married. She eventually settles for Homer, but the townspeople see this as an affront to her noble heritage, and she eventually murders Homer and dies a recluse. Emily's inability to realize her father's death and refusal to adapt to a changing world intensify her seclusion.

Isolation ----- There's no getting around the fact that "A Rose for Emily" is a story about the extremes of isolation – by physical and emotional. This Faulkner classic shows us the process by which human beings become isolated by their families, by their community, by tradition, by law, by the past, and by their own actions and choices. In effect, this story takes a stand against such isolation, and against all those who isolate others. When you get through with this story, you might feel the urge to take a nice stroll in the county, or at least take a spin around the park. Go! Breathe the air; feel the sunshine; visit a friend.

Memory and the Past ----- Gavin Stevens (a William Faulkner character) famously says, "The past is never dead. It's not even past." This idea is highly visible in all Faulkner's work, and we definitely see it here, in "A Rose for Emily." Spanning approximately 74 years, this short story spins backwards and forwards in time like memory, and shows a southern town torn between the present and the past. Post-Civil War and Pre-Civil Rights, "A Rose for Emily" shows us an American South in limbo, trying desperately, with each generation, to find a better way, a way which honors the good of the past, while coming to terms with its evils. Visions of America ----- "A Rose for Emily" doesn't look at America through rose-colored glasses, even though many of its characters do. In the aftermath of slavery, the American South shown in the novel is in bad shape. The novel deals with the stubborn refusal of some southerners to see that the America they believed in – an America based on slavery – was no more. The story covers about 74 years, beginning sometime just before the Civil War. The focus, however, is on the periods from about 1894 to 1935. Because the dates are all jumbled together, we have to work to untangle the stories present vision of America from the vision of the past.

Versions of Reality ----- By showing people with skewed versions of reality, "A Rose for Emily" asks us to take off our "rose-colored" glasses and look reality in the face. What we confront is the reality of America in the story, and the reality of the main character's complete isolation. Faulkner reveals how difficult it can be to see the past and the present clearly and honestly by depicting memory as flawed and subjective. This "difficulty" is part of why the main character goes insane, or so it certainly appears. Luckily, there are healthy doses of compassion and forgiveness in the novel. When we start to feel that,

we start to see things more clearly.

Compassion and Forgiveness ---- "Compassion and Forgiveness" is another major theme that we can find in almost any Faulkner story. At first, it might not be apparent in this case. We almost have to be told that these sentiments are behind "A Rose for Emily" before we can see them. The story can seem downright cruel, the characters wholly unsympathetic, and the plot gross. When we begin to see the magnitude of the tragedy, and its impact on multiple generations, we understand the story is a call for understanding. The story seems to argue that forgiveness, compassion, and understanding can only come by facing the facts of the past and the present, which are tangled up together in a tight knot. Faulkner is both mercilessly subtle, and painfully blunt in this story, but we can feel the spirit of compassion rushing through.

变革的阻力-----这或许是本书最经常的主题。尽管家族的堕落的命运，艾米丽的父亲不允许任何求婚者向艾米丽求婚。这逐渐侵蚀她曾经结婚的机会。她终于解决了荷马，但市民认为这是侮辱她高贵的遗产，她最终谋杀荷马和模具的隐士。艾米丽无法实现她父亲的死亡和拒绝适应不断变化的世界强化她的隐居。

隔离-----无可避免的事实，“艾米丽玫瑰”是一个关于隔离–由身体和情绪的极端的故事。这经典的福克纳告诉我们，人类成为他们的家庭分离的过程，通过他们的社区，按照传统，根据法律规定，由过去的，并以自己的行动和选择。实际上，这个故事发生在这样的隔离站，并对所有那些孤立的人。当你通过这个故事，你可能想好好漫步在县，或至少拿一个旋转的公园。去！呼吸的空气；感受阳光；拜访朋友。

记忆和过去-----加文史蒂文斯（威廉福克纳的字）曾说，“过去永远不会死去。它甚至还没有过去。”在福克纳的所有工作，这样的想法是非常明显的，我们会看到它在这里，在“献给艾米丽的一朵玫瑰。”跨越约74年，这个小故事，时间像记忆向后翻腾向前，并显示出过去和现在之间徘徊的南方小镇。内战后的预民事权利，“艾米丽玫瑰”向我们展示了一个美国南方的梦境，拼命地，每一代人，找到一个更好的方式，一种荣誉，过去的好，来与它的罪恶。美国-----《献给艾米丽的玫瑰》不看美国通过玫瑰色眼镜的愿景，尽管它的许多特点。奴隶制在美国南部的后果，表现在小说是在恶劣的形状。有一些人看到，他们相信–基于奴隶制–美国美国不再是固执的拒绝新的交易。故事涵盖了大约74年，开始的时候只是在内战之前。然而，在期间的重点，从1894到1935。因为日期都混在一起，我们必须努力理清故事目前的愿景美国从过去的公司。

通过展示人与倾斜的现实版本，现实-----版本，“艾米丽玫瑰”要求我们把“玫瑰色的眼镜，正视现实。我们面对的是故事中的现实的美国，和主要人物的完全隔离的现实。福克纳透露，很难看到过去的记忆清晰地描绘为有缺陷的和主观的存在。这个“难”是为什么主角发疯，因此必定会出现。幸运的是，小说里有同情和宽恕的健康剂量。当我们开始感觉到，我们开始看得更清楚。

同情和宽恕--“同情和宽恕”是另一个重要的主题，我们可以在几乎所有的关于福克纳的故事中找到。首先，它不可能在这种情况下是明显的。我们已经被告知这些情绪背后的“艾米丽的玫瑰”之前，我们可以看到他们。这个故事看起来简直是残酷的，人物和情节完全无动于衷，总。当我们开始看到这场巨大的悲剧，其影响多代，我们理解的故事是一个叫理解。这个故事似乎认为，宽恕，同情，和理解只能面对过去的事实和现在，这是纠结在一起的一个死结。福克纳是无情的，微妙的，很钝在这个故事中，我们可以感受到同情闯的精神。