肯迪大学现代大学英语精读6(第二版)Unit2教师用书

Unit 2

A Rose for Emily

William Faulkner

Additional Background Information on William Faulkner

William Faulkner was born and brought up in the American South and lived there for almost all

his life. On November 14, 1888, the local newspaper in Jackson, Mississippi reported a news story:

“A

terrible

tragedy

was

enacted

at

Ripley

on

Tuesday

afternoon

of

last

week—

the

widely

and

well-

known

Col.

W.

C.

Falkner

being

the

victim.”

Col.

F

alkner

had

run

for

the

Mississippi

legislature

and

had

been

elected.

But

before

he

took

office

he

was

shot

dead

by

his

rival.

Col.

Falkner had been a local hero and a legendary figure. He was a pioneer in Mississippi, organized a

regiment to fight for the South in the Civil War, practiced law after returning from the battlefields,

bought

a

large

plantation,

built

the

first

railroad

in

his

hometown,

and

wrote

a

novel,

which

became

a

national

best-

seller.

This

“widely

and

well

-

known”

Col.

W.

C.

Falkner

was

Wi

lliam

Faulkner’s great

-grandfather.

On

September

25,

1897,

Faulkner

was

born

in

this

distinguished

family.

He

spent

his

youth

in

Oxford, a small town in Mississippi. Although the old colonel had died before Faulkner came into

this world, the boy grew up listening to all sorts of stories about his great-grandfather and other

people in his hometown. The stories that his Negro nanny told him and the gossip he heard from

the townspeople resting and chatting in the small downtown square provided Faulkner with an oral

tradition of storytelling as an important part of his education.

During World War I Faulkner served in the Royal Canadian Air Force. After the armistice in 1918

he returned to Oxford, and for some time he led his life in a rather listless way. He attended the

University

of

Mississippi

but

left

the

university

within

a

year;

he

tried

his

hand

at

poetry

but

without much success; he went north to the cultural metropolitan city of New York, but was driven

back home soon by loneliness. He became a postmaster, but after three years at most, he resigned

from this post. All this time, Faulkner had been reading, first, whatever interested him, and, later,

the great poets and novelists. In New York, Faulkner met Sherwood Anderson, a famous writer,

and then when he traveled to New Orleans in 1925, he gained entry into this artistic center through

Anderson. Inspired by Anderson, Faulkner began to write novels.

Faulkner

wrote

19

novels

and

nearly

a

hundred

short

stories.

The

setting

of

15

novels

and

the

majority of the short fiction is the American South. In his third book

Sartoris

(1929), he created

the

fictional

Yoknapatawpha

County.

In

the

same

year,

he

published

The

Sound

and

the

Fury

(1929),

one

of

his

masterpieces.

This

novel

owes

much

to

James

Joyce

and

the

stream

of

consciousness

technique.

In

another

major

work

As

I

Lay

Dying

(1930),

Faulkner

relates

a

terrifying

comic

story

to

a

ritualized

burial

journey.

In

this

novel

he

experiments

with

multiple-point-of-view narration.

Light in August

(1932) is also one

of Faulkner’s major novels.

The

high point

of

Faulkner’s

development

is

the

brilliant

Absalom,

Absalom!

(1936).

His

other

major works include

The Unvanquished

,

The Wild Palms

,

The Hamlet

,

The Town

,

The Mansion

,

Go Down Moses

,

A Fable

, etc.

As

the

setting

of

most

of

his

works

is

the

American

South,

Faulkner

is

regarded

as

a

regional

writer.

But

the

word

“regional”

is

misleading

because

Faulkner

deals

with

some

of

the

major

universal themes in literature so profoundly that his work is read and recognized nationally and

internationally.

As

far

as

writing

techniques

are

concerned,

Faulkner

is

among

the

great

experimentalists of the 20th century novel. His effective use of stream of consciousness, multiple

points of view, symbolism and imagery, places him among the rank of outstanding modern writers

along with James Joyce and Virginia Woolf. In 1950, Faulkner won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

The Themes and Writing Techniques of “A Rose for Emily”

Although

“A

Rose

for

Emily”

is

one

of

his

most

f

requently

anthologized

short

stories

and

is

widely used in the American classroom, Chinese students may find it difficult to understand and

appreciate.

Some

of

them

may

think

it

is

a

bizarre

story

about

an

old

eccentric

lady

in

an

American

Southern

town.

I

t’s

true

that

the

setting

of

the

story

is

the

American

South.

Yet,

the

theme of the story is universal, transcending the boundaries of time and space. Like many other

works of great literature, this short story tells about love, death, honor, pride, change, and loss.

In “A Rose for Emily” we can see how the author tells

the good story skillfully; how he creates the

requisite atmosphere for telling the story; how he maintains the suspense and unfolds the conflict

bit by bit; and how he digs deep into the social world of his characters. This story is a rich and

modern

20

th

-century

literary

text.

Those

who

are

not

very

familiar

with

modern

American

literature may therefore encounter obstacles in reading this story: vague references, ambiguities,

symbolism,

imagery,

experimental

point

of

view,

jumbled

time

sequences,

avoidance

of

clear

transitions, withholding of vital information, etc. By exploiting those “tricks,” Faulkner hopes to

invite readers to participate in the process of seeking the truths of the inner life of the characters in

the story. Once we do, we will surely enjoy reading the story. It’s like working at a puzzle:

the

more parts we start to figure out, the more interesting the puzzle will become.

The 1950 Nobel Prize presentation speech called Faulkner as

the “unrivaled master of all living

British

and

American

novelists.”

He

is

regarded

as

a

“deep

psychologist.”

“A

Rose

for

Emily”

lives up to that high praise.

Implicit Chronology (approximate)

The

narration

of

“A

Rose

for

Emily”

does

not

follow

a

normal

chronological

order.

Instead,

it

shifts in time frequently and gives out bits of information about the main character, Miss Emily, in

such a way that the reader has to piece them together by himself/herself. The following implicit

chronology has been worked out on the basis of the information from the text.

ca. 1855: Miss Emily was born to the richest family of slave-owners in the town.

1861: The American Civil War broke out; Confederate troops from the town were commanded by

Col. Sartoris.

1865: The American Civil War ended.

1870s: Mr. Grierson, Miss Emily’s father,

had the family house built in the Gothic revival style.

ca. 1886: Mr. Grierson died

; Miss Emily’s inheritance

was only the house; she was over thirty.

ca.

1887:

Homer

Barron,

Northern

construction

foreman,

arrived;

he

and

Miss

Emily

started

courting.

ca. 1888: Homer Barron could be seen no more; the smell in the house was noticed.

1894: The Young Colonel Sartoris, as mayor of the town,

exempted Miss Emily from taxes for

life.

ca. 1919: The Young Colonel died.

ca. 1927-1928: The tax delegation visited Miss Emily.

ca. 1929-1930: Miss Emily died at the age of 74.

Notes:

“ca.” is short for circa, meaning “about” used before an approximate date or

figure. We

must remember that Faulkner is not always accurate about the exact time of a certain event. The

purpose of working out this chronology is to give students a rough idea of the time frame in which

the story took place.

Structure of the Text

P

art I (Paras. 1-14)

This part begins with the death of Miss Emily, the daughter of an eminent Southern family and

indicates who Emily was.

?

When Miss Emily died, all the people in the town went to her funeral. (Para. 1)

?

Miss Emily lived in a big old house on one of the best streets of the town. (Para. 2)

?

When Miss Emily was alive, the older generation treated her as a tradition, a duty, a care and

a sort of hereditary obligation. The mayor remitted her taxes. (Para. 3)

?

When a new generation came along, its members wanted her to pay taxes like everyone else.

A deputation visited her, but she firmly dismissed them. (Paras. 4-14)

Part II (Paras. 15-28)

In this part, there is a time shift to thirty years before the visit of the deputation.

?

There was a b

ad smell from Miss Emily’s house. That was two years after her father’s death

and a short time after her sweetheart disappeared. (Para. 15)

?

The

neighbors

complained

about

the

bad

smell,

but

the

town

authorities

didn’t

want

to

embarrass Miss Emily by telling her straightforwardly. (Paras. 16-23)

?

So, one night, four men secretively crossed Miss Emily’s lawn and sprinkled lime, and soon

after that the smell was gone. (Para. 24)

?

The townspeople felt sorry for Miss Emily because her father was so proud that he drove all

her suitors away, and when he died, he left her almost nothing apart from the house. (Paras.

25-26)

?

The

day

after

her

father’s

death,

people

came

to

offer

their

condolences,

but

Miss

Emily

refused to let them in the house, telling them that her father was not dead. (Paras. 27-28)

P

art III (Paras. 29-42)

It describes how a construction foreman named Homer Barron, a Yankee, courted Miss Emily and

how she behaved after her sweetheart disappeared.

?

Because

Miss

Emily

was

courting

a

day

laborer,

a

Northerner,

people

began

to

pity

her.

(Paras. 29-33)

?

One day Miss Emily went to the drug store and bought poison. When asked what it was for,

she refused to answer. (Paras. 34-42)

P

art IV (Paras. 43-53)

This

part

describes

in

more

detail

how

Emily

and

Homer

Barron

were

seen

together

and

what

happened to Emily after his disappearance.

?

When

people

saw

Emily

and

Homer

Barron

together

without

any

signs

of

their

getting

married,

they

thought

she

was

providing

a

bad

example

to

the

young

and

asked

Emily’s

relatives

to

persuade

her

to

get

married.

They

were

relieved

to

see

that

there

were

preparations for a marriage. (Paras. 43-45)

?

Homer Barron went away and came back, and was admitted into the house one evening. That

was when he was last seen. (Para. 46)

?

Miss

Emily

did

not

appear

on

the

streets

for

a

long

time.

She

grew

older

and

her

hair

grew

grayer. She died at the age of seventy-four. (Paras. 47-53)

P

art V (Paras. 54-60)

This part describes what happened after Emily’s death—

in an upstairs room, which no one had

entered except Miss Emily herself, the dead body of Homer Barron was found. It had been lying

in that bed for forty years.

Detailed Study of the Text

1.

What is the meaning of the title “A Rose for Emily?”

The meaning of the title is ambiguous, and can be interpreted in various way. A rose is a cliché

,

symbolizing love and a pledge of faithfulness. From the story, we can see Miss Emily was denied

by love. So, in this sense, the title has an ironic meaning. A rose can also mean a kind of memorial

or an offering in memory of someone. Then, who offered a rose to Emily? Faulkner intentionally

leaves the answer for the readers to find out. But different readers may arrive at different answers.

Ambiguity is one of the characteristics of this story. Students should be encouraged to give their

own interpretations and give answers to questions that

may arise during their reading and class

discussion.

2.

Who is telling the story?

You learn a lot about many 20

th

-

century literary text by asking, “who is telling the story?” That is

not a very important question as regards 18

th

-century fiction or even 19

th

-century fiction because

the narrator in stories written in those periods is usually a person who knows everything at any

given

moment.

This

is

called

“the

omniscient

(all

-

knowing)

narrator”.

M

odern

writers

of

the

20

th

-century,

such

as

Faulkner,

like

to

experiment

with

different

narrative

voices.

In

his

long

fiction,

Faulkner

often

uses

several

narrative

voices.

In

“A

Rose

for

Emily”,

he

chooses

to

use

“we”, the people of the town, as the collective narrator. The first sentence of the story is, “When

Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her

funeral...” In the following sections, “we”

frequently appears as the narrator.

3.

Why did the author choose to use this collective narrator?

“We” are the ordinary people of the town, representing the gossip of the town. They are, most of

the

time,

not

participants

but

observers

of

events.

They

are

detached

from

Miss

Emily,

and

therefore different from the “ladies” or “older people” mentioned in

paragraph 31, who are more

socially

involved

with

Miss

Emily,

thus

tending

to

be

more

judgmental.

The

townspeople

are

mainly interested in keeping track of events and sharing the information with people coming from

outside the town. Yet, as people living in a small town in the South, they have their own values

and

attitudes.

On

the

whole

“we”

should be

regarded

as

a

reliable

narrator.

However,

“we”

are

unable

to

tell

the

story

in

a

straightforward

and

systematic

manner.

As

non-participants

in

the

major events, this collective narrator does not know everything, hence this narrative point of view

is

limited.

For

example,

none

of

“us”

had

been

inside

Miss

Emily’s

house

until

her

death.

So

inevitably

there

are

gaps

in

the

narration

that

are

bound

to

cause

confusion

among

readers

or

listeners. That leaves a lot of room for readers to participate. As readers, we have to fill in the gaps

and

piece

together

the

scattered

bits

of

information

by

ourselves.

This

is

the

burden

the

author

places on us, and at the same time, it is part of the enjoyment in reading such a story.

4. When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through a

sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see

the

inside

of

her house, which

no

one

save

an

old

manservant

—

a

combined gardener

and

cook

—

had seen in at least ten years. (Para. 1)

save:

prep.

formal

except for. e.g.: She answered all the questions save one.

Translation:

埃米莉

·

格里尔森小姐去世时，全镇的人都去送葬了。男人们去是出于尊敬，

因为一个纪念碑倒下了。

女人们则是出于好奇，

想看看埃米莉小姐的房子里面 到底是什么样

子，因为除了一个作花匠兼厨师的老男仆之外，起码有

10

年没别人踏进过她家的大门了。

5.

What is the function of Paragraph 2?

This paragraph provides details about the setting of the story

—

the place being the Southern town

of Jefferson and the time being after the South was defeated in the American Civil War. From the

descriptions of the appearance of Miss Emily’s house, we learn something abo

ut her family and

her character, and from the visible changes on the streets over the years we get to know something

about the historical and social changes that were taking place.

6. It was a big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and

spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies, set on what had

once been our most select street. (Para. 2)

frame house:

a house made of wood

the heavily lightsome style of the seventies:

This house was built in the 1870s, after the end of

the

American

Civil

War.

Compared

with

the

solemn

houses

with

columns

in

the

Greek

revival

style built before the war (such as those we see in the movie

Gone with the Wind

), this Gothic

revival style was fancy and frivolous.

select:

adj.

formal

choice,

excellent,

outstanding;

only

lived

in,

visited

or

used

by

a

small

number of wealthy people

Note:

The

detailed

description

of

the

house

reveals

the

identity

of

the

Griersons

as

one

of

the

richest families in the town.

7. But garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of that

neighborhood;

only

Miss

Emily’s

house

was

left,

lifting

its

stubborn

and

coquettish

decay

above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps

—

an eyesore among eyesores. (Para. 2)

garage:

a business establishment where motor vehicles are stored, repaired, serviced, etc.

august:

(accent on the second syllable) inspiring awe and reverence; imposing and magnificent;

worthy of respect because of age and dignity, of high position, etc.

coquettish:

like

a

girl

or

woman

who,

merely

from

vanity,

tries

to

get

men’s

attention

and

admiration

cotton

wagon:

a

wagon

carrying

cotton

driven

to

town

to

wait

for

cotton

gins

to

separate

the

cotton fibers from the seeds

an eyesore among eyesores:

丑中之丑

An eyesore is something that is very ugly, especially a

building surrounded by other things that are not ugly.

Note:

In former times, the

street housed only the best

families. Then great changes took place:

garages

and

cotton

gins

were

built

and

erased

the

aristocratic

atmosphere

of

the

neighborhood.

While the street became modern and commercial, only Miss Emily’s house remained untouched.

Although her house was rundown, it retained the air of a stubborn and frivolous girl. The cotton

wagons and gasoline pumps were ugly, but this house, which was old, disintegrating, pretentious,

and completely out of place, was even less pleasant to

look at. Here, the author personifies the

buildings on the street, especially Miss Emily’s house by using words like “liftin

g its stubborn and

coquettish decay

.”

This detail shows that the house and its owner share the same characteristics.

8.

And now Miss Emily had gone to join the representatives of those august names where

they lay in the cedar- bemused cemetery among the ranked and anonymous graves of Union

and Confederate soldiers who fell at the battle of Jefferson. (Para. 2)

cedar-bemused:

transferred epithet

to bemuse:

to plunge in thought; to preoccupy, usually in the passive voice. When “we” visit the

cemetery,

we

would

be

plunged

in

thought,

meditating,

thinking

about

the

dead,

the

war,

and

history. Cedars are long- lived pine trees often planted in cemeteries.

Translation:

不过，现在埃米莉小姐也加入到那些名门望 族代表的行列中了。他们在令人沉

思的雪松陪伴下长眠于公墓，

他们的墓 碑周围埋葬着一排排南北战争中在杰斐逊战场上阵亡

的南军和北军的无名士兵。