Symbolism in A Rose For Emily

Ma Yu

Symbolism

In literature， a symbol referred to a link between things. Symbolists used specific images of people or things to express abstract thoughts and feelings. In some way， symbolism had played an important role in conveying deep meanings beyond the literary level of a story.

1. The Origin and Precursors of Symbolism

Symbolism originated in France in the late nineteenth century and extended to a literary school in the western countries at the beginning of the twentieth century. It was not only the embodiment of symbolism in literature trend of thought， but also a core of a branch of modern literature. Symbolism mainly covered two major literary fields： poetry and drama. And the influence of symbolism still continued to these days. Masters in the western academic circles thought that the birth of symbolism literature was the boundary between classical literature and modern literature.The features of symbolism were different in different countries.

Symbolism took hazy beauty as its focus， so it was suitable for the lyric not for the description of the conflict and specific characters. That was why symbolic drama got very few achievements.

2. Symbolism Used in A Rose for Emily

William Faulkner was a master of using symbolic technique. By using this method， he effectively presented the conflicts between different values and a sharp contradiction between the dying old order and the new one.

2.1 Miss Emily

Miss Emily was a static character which stood for the old southern tradition. When Emily died， the whole town went to her funeral. As William Faulkner wrote：“ the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument， the women mostly were out of curiosity to see the inside of her house.” Emily was regarded as a monumental figure. That was to say， Emily represented a symbol of the old order and traditional virtues of the south America. These virtues were praised by people in the town which opposed to the modern cold efficiency and stiff regulations. Therefore， although Miss Emily was a kind of privacy and stubborn， the villagers still felt she was amiable.

After her fathers death， Emily changed. She started to pursue her own love and fall in love with a northerner Homer Barron. As a woman who grew up in the south America， Emily certainly knew what it meant to love a Yankee and how much risk she needed to take. But as a repressed woman， as a woman with a peculiar romantic temperament in the south， the power of love overcame all the difficulties. Emilys spirit of pursuing happiness regardless of any problems was exactly the humans spirit. This spirit was praised by many writers all the time. Her persistence and courage were the parts of human qualities which people always appreciated. However， Emily had two important personalities which were contradictory to each other： one was a romantic personality and the other was a southern traditional woman personality. The conflict between the two eventually led to her tragedy.

2.2 The Negro Man

The reason that Emily was able to survive after her fathers death was that she was completely dependent on the servant Tobe. Tobe became a servant when he was at a young age. He dedicated his whole life to his master. Secondly， Tobe carefully served Emily all his life. He was the link which connected Miss Emily with the outside world. Each of them was the reason for each others existence. As Emily passed away， there was no necessary for Tobe to exist. Therefore， on the day of Emilys death， people could not see him. He disappeared quietly without arousing any attention. The death of Emily symbolized the southern ancient traditions and values completely destroyed and vanished. Moreover， the disappearance of Tobe also had a strong symbolic meaning and deepened the theme. The disappearance of Tobe symbolized the collapse of the old slavery system in America. It had gone with wind forever.

2.3 Homer Barron

In this short story， another person who changed Miss Emilys character was her lover Homer Barron. He was shaped by William Faulkner as a big and dark man who was born in the north. America He was the representative of the north. People in the south who were ruled by the Puritan ideas despised the Yankees. They thought that northern people were selfish ones who pursued sensuous joy and were lack of a truthful faith in their hearts. People in Jefferson town did not allow Emily to fall in love with a Yankee. However， Emily decided to challenge this traditional idea and marry Homer Barron. She firmly believed that Barron was the right man who could give her happiness and love her forever. Unfortunately， Homer Barron was a guy who pursued freedom and pleasure. He represented radical and modern values of the north. When he had a relationship with Emily， he also had some affairs with other women. In Barrons heart， he did not intend to marry Emily， what he needed in deed was to satisfy his desire of pleasure. In other words， Homer Barron embodied the immorality which was popular in the north America at that time.

Besides， his name “Homer” also had a deep meaning. “Homer” and the word “home” almost had the same pronunciation with a little difference. Maybe， the name had the implied meaning that Emily kept Barron at home， which had also implied his tragic ending.

2.4 The Rose

It was well-known that rose was a representative for love and romance. Besides， the rose represented the blood of Jesus and a kind of love for God， like a feeling of respect and worship. In this story， the rose stood for Emilys whole life. People would remember Miss Emily forever. The rose was fragrant and beautiful but overgrew with thorns. As a normal female， Emily， of course， was also very eager to get the rose of love. However， when she got the rose， she would get plenty of bruises from the thorns. These thorns made Emily a figure like a devil from a southern elegant lady.

The first thorn was Emilys father. Her father was a spokesman of a typical patriarchal society and old traditional ideas. He firmly believed the Puritan traditional thoughts of womanhood.The second thorn was the people in Jefferson town. Because Miss Emily was born in an old aristocratic family， the towns people regarded her as a symbol of the southern federation. People were estranged her out of respect and fear. She lived entirely in her own world and did not know what had happened outside. In 1894， the mayor —Colonel Sartors exempted her tax. Thirty years later， when the new mayor sent tax paper to Emily and required her to pay tax. Emily insisted that Colonel Sartors had exempted her from taxation without knowing that Colonel Sartors had been dead for ten years. She had been isolated from the outside world for a long time. The third thorn was Emilys two cousins. Emily did not get everyones blessing in the town when she fell in love with Homer Barron. They hoped that she did not forget her noble identity and did not marry a northern person with a daily wage. Otherwise， she would become a bad example for young people. Besides， they forced the minister to educate and persuade her. At the same time， the ministers wife wrote to the Emilys cousins. Soon， her two cousins came to visit her. At that time， Miss Emily had been to the jewelers and ordered a mans toilet set in silver， with the letters H. B. on each piece. Two days later she had bought a complete outfit of a mans clothing， including a nightshirt. After the cousins arrival， her dream shattered. No one knew what her cousins told her， but Emily was definitely under a great pressure. Because after they left， she killed Homer Barron in order to protect her happiness. She was in love with Homer deeply， thus， she did not allow anyone to destroy her happiness. The last thorn was Emilys lover—Homer Barron. In fact， Emily could not occupy Homers whole heart. Even if the other people did not persuade her to abandon him， what would Emily feel if Homer Barron left by himself ？ When Homer came back and made it clear that he had no intention of getting married to Emily. This did hurt Emily deeply. Life was dangerous， the best way to be safe was to be dead. In order to have Homer completely， Emily decided to put him in a safe place —death.

2.5 The Small Town

The background of this short story was Jefferson town. It was a small town which located in the south America. At the very beginning， it was ruled by the Puritan ideas. Emily was a girl of the upper class， which made the whole people in the town respect her and exempted her taxes. Before the American Civil War， the southern economy was the traditional plantation economy， which obviously fell behind the northern capitalistic economy. In a sense， this small town was a typical representative of the southern traditional civilization. It revealed the social and economic history of the southern America. At that time， the north beat the south. As a result， plenty of inventions and new thoughts were brought into the south from the north. Besides， many northerners came to the south to find opportunities of making fortune. The small southern town could not stop this trend. With much fresh blood injected in the town， people in the town changed. They did not think Emily was the most noble woman and asked Emily to pay taxes again. This was the great change of the people in the town. And the small town became open， democratic and modern. In this period， the small town symbolized the transformation of the southern America before and after the American Civil War.

3. Conclusion

In A Rose for Emily， William Faulkner had shown the process in which the heroine， Miss Emily， tried to rebel the old traditional ideas of the south and faced many problems in front of her. But she failed at last. Besides， from the story， the author also showed the violent confrontation between the southern traditional ideas and the northern modern thoughts.

In a word， this short story contained many complex meanings. Each of the characters in the story and their relationships with Miss Emily were the tools of expressing the deep meaning of the story. William Faulkner used symbolism technique to show Emilys tragic life and the southern peoples conservative and backward mentality. Symbolism was really a ingenious and brilliant method.

By using the method of symbolism in this short story， William Faulkner put various thoughts and fears into his works. He could communicate with readers deeper than any other writers did. Understanding the authors writing style， readers could connect with the author and the characters heart by heart.