An Analysis of the Father Images in A Rose for Emily and Barn Burning_英语论文

摘要

威廉·福克纳是20世纪美国文学史上最具影响力的作家之一，是意识流文学在美国的代表人物，以其多产和与美国南方社会的紧密联系而闻名于世。《献给艾米丽的玫瑰》和《烧马棚》是福克纳的两部短篇小说代表作，其中的父子/父女关系作为重要的矛盾对立关系之一，对揭示和阐释南方社会的种族、性别和社会问题具有重要意义。

本论文从福克纳短篇小说中父亲的形象这一不常被剖析的角度入手，细致而全面地分析了《献给艾米丽的玫瑰》和《烧马棚》中父亲的形象，探析父权制对于主角的成长和命运的影响，揭露了暴君式父权影响下主人公内心的分裂和人性的异化以及这种畸形的父子、父女关系引发的家庭内部之间的矛盾对于旧南方解体的推进作用，让读者对福克纳笔下的父权专制主义、旧南方社会以及福克纳的创作思想有更深入的了解。

关键词：威廉·福克纳；《献给艾米丽的玫瑰》；《烧马棚》；父亲形象

Abstract

As one of the most influential writers in the history of American Literature in the twentieth Century and the representative of stream of consciousness literature in the United States, William Faulkner is renowned for his prolific literary creation and his close association with the Old South.  A Rose for Emily and Barn Burning are two of his masterpieces of short stories. As one of the most important contradictory relationships, the father-and-son relationship or the father-and-daughter relationship is of great significance to reveal and explain the racial, gender and social problems of the American southern society.

This thesis starts with an introduction of the father image in William Faulkner’s short stories, which is not often analyzed. Then, it makes a careful and comprehensive analysis of the father images in A Rose for Emily and Barn Burning. This thesis studies the influence of patriarchy on the growth and fate of the protagonist, reveals the inner division of the heroes and the alienation of human nature under the influence of the tyrant patriarchy and further shows the impetus of the family conflict for the disintegration of the Old South. The detailed analysis of the two short stories deepens readers’ understanding of the patriarchal autocracy, the old southern society and William Faulkner’s creative ideas.

Key Words: William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily, Barn Burning, father images

Contents

1.Introduction 1

2.Demonstration 3

2.1 The father image in A Rose for Emily 3

2.1.1 A dictatorial tyrant 3

2.1.2 A declined aristocrat 4

2.1.3 Father’s influence on Emily’s tragic fate 5

2.2 The father image in Barn Burning 5

2.2.1 A savage white sharecropper 5

2.2.2 A paranoid loser 6

2.2.3 Father’s influence on Sartoris’s psychological conflicts 7

2.3 Common characteristics of the two fathers 8

2.3.1 The representatives of an autocratic patriarchy 8

2.3.2 The avatars of the old South 10

2.4 The functions of the father images 11

2.4.1 Triggering conflicts between family members 11

2.4.2 Accelerating the collapse of the Old South 12

3. Conclusion 12

Works Cited 14

Bibliography 15