Abstract
 
The Hamlet，the first novel of Faulkner’s Snopes Trilogy, mainly tells the story of the Snopes family and how Flem rises to an impotant position in the Frenchman's Bend. In this novel, objects, including architecture, clothes, vehicles, and commodities, are recurrent images and endowed with significant meanings. This thesis deals with the objects from three aspects, architecture, clothes, and commodity, with the focus on how these objects decribed in the novel contribute to the understanding of the theme as well as the characterization of the major characters.

Key words: The Hamlet, objects, architecture, clothes, commodity

摘    要

《村子》是福克纳的斯诺普斯三部曲中的第一部，主要讲述了斯诺普斯家族的故事以及弗莱姆在法国人湾的发迹史。 在小说中，建筑、服饰、交通工具以及商品等物品，是重复出现的意象，被赋予了深刻的意义。本文从建筑，服饰和商品三个方面来分析小说中的物品意象，重点分析小说中物的描写对主题表达和要人物刻画方面的作用。

关键词：《村子》； 物品； 建筑； 服饰； 商品
A Study of Objects in The Hamlet

1. Introduction
  William Faulkner(1897-1962) is an American writer of novels, short stories, poetry and occasional screenplays. He is considered as one of the most important writers of the Southern literature of the United States, along with Mark Twain, Thomas Wolfe and Tennessee Williams. His works mainly reflect the fate of people living in the American South during the slavery era which he was quite familiar with. The shadow of his family, the slavery, the complicated human nature and the rise and fall of the tragic history of the South all find their expressions in his works.
Faulkner's later works, The Hamlet, The Town and The Mansion, also known as Snopes Trilogy, narrates the story of the Snopes family. In the beginning of the novel, Ab, his wife, daughter, and son Flem settle down as tenant farmers beholden to the powerful Varner family. Faulkner uses the eccentricities of the Snopes to great comic effect, most notably in his description of Ike Snopes and his carnal inclinations towards livestock. A section towards the end of this book, detailing Flem's return from Texas and the auction of several horses, has also been published as the short story "Spotted Horses".
At first, The Hamlet was not quite popular. In 1957 a literary scholar could write:'' William Faulkner's novel The Hamlet has received less critical attention and, perhaps, less critical intelligence than any other of his major works.All the criticism of The Hamlet that has so far appeared emphasizes either the symbolism and structure of the work, or the opposition of Flem and the villagers.People's attention were mainly focused on the structure and writing techniques of The Hamlet. Not quite many people realizes that the objects was in fact a very important element in the novel and can provide us a different view to read the novel.