Abstract

A Rose for Emily, a short story by American author William Faulkner, is one of the great curiosities, as it is one of the greatest masterpieces of literature. This story sets in Faulkner’s fictional city, Jefferson, in his fictional county of Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi. In most of William Faulkner’s works, the problem of the human heart in conflict with itself is well presented as the universal theme. In A Rose for Emily, the author employs unique technique to describe tragic story in the whole life of heroine Emily Grierson.
This paper will analyze characters of Emily’s house to explore the distortion of her humanity. It begins with a brief introduction to the author and this novel, then makes an analysis of role of Emily’s house, and thereby further demonstrates the main idea of this paper---using of “image of space”---could perfectly show the house owners’characters and psychology. Isolation, obsolecence and decay of the house are vivid representatives of Emily’s inner world.

Key words: A Rose for Emily, Emily, house, isolation, obsolecence, decay

摘 要

威廉•福克纳的短篇小说《献给艾米丽的玫瑰花》是一部惊世之作。故事的发生地点是福克纳在“约克纳帕塔法世系”中虚构的位于密西西比的小镇—杰斐逊镇。福克纳的大部分作品，都很好地展现了人物内心的冲突，并以此为主。作者以独具匠心的手法描述了女主人公艾米丽•格里尔生小姐一生的悲惨际遇。
本论文通过分析艾米丽房子的特征来探讨人性的扭曲。本论文开头简单介绍了小说作者及作品，然后分析了艾米丽房子的作用。因此，进一步揭示了本文梗概，即在文学作品中完美地使用“空间意象”能够生动且直接地展现文章主人公的性格特征和心理。在本文中，房子的孤立，古老和腐朽正是艾米丽内心特征的生动体现。

关键词：《献给艾米丽的玫瑰花》；艾米丽；房子；孤立；古老；腐朽

1. Introduction
William Faulkner was a phenomenal figure in American literature during the 20th century. Faulkner’s works mainly reflect the fate of people living in the American South during the slavery time which he was quite familiar with (Li, 136). Most of Faulkner’s works are created in the American South and the Yoknapatawpha saga¹ is Faulkner’s real achievement. Therefore, his characters always carry the particular taste and smell of this world with themselves. Faulkner was particularly known for the eloquent abundance of his prose style and for the unique integration of tragedy and comedy in his works. The emotional impact in his novels is real alarming and his characters are highly imposing. He would never be busy in stepping between the characters and the reader, but let the characters explain themselves.