英语本科毕业论文《论献给艾米莉的玫瑰三角叙事结构》正文+结论文档格式.docx

1、1.1 Story Time in A Rose for Emily Numerous attempts are made by scholars to set up the precise chronological events in the story.9 One reason of making such hard work is due to William Faulkners skillful narrative techniques, the unchronological time in narration. Ferguson once said that, in none o

2、f Faulkner short stories is time handled in a more complex way than that in A rose for Emily,10 Faulkner deliberately destroys chronological time in this story. However, it is of great significance to make out the liner order in narration of the story. With a careful examination of Chronological hin

3、ts in the text, a possible timetable of some major events of Emily can be made as below:Major Events in Emily Griersons Life in Story Time TimeMajor Events1857Emily is born.1887Emily is thirty years old but still single.1888Emilys father dies around this time.1889Humor Barron arrives in the summer,

4、and begin to date with Emily.1890Baptist Minister interviews with Emily.Emilys cousins visit and stop her marriage with H.B.Emily buys rat poison.H.B visits Emily and is not seen again.Neighbors sprinkle lime to eliminate the smell from Emilys house1894Colonel Sartoris remit Emilys taxes.1897Emily g

5、ives lessons in china-painting.1920A deputation visits Miss Emily and forces her to pay taxes.1931Emily dies at the age of 74.Townspeople visit Emilys house and disclose her crime.Table 1.1The story was published in 1931, and in part four, “up to the day of her death at seventy-four it was still tha

6、t vigorous iron-gray, like the men of an active men”,10 from which, it is known that Miss Emily was born in 1857. Part two tells to readers that Miss Emily is still single at her thirties. Because her father drives young men who want to marry Miss Emily away. In 1888, Miss Emilys father is dead, lea

7、ving her alone in the world. And she gets sick for a long time, until in the summer after her fathers death, Homer Barren arrives and Miss Emily falls in love with Homer Barren. 1890 is a tough year for Miss Emily; she has to get rid of all the obstacles of her love. In a way, Homers abandon is also

8、 an obstacle of her love and marriage. Therefore, in order to keep her sweetheart to stay with her, she buys the arsenic and kills Homer. The bad smell of the corpse makes the neighbors hardly tolerate, and they sprinkle lime to eliminate the smell. In 1894, Colonel Sartoris remitted Miss Emilys tax

9、, the reason is that Miss Emily is too poor to pay the tax, and she has to open china-painting lessons to earn some money for basic needs for her life. After Colonel Sartoris died for almost ten years, Miss Emily vanquishes the new aldermen who urge her to pay taxes. And this is the latest event hap

10、pened before Miss Emily dies. After Miss Emily is buried, people go to the room which no one had seen for forty years. What they find is that a man himself lay in the bed, where they also see a long strand of iron-gray hair. So Miss Emily is committed to crime at the last words in the story, and at

11、the end of her life. Thats all the events in chronological order which will helpful for readers to have a clear understanding about whole Miss Emilys life; however, this order is deliberately destroyed by the narrator. 1.2 Narrative Time in A Rose for Emily Chart 1.2The first part describe that town

12、s people come to Miss Emilys funeral with different motivations: “the men are through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women are mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house.”12 Thus arouses readers interest in Miss Emily and her life. However, the narrator does no

13、t satisfy the curiosities of readers towards Miss Emily immediately, but the latest event happens just before Miss Emilys death, is the Tax affair. In 1894, Colonel Sartoris remits her taxes and the dispensation from his fathers death to perpetuity. However, the new generation ignores this and urges

14、 Miss Emily to pay taxes.The second part tells the Smell affair thirty years before the Tax affair, and thirty two years before her fathers death, neighbors sprinkle lime around Miss Emilys house to eliminate the bad smell. Whats more, in part three, after fathers death and before the smell, readers

15、 get to know that Miss Emily falls in love with Homer Barron. When people are not optimistic on their love and marriage, Miss Emily buys arsenic which increases peoples guess upon to Miss Emily.Part four supplements the reasons for cousins visit and Miss Emily books mens toilet. Also in this part, t

16、he narrator tells the changes of Miss Emily after Homers disappearance. At her forties, she teaches china-painting for six or seven years in order to pay the taxes during which her taxes are remitted. At the end of part four, Miss Emily dies in one of the downstairs room, which is lack of sunlight.

17、The fifth part is the climax of the story. After the funeral, people break into the room no one has seen for 40 years, what shocks them and they find is the corpse of Homer. Upon the pillow beside the corpse, people see a long stand of iron-gray hair which is the end of the story.1.3 Time Inversion

18、in A Rose for EmilyOccurrence in the StoryPart Part Emilys cousins visited and stopped her marriage with H.B.Part Emily bought rat poison.Colonel Sartoris remits Emilys taxes.Part Part Table 1.3Time inversion is the discordance between story time and narrative time. From the above chart, it is clear

19、ly to see that the most obvious time inversion in the story is that the latest events happened before Miss Emily died is her refusal to pay taxes to the new alder men, which is told at the beginning of the story. Another important time inversion in narration is the displacement between Homers disapp

20、earance and the smell. In fact, Homer disappearance happens before the smell, however, the narrator does not tell the story like that. He tells neighbors sprinkled lime to eliminate the smell from Emilys house in part two, while narrates the disappearance of Homer in the forth part of the story. The

21、 effect of this time inversion is that when Homer disappears in the town, readers and the towns people will not think he is dead, much less, they relate his disappearance to the bad smell. This time inversion is the key point in the success of the story.The breaks of the chronological order in narra

22、tion do not omit any significant event in Miss Emilys life. However, it produces a mysterious effect which inspires readers reading interest. Theres no doubt that A Rose for Emily is a gothic novel, and this gothic effect produced dues much to the unchronological narration. If all the events were ar

23、ranged in story time, these horrible effects will decreaseChapter Two Triangle Narrative StructureAll events in the Triangle Narrative Structure are in narrative time. The beginning of part one tells that when Miss Emily is dead, men and women go to her funeral with different motivations. The last p

24、art narrates that after Miss Emilys funeral, towns people find the corpse of Homer Barren, and Miss Emily is committed to crime. All events narrated between the beginning and the end of the story happen when Miss Emily is alive. Besides, Mr. Griersons death is a turning point for Miss Emily and her

25、life. The events listed in the two sides of the Triangle Narrative Structure, to some degree, have embedded relations between each other. Whats more, the events in the left side give some hints for events in the right side of the Triangle Narrative Structure.2.1 Definition of Triangle Narrative Stru

26、ctureThis short story begins with Miss Emilys death; and then the story flashes back to the events, listed in the left side in the Triangle Narrative Structure happen when she is alive. Part two tells Miss Emilys father, Mr. Grierson is dead, which is regarded as the turning point of all events. At

27、last, the story comes back to Homers death and disclosing Miss Emilys crime. Obviously, the Triangle Narrative Structure is a loose triangle structure.This paper regards fathers death as the turning points in all events, the reasons are followings:Firstly, fathers death is usually considered as the earliest events except that Emilys father drives young men who want to marry Miss Emily away in the story. Secondly, to some degree, her fathers death frees Miss Emily and she gets