1、An Analysis on the Causes of Tobes Enslaved LifeIn A Rose for Emily1 IntroductionA Rose for Emily by William Faulkner is a short fiction that has roots in the southern United States with appearing overtones of mystery that is a historical context. The novel is set in the American South after the Civ

2、il War, when the old order declines and the new orders emerge. Using the decay and corruption of the South after the American Civil War as a background, Faulkner not only portrayed the tragedy to reflect social changes and conflicts in the work, but also implied a tough life the slaves live in the s

3、outh of America. In the story, Tobe, as a role of a black servant, was keeping looking after Miss Emily. It may be a mystery for people what Tobe knew about Emily and why Tobe did not split her but was stayed with her until her death. According to the whole background of the novel, it is not difficu

4、lt to assume that Tobe was born to a slave or stayed with a family, that is, Griersons family, through the Civil and even longer. His slavery identity gave him few options of the life. What Tobe was supposed to do is to become convinced of his master. He lost his freedom and options on the day he be

5、came a slave, which means he should be loyalty to his master-Miss Emily in his life. Therefore, although Emilys father left nothing for her after his death and she isolates herself from the outside in her dusty house, nobody has been to her house in ten years, except for her black servant, Tobe stil

6、l did not leave her alone but stayed with her. On one hand, it is his loyalty to Emily; on the other hand, as a black servant at that time, Tobe was not sure whether the future life after he left his master would be better and the situation outside the house would be improved. Thus, Tobes enslaved l

7、ife in this work has many complicated reasons, including social factors, racism, religion and culture. This thesis gives a study on causes of Tobes enslaved life in the story. The layout of the thesis can be divided into three parts. The first chapter mainly introduces the author of the novel, Willi

8、am Faulkner, explains the background of the story and gives a whole literature review, in order to get readers know about the work and understand it better; the second chapter analyzes the causes of Tobes enslaved life in A Rose for Emily from the aspects of racial discrimination, white supremacy cu

9、lture and religion; the last chapter is a conclusion for the whole thesis.1.1 A Brief Introduction of the Author William Faulkner (1897-1902), one of the most distinguished American southern writers, won the Nobel Prize for literature of 1949 in the year 1950. His baronial historical works with uniq

10、ue artistic style and strong local color make prodigious contribution to American literature, even further, the world literature. He believes that the Nobel Prize for literature has been made to his work-“a lifes work in the agony and sweat of the human spirit”, and that only the problems of the hum

11、an heart in conflict with itself can make good writing, in which the old universal truth emerges- “love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice”. He admires human beings: “he is immortal because he had a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance”. It can be i

12、ndicated from one of his creation in his work- A Rose for Emily. There is a servant who belongs to Emily in the story. Tobe is an African American, who is Emilys servant. And his voice supposedly rusty from lack of use, who is the only lifeline Emily has to the outside world and he cares for her and

13、 tends to her needs. After her death, he walks out the back door and never returns. He is an even more mysterious character than Emily and also a major connection to the theme “compassion and forgiveness”.William Faulkner was born in 1987, in New Albany, Mississippi. This giant in the realm of world

14、 literature transformed his native soil into the Yoknapatawpha setting, such as The Sound and the Fury (1929), As I Lay Dying (1930), Light in August (1930), Absalom, Absalom! (1936) and Go Down, Moses (1942). In these novels, he writes about the histories of a number of Southern aristocratic famili

15、es such as the Sartorises, the Compsons, the Sutpens and the Mcvaslins. Thus the Yoknapatawpha saga forms a history of its own, one handed down through oral tradition from generation to generation. All his life Faulkner was a teller of tales, and many of his longer works are organized around short s

16、tories.In Faulkners fiction, some of his strongest characters are women. In his opinion, women are closer than men to nature, labor and the instinctual life. And in his works, he generally showed a bleak picture of human society, where violence and cruelty were frequently included. His intension was

17、 to show the evil, harsh events in contrast to such eternal virtues as love, honor, pity, compassion, and self-sacrifice, and thereby expose the faults of society. His philosophy was that in the long run the brotherhood of man would triumph. In addition, because Faulkner was deeply influenced by the

18、 southern literary tradition, he appeared in the “Southern Revival of Letters” in America, whose works were considered as “an evil gallery”, “the offspring of the morbid culture spirit,” so “grotesquery” made him different and outstanding. Faulkner was considered as one of the greatest horror fictio

19、n and the important and influential Southern writers. 1.2 Background and significance about the novel A Rose for Emily was written after the Civil War when slavery had been abolished. However, the slavery did not really disappear in the society. According to the black servant-Tobe in the novel, the

20、background of that period is obviously seen. After the Civil War, the south was still relying on the thoughts of White supremacy and regarded their landlords as the superiors. The clear class divisions for a long time made people in the town hardly recognize that black people have equal right with w

21、hite people and never treat the blacks as humans. Even the blacks themselves think they are just tools of their masters, and they need not have any thoughts of their own. Especially in Miss Emilys family with rigorous disciplines, such thought was kept even better. It is the old thought that suppres

22、sed every one in the south. If Emilys life means a tragedy, the servant with her was quite an innocent victim of the old social system. The decline of the south declares that economic social system is in appropriate for the whole society, and it proves that the old system is a hysteresis. The south

23、was afflicted with poverty after the war and it took a long period of time for the Southerners to recuperate. Precisely because feeling uneasy about such alarming situation, some Southern writers of this time, who bear sincere concern for the south, spread no efforts to explore it and try their best

24、 to find a way to scrutinize both the past and the present of the South. Southern writers were fortunate enough to be endowed with keen minds which keep providing for them inspirations and they do begin to take a fresh look. Among them William Faulkner is a particularly distinguished one. As a write

25、r with a strong sense of responsibility, Faulkner was in a fever of telling the truth and stirring up love for life in all human beings, which was heavy enough to amount to create a burden deep down in his sensitive and vulnerable heart. In this novel, he exposes the effects of subconscious personal

26、ity disorders on the development and formation of ones personality. It is a real for Faulkner that he decides to dedicate himself to writing as his lifelong cause. For by putting down in an indirect way his experience and inner conflict into his works, he manages to liberate himself from the spiritu

27、al torment and regain access to tranquility. Whats more important is that in this way he succeeds in awaking humanity from the state of chaos and encouraging them to change this world towards a more normal, healthy and positive being.Falkner shows a real situation of the south at that time by creati

28、ng the novel which reflects many sensitive problems, such as the unequal status between the whites and the blacks, how they get on with each other and their conflicts, etc. For a long time, many reviews focus on the main character Emily, so the servant Tobe is often neglected. It is he that spends h

29、is life with Emily. With presence of Emily, he “appeared” and after Emilys death, he “disappeared”. It implies a fact the blacks did not get real social identity at that time, there was no change in their life and were still facing racial discrimination. Also it reveals the slavery in America was ab

30、olished incompletely. The blacks were called “Negro” or “nigger” instead of African-American. These words in the salutation obviously contain discriminatory and contumelious meanings, and for another thing, the situation that the whites discriminate against the blacks seems not completely to change.

31、 Tobes life in the novel represents most blacks existing social condition after war. In the novel, Miss Emily stands for old system of the south which was one of downfallen nobles after war. The servant seems to be free after her death, getting rid of the position as a servant and having equal right

32、s. However, Tobe did not enter the crowd of white people, but went away in a hurry out of others sight. It just shows at that time the whites hardly got well on with the blacks, that is, there was a big gap about social estrangement and psychological estrangement between the whites and the blacks. A

33、lthough the servant never said a word in the novel, which just indicates blacks have no right to give a speech, Tobe himself recognized his humble social status in his deep heart. He would not like to or even dare not to live with the whites as a normal social status. Based on the writing of Faulkne

34、r, people can see that although the slavery was abolished in America, the blacks actually did not get real freedom and social approval. The description of abnormal behavior of Tobe reflects suffering the blacks experiencing. The novel reveals a real situation of blacks after the war. Therefore, the

35、real social situation reflected from Tobes miserable life makes readers know how the blacks live in America, and at the meantime it reflects the slavery is still alive in the society and legal system of America is quite a lie. The problems about racial discrimination and social problems caused by hi

36、storical reasons have never been solved, and not all the people in America have freedom and equal rights. 1.3 Literature ReviewA Rose for Emily is William Faulkners most famous short story. This story is set in the town of Jefferson in Yoknapatawpha County, the center of Faulkners “mythical kingdom,

37、” and Emily Grierson family, is the central character of the story.Dominated by the father who bore the rigid ideas of social status, the daughter has been prevented from marrying her town followers during his lifetime, and is left penniless after her fathers death. Later, she falls in love with a Y

38、ankee, Homer Barron who is disregarded by the whole town and her relatives. As a member of the stubborn Griersons family, Emily arrogantly defies her kin and the community by insisting on marrying Homer. Unfortunately, Miss Emily finds that Homer has no intention to marry her. Desperately, Emily kil

39、ls her love and keeps his body. Then Emily remains in voluntary isolation away and from the sunshine of the human world of normal affairs. She isolates herself from outside world and lives alone in her dusty house until her death. So the creation, Emily seems a myth for readers. However, it is easy

40、for people to neglect another plain character-Tobe, first described as “an old man-servant, a combined gardener and cook”. He is an even more mysterious character than Emily, and ironically, probably the only one who knows the answers to all the mysteries in the story. He must have been the one to a

41、lert the town to both Emilys fathers death and to her own death. Loyal and discreet, he protected her privacy from the prying eyes and ears of the town. Therefore, he split after her death, to avoid having to divulge her secrets to the town. Also he probably left because his duty was finally done, a

42、nd he could escape the stinking, rotting crypt of a house. Assuming he was born with the family or lived with them as a little boy, and he stayed with them through the Civil War, and even all the rest, too. As a black man in the South his options were limited, maybe even more limited than Emilys. Li

43、ke her, he might have become convinced that the world outside the house was not the place for him. He might have felt intense loyalty to Miss Emily, and maybe even, like the town, an obligation to her.The study of William Faulkners short story A Rose for Emily has mushroomed at home and abroad in re

44、cent years. An upsurge of scholars interested in the novel is found such as: David Bowling (1989), Reed, J.R (1997), Xiao Minghan (1997), Shao Jinti (1995), Huang Xuer (1997), Zhang Deliu (1990), Wang Mingin (2002) and Guan Jianming (2003) (Howe, 1994). Researches on A Rose for Emily in China are ma

45、inly the study using different theories and that from the perspective of the writing techniques. Previous studies often use different theories of Feminism, deconstruction and psycho analysis.With many of Faulkners most important works translated into Chinese, works on Faulkner studies of foreign sch

46、olars have also been introduced into Chinese. In 1980 Chinese social Science Press published Critical Essays on William Faulkner which was edited by Li Wenjun. This is the first time to thoroughly criticize this hotly writer in China. Afterward, biographies of William Faulkner were translated into C

47、hinese in the 1990s. Critical researches on Faulkner developed quickly during the 1980s. In this period researchers scope of criticism mainly focus on Faulkners thought, among religion, myth, philosophy and the works.When studying Faulkners thought, the researchers concentrate on the relationship be

48、tween Faulkner and South American history and culture via the analysis of the novels that won universal praise. Some researchers criticize the southern racism through analyzing the characterization of the African Americans in the representative works of Faulkner and get the point that Faulkner criti

49、cizes the southern racism. (Zhang Shumei, 1988: 34-39) Some researchers have studied from the aspect of the cultural tendency of Faulkners writing. They think that Southern American culture has a long history and is developing in a tortuous way. Furthermore, Xiao Minghan has got the conclusion that

50、Faulkner characterizes the African Americans unilaterally owing to the influence of his cultural tradition, ideology and value judgment. Any way, he actually does not support Southern racism.Causes of Tobes Enslaved Life2.1 History of Racial Discrimination in AmericaRacism involves the belief in rac

51、ial differences, which acts as a justification for non-equal treatment, which some regard as “discrimination” of members of that race. The term is commonly used negatively and is usually associated with race-based prejudice, violence, dislike, discrimination, or oppression. The term can also have va

52、rying and contested definitions. Racial discrimination refers to the separation of people through a process of social division into categories not necessarily related to races for purposes of different treatment. As we all know, USA is made up of many different races. The local residents are Indians

53、. Then many settles came to this land, including many Negroes from Africa. Therefore, in such a race-mixed country, racial discrimination is everywhere which seems to be unavoidable. And it was getting worse and worse in the 1950s. Blacks were looked down upon in nearly every field. In America, the

54、racial discrimination, the racial conflicts often happen, the black people are treated as slaves by white people, they often have the lowest salary, insurance and many unfair treatment.At the beginning, the Africans in the South were outnumbered by white indentured servants, who came voluntarily fro

55、m Britain. They avoided the plantation owners turned to lifetime slaves who worked for their keep but were not paid wages and could not easily escape. Generally the slaves developed their own family system, religion and customs in the slave quarters with little interference from owners, who were onl

56、y interested in work outputs. After the Civil War, the slavery was abolished, so there appeared free Blacks in the United States. But the majority of free blacks lived in poverty, even though some were able to establish successful businesses that catered to the Black community. Racial discrimination

57、 often get in the way, which means that Blacks were not welcome or would be mistreated in White businesses and other establishments. Above all, because of the racial discrimination, Blacks clustered as the bottom of the wage scale. All were usually the last hired and the first fired and performed me

58、nially jobs. Wherever the minorities worked the “native” Americans saw them as a threat to their livelihood, as they normally accepted jobs that the whites did not want. Despite the emancipation from slavery after the Civil War, the former slaves remained at the bottom of the social scale in the sou

59、thern states, where most blacks lived. Some had constitutional clauses limiting membership to whites only; others followed a de facto exclusion policy. Most commonly associated with Blacks, who were separated from whites in most public areas such as trains, parks and even cemeteries, also extended to other minority groups. It seems to have given an end to the slavery system, but the living conditions of the black people were still hard in the racial discriminative south. Patterns of deep-rooted soc