In this paper, I will study on the short story from the aspect of Gothic elements and analyze the intensive conflicts between the North and the South. This paper is pided into three parts. In the beginning of the paper is a brief introduction to William Faulkner and his short story “A Rose for Emily” and literature review on the short story. The body of this paper includes four chapters. There are horrible atmosphere, wired characters, death of major characters and narrative. These four chapters mainly focus on the using of Gothic elements in the short story. Last part is a conclusion of the paper.

Chapter One   The Gothic Characteristic in Settings

The Gothic story always takes place in a hidden castle in the jungle or an isolated church and is full of terror. It is frequently assumed that Gothic novels begin as a lurid offshoot from a dominant tradition of largely realist and morally respectable novel. Gothic’s representations of extreme circumstance of terror, oppression and persecution, darkness and obscurity of setting, and innocence betrayed are considered to begin with Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto. The horrible atmosphere is created by gloomy and grotesque place such as the setting in The Fall of the House of Usher of Edgar Allen Poe. This arrangement of background wants to give readers a sense of horror. “After 1920s, the center of Gothic literature has already moved to America” (Dong, Feng 24). In this short story, Faulkner gives great importance to describe the scene and makes up a horrible and scary atmosphere. Emily’s house was a big, squarish frame house with noble style which “had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies set on what had once been our most select street”(William 3) when Emily’s father was alive. Through this description, a Gothic style construction comes into our conscience. And now the once selected house is embraced by the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps from the north. It means everything moves forward however Miss Emily rejects to be modernized or changed by the world. The house she and her father live has a long history just like the Greisens’ family itself. It also has been prosperous. 来*自-优=尔,论:文+网www.youerw.com

Many years later, because of the tax problem, a deputation has a chance to go into Miss Emily’s house. “They were admitted by the old Negro into a dim all from which a stairway mounted into still more shadow” (William 5). The parlor “was furnished in heavy, leather-covered furniture.”(William 5). When the deputation sat down on the sofa, “a faint dust rose sluggishly about their thighs, spinning with slow motes in the single sunray.”(William 5). This is the first time the people know how Miss Emily’s room is like. And this weird atmosphere makes them more curious about the life in the house. The whole thing here is full of mystery, and nobody knows what is hidden in the darker place. People are all frightened of the territory, but on the other hand they are more curious about exploration. All these things in the old house form an enclosed space of past and the people come into not a house but the darkness of the old society. The next description of Miss Emily was more horrible. “She looked bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water, and of that pallid hue.”(William 6). The author uses a rhetorical device of metaphor to give us a picture of a dead-alive person. The second description of Miss Emily’s house is after Miss Emily’s death, it is also the climax part in Gothic environment in this story. “A thin acrid pall as of the tomb seemed to lie everywhere upon this room decked and furnished as for a bridal.” (William 19). The second pillow in the bed was the indentation of a head. It seemed someone used it before. Nevertheless, the residents saw a long strand of iron-gray hair. Obviously, the hair must belong to Miss Emily which means the woman has been sleeping with the body for almost thirty years. Through the suit, tie and socks, readers can imagine the scene when Homer was killed. This short story attaches great attentions to the description of Gothic surroundings to show the dark sides of characters and explains why Miss Emily becomes so decadent and gloomy.