Another focus is on the author’s southern complex. As ZHA Ri-xin states in Interpretation of the American Southern Plight---On the Theme of Anxiety in William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, “On the surface, it seems that their plight derives from the fact that the ‘traditional world’ is diminishing, but after a deeper probing, it can been seen that they suffer even more because the ‘traditional world’ continues to exist--- the very existence is in their blood and souls, on account of which they feel unable to accept the modern world, nor is it possible for them to be accepted by the modern world.” Living in this transition period, Faulkner’s Southern character, Emily, has a determined tragic fate because of all these conflicts and their roots, which manifests the author’s the social transition anxiety.

    This thesis will first briefly analyze the cause of Emily’s tragedy, piding all her life into two periods which are before and after her lover’s appearance. In the next chapter, the thesis will interpret the three conflicts and the respective roots. Firstly, Emily’s father controls her under the influence of the old patriarchy. Secondly, her lover betrays her, which is the best illustration of collision between the old agricultural civilization and the new industrial civilization. Thirdly, the townspeople, who live in a transition society, put pressure on her, accelerating the tragic process. In the last chapter, the thesis will explain the embodiment of social transition in A Rose for Emily and expound the social transition anxiety.