象征主义与《献给艾米丽的玫瑰》(2)

菜单

In most cases, stream of consciousness and symbolism are inseparably interconnected concerning literature writing. That is, when discussing a literature work featuring in stream of consciousness, the study on the symbolic symbols in the text is indispensable. Usually, the writing technique--symbolism is applied universally in a stream-of-consciousness novel. Stream of consciousness is characterized by a flow of thoughts and images, which may not always appear to have a coherent structure or cohesion. The plot line may weave in and out of time and place, carrying the reader through the life span of a character or further along a timeline to incorporate the lives (and thoughts) of characters from other time periods (James, 2013). Writers who create stream-of-consciousness works of literature focus on the emotional and psychological processes that are taking place in the minds of one or more characters. Important character traits are revealed through an exploration of what is going on in the mind (Humphrey, 1954). Faulkner made frequent use of "stream of consciousness" in his writing, including the novel A Rose for Emily, which endowed his works with the distinct feature of focusing on the psychological aspect of the main character. The order of the text follows one of the key principle of stream of consciousness, the plot line weaves out of time and place. However, Emily is described as a woman who is isolated from the outside world both by her father and herself. And she seldom talks to others. Merely two places of Emily’s verbal description appear in the novel. Thus, as a typical psychoanalysis novel, under such a unique character setting of Emily, how can Faulkner show the real character of Emily? In what way does the emotion of Emily follow under such conditions? Faulkner’s answer is--symbolism. Symbolism is the use of one object or action (a symbol) to represent or suggest something else. In a narrow context, "symbolism" is the applied use of any iconic representations which carry particular conventional meanings. In literature, "symbolism" may refer to the use of abstract concepts, as a way to obfuscate any literal interpretation, or to allow for the broader applicability of the prose to meanings beyond what may be literally described. Many writers, Faulkner, for example, use symbolism extensively, to represent themes which applied to greater contexts in their contemporary politics and society (James, 2013).

Throughout the previous studies on symbolism used in A Rose for Emily, the emphasis is often laid on more than one aspect, for example, the symbolic meaning of “rose” “Emily” “the house of Emily” “Emily’s father” “the negro”... However, in general, those analyses are not thorough or detailed enough due to the multiple perspectives of analyzing. A lot of points are just mentioned instead of being dug out and carefully discussed. Among the existing studies, many mentioned a little about the varied symbolic meanings under Emily’s constant-changing appearance. Nevertheless, further study of symbolism from the perspective of Emily’s portrait depiction is not found yet. The detailed analysis of the different portrait depictions in different periods of Emily’s life is what needs to be done urgently.

The purpose of the current study is to give a detailed analysis of Faulkner’s writing technique--symbolism, and its concrete application in depicting the portrait of the main character Emily in the novel A Rose for Emily. In other words: discussing Faulkner’s writing technique--symbolism by making connection between the varied portraits of Emily on different stages and the undergoing changes of their implication implied by Faulkner. And therefore, dig out more about the “real Emily” and the spiritual connotation of the novel.

The study is mainly based on the widely-accepted theory--deconstruction. Deconstruction is a critical outlook concerned with the relationship between text and meaning. In literary criticism, deconstruction denotes the pursuing of the meaning of a text to the point of exposing the supposed contradictions and internal oppositions upon which it is founded—supposedly showing that those foundations are irreducibly complex, unstable, or impossible. Deconstruction generally tries to demonstrate that any text is not a discrete whole but contains several irreconcilable and contradictory meanings; that any text therefore has more than one interpretation; that the text itself links these interpretations inextricably; that the incompatibility of these interpretations is irreducible; and thus that an interpretative reading cannot go beyond a certain point (Henderson and Brown, 1997).