ABSTRACT
William Faulkner is one of the most prominent writers in American literature. In his famous short story A Rose for Emily, by using ingenious symbolism, Faulkner revealed the clashes between the new values and the old ones in America through Emily’s love tragedy, furthermore, he endowed the heroine’s destiny with strong emotion and insightful social meaning. This paper first introduce symbolism and its uses, then explore the story’s theme and profound implication through symbolism about character, objects and events. It finally analyzes the great significance that symbolism brings to the story.
1．Introduction 1
2. Symbolism 2
2.1 The definition of symbolism 2
2.2 The use of symbolism 2
3. The application of symbolism in A Rose for Emily 4
3.1 Symbolism of characters 4
3.1.1 Miss Emily 4
3.1.2 Homer Barron 5
3.1.3 Emily’s father 6
3.2 Symbolism of objects 7
3.2.1 The Grierson house 7
3.2.2 Rose 7
3.3 Symbolism of events 8
3.3.1 Love affairs between Emily and Homer 8
3.3.2 Emily killed Homer 9
4. The significance of symbolism in A Rose for Emily 11
4.1 From literary perspective 11
4.2 From author’s intention 12
5．Conclusion 13
Acknowledgements 14
References 15
