内容摘要
they will believe many things, as long as these things are put in just the right way. Quote #2
[Miss Emily:] "See Colonel Sartoris. I have no taxes in Jefferson."
(1.12)
Although Miss Emily couldn't bring back the dead Colonel, she could sure make her version of the reality remained the reality. She never paid taxes in Jefferson. Quote #3
"Dammit, sir," Judge Stevens said, "will you accuse a lady to her face of smelling bad?" (2.9)
We know that this version of reality (covering up the smell) is no longer regarded as a suitable way to deal with a crime. The question is, did the Judge know the cause of the stench at the moment, or not?
A Rose for Emily Theme of Versions of Reality
By showing people with skewed versions of reality, "A Rose for Emily" asks us to take off our "rose-colored" glasses and look reality in the face. What we confront is the reality of America in the story, and the reality of the main character's complete isolation. Faulkner reveals how difficult it can be to see the past and the present
clearly and honestly by depicting memory as flawed and subjective. This "difficulty" is part of why the main characters goes insane, or so it certainly appears. Luckily, there are healthy doses of compassion and forgiveness in the novel. When we start to feel that, we start to see things more clearly.
A Rose for Emily Theme of Memory and the Past
Gavin Stevens (a William Faulkner character) famously says, "The past is never dead. It's not even past." This idea is highly visible in all Faulkner's work, and we definitely see it here, in "A Rose for Emily." Spanning approximately 74 years, this short story