An Analysis on the Causes of Tobe’s Enslaved Life In A Rouse for Emily

1、An Analysis on the Causes of Tobes Enslaved LifeIn A Rose for Emily1 IntroductionA Rose for Emily by William Faulkner is a short fiction that has roots in the southern United States with appearing overtones of mystery that is a historical context. The novel is set in the American South after the Civ

2、il War, when the old order declines and the new orders emerge. Using the decay and corruption of the South after the American Civil War as a background, Faulkner not only portrayed the tragedy to reflect social changes and conflicts in the work, but also implied a tough life the slaves live in the s

3、outh of America. In the story, Tobe, as a role of a black servant, was keeping looking after Miss Emily. It may be a mystery for people what Tobe knew about Emily and why Tobe did not split her but was stayed with her until her death. According to the whole background of the novel, it is not difficu

4、lt to assume that Tobe was born to a slave or stayed with a family, that is, Griersons family, through the Civil and even longer. His slavery identity gave him few options of the life. What Tobe was supposed to do is to become convinced of his master. He lost his freedom and options on the day he be

5、came a slave, which means he should be loyalty to his master-Miss Emily in his life. Therefore, although Emilys father left nothing for her after his death and she isolates herself from the outside in her dusty house, nobody has been to her house in ten years, except for her black servant, Tobe stil

6、l did not leave her alone but stayed with her. On one hand, it is his loyalty to Emily; on the other hand, as a black servant at that time, Tobe was not sure whether the future life after he left his master would be better and the situation outside the house would be improved. Thus, Tobes enslaved l

7、ife in this work has many complicated reasons, including social factors, racism, religion and culture. This thesis gives a study on causes of Tobes enslaved life in the story. The layout of the thesis can be divided into three parts. The first chapter mainly introduces the author of the novel, Willi

8、am Faulkner, explains the background of the story and gives a whole literature review, in order to get readers know about the work and understand it better; the second chapter analyzes the causes of Tobes enslaved life in A Rose for Emily from the aspects of racial discrimination, white supremacy cu

9、lture and religion; the last chapter is a conclusion for the whole thesis.1.1 A Brief Introduction of the Author William Faulkner (1897-1902), one of the most distinguished American southern writers, won the Nobel Prize for literature of 1949 in the year 1950. His baronial historical works with uniq

10、ue artistic style and strong local color make prodigious contribution to American literature, even further, the world literature. He believes that the Nobel Prize for literature has been made to his work-“a lifes work in the agony and sweat of the human spirit”, and that only the problems of the hum

11、an heart in conflict with itself can make good writing, in which the old universal truth emerges- “love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice”. He admires human beings: “he is immortal because he had a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance”. It can be i

12、ndicated from one of his creation in his work- A Rose for Emily. There is a servant who belongs to Emily in the story. Tobe is an African American, who is Emilys servant. And his voice supposedly rusty from lack of use, who is the only lifeline Emily has to the outside world and he cares for her and

13、 tends to her needs. After her death, he walks out the back door and never returns. He is an even more mysterious character than Emily and also a major connection to the theme “compassion and forgiveness”.William Faulkner was born in 1987, in New Albany, Mississippi. This giant in the realm of world

14、 literature transformed his native soil into the Yoknapatawpha setting, such as The Sound and the Fury (1929), As I Lay Dying (1930), Light in August (1930), Absalom, Absalom! (1936) and Go Down, Moses (1942). In these novels, he writes about the histories of a number of Southern aristocratic famili

15、es such as the Sartorises, the Compsons, the Sutpens and the Mcvaslins. Thus the Yoknapatawpha saga forms a history of its own, one handed down through oral tradition from generation to generation. All his life Faulkner was a teller of tales, and many of his longer works are organized around short s

16、tories.In Faulkners fiction, some of his strongest characters are women. In his opinion, women are closer than men to nature, labor and the instinctual life. And in his works, he generally showed a bleak picture of human society, where violence and cruelty were frequently included. His intension was

17、 to show the evil, harsh events in contrast to such eternal virtues as love, honor, pity, compassion, and self-sacrifice, and thereby expose the faults of society. His philosophy was that in the long run the brotherhood of man would triumph. In addition, because Faulkner was deeply influenced by the

18、 southern literary tradition, he appeared in the “Southern Revival of Letters” in America, whose works were considered as “an evil gallery”, “the offspring of the morbid culture spirit,” so “grotesquery” made him different and outstanding. Faulkner was considered as one of the greatest horror fictio

19、n and the important and influential Southern writers. 1.2 Background and significance about the novel The American South is a distinctive area with its plantation economy, its institution of slavery, its traditional gentlemen and gentlewomen. In accordance with its cultural features, tradition recei

20、ved hard blows during the Civil War and went to decline during the “Reconstruction” period which followed it. Different from Norths ambition to open and reform for the sake of more profits, the Southerners deliberately cut themselves off from the outside world and dung stubbornly to traditional valu

21、es. What is worse, proud and confident Southerners had great difficulty in coming to terms with the sound defeat. And in addition to that, almost all the traditional values went to pieces thereafter. “For these reasons the southerners purpose to adopt a hostile attitude towards the industrialism bro

22、ught here by the Yankees, as they call the men living in the north with much contempt” (Hogle, Jerrold E., 2002).The south was afflicted with poverty after the war and it took a long period of time for the Southerners to recuperate. Precisely because feeling uneasy about such alarming situation, som

23、e Southern writers of this time, who bear sincere concern for the south, spread no efforts to explore it and try their best to find a way to scrutinize both the past and the present of the South. Southern writers were fortunate enough to be endowed with keen minds which keep providing for them inspi

24、rations and they do begin to take a fresh look.Among them William Faulkner is a particularly distinguished one. As a writer with a strong sense of responsibility, Faulkner was in a fever of telling the truth and stirring up love for life in all human beings, which was heavy enough to amount to creat

25、e a burden deep down in his sensitive and vulnerable heart.In his works, he exposes the effects of subconscious personality disorders on the development and formation of ones personality. It is a real for Faulkner that he decides to dedicate himself to writing as his lifelong cause. For by putting d

26、own in an indirect way his experience and inner conflict into his works, he manages to liberate himself from the spiritual torment and regain access to tranquility. Whats more important is that in this way he succeeds in awaking humanity from the state of chaos and encouraging them to change this wo

27、rld towards a more normal, healthy and positive being.1.3 Literature ReviewA Rose for Emily is William Faulkners most famous short story. This story is set in the town of Jefferson in Yoknapatawpha County, the center of Faulkners “mythical kingdom,” and Emily Grierson family, is the central characte

28、r of the story.Dominated by the father who bore the rigid ideas of social status, the daughter has been prevented from marrying her town followers during his lifetime, and is left penniless after her fathers death. Later, she falls in love with a Yankee, Homer Barron who is disregarded by the whole

29、town and her relatives. As a member of the stubborn Griersons family, Emily arrogantly defies her kin and the community by insisting on marrying Homer. Unfortunately, Miss Emily finds that Homer has no intention to marry her. Desperately, Emily kills her love and keeps his body. Then Emily remains i

30、n voluntary isolation away and from the sunshine of the human world of normal affairs. She isolates herself from outside world and lives alone in her dusty house until her death. So the creation, Emily seems a myth for readers. However, it is easy for people to neglect another plain character-Tobe,

31、first described as “an old man-servant, a combined gardener and cook”. He is an even more mysterious character than Emily, and ironically, probably the only one who knows the answers to all the mysteries in the story. He must have been the one to alert the town to both Emilys fathers death and to he

32、r own death. Loyal and discreet, he protected her privacy from the prying eyes and ears of the town. Therefore, he split after her death, to avoid having to divulge her secrets to the town. Also he probably left because his duty was finally done, and he could escape the stinking, rotting crypt of a

33、house. Assuming he was born with the family or lived with them as a little boy, and he stayed with them through the Civil War, and even all the rest, too. As a black man in the South his options were limited, maybe even more limited than Emilys. Like her, he might have become convinced that the worl

34、d outside the house was not the place for him. He might have felt intense loyalty to Miss Emily, and maybe even, like the town, an obligation to her.The study of William Faulkners short story A Rose for Emily has mushroomed at home and abroad in recent years. An upsurge of scholars interested in the

35、 novel is found such as: David Bowling (1989), Reed, J.R (1997), Xiao Minghan (1997), Shao Jinti (1995), Huang Xuer (1997), Zhang Deliu (1990), Wang Mingin (2002) and Guan Jianming (2003) (Howe, 1994). Researches on A Rose for Emily in China are mainly the study using different theories and that fro

36、m the perspective of the writing techniques. Previous studies often use different theories of Feminism, deconstruction and psycho analysis.With many of Faulkners most important works translated into Chinese, works on Faulkner studies of foreign scholars have also been introduced into Chinese. In 198

37、0 Chinese social Science Press published Critical Essays on William Faulkner which was edited by Li Wenjun. This is the first time to thoroughly criticize this hotly writer in China. Afterward, biographies of William Faulkner were translated into Chinese in the 1990s. Critical researches on Faulkner

38、 developed quickly during the 1980s. In this period researchers scope of criticism mainly focus on Faulkners thought, among religion, myth, philosophy and the works.When studying Faulkners thought, the researchers concentrate on the relationship between Faulkner and South American history and cultur

39、e via the analysis of the novels that won universal praise. Some researchers criticize the southern racism through analyzing the characterization of the African Americans in the representative works of Faulkner and get the point that Faulkner criticizes the southern racism. (Zhang Shumei, 1988: 34-3

40、9) Some researchers have studied from the aspect of the cultural tendency of Faulkners writing. They think that Southern American culture has a long history and is developing in a tortuous way. Furthermore, Xiao Minghan has got the conclusion that Faulkner characterizes the African Americans unilate

41、rally owing to the influence of his cultural tradition, ideology and value judgment. Any way, he actually does not support Southern racism.Causes of Tobes Enslaved Life2.1 History of Racial Discrimination in AmericaRacism involves the belief in racial differences, which acts as a justification for n

42、on-equal treatment, which some regard as “discrimination” of members of that race. The term is commonly used negatively and is usually associated with race-based prejudice, violence, dislike, discrimination, or oppression. The term can also have varying and contested definitions. Racial discriminati

43、on refers to the separation of people through a process of social division into categories not necessarily related to races for purposes of different treatment. Racial segregation polices may formalize it, but it is also often exerted without being legalized.As we all know, USA is made up of many di

44、fferent races. The local residents are Indians. Then many settles came to this land, including many Negroes from Africa. Therefore, in such a race-mixed country, racial discrimination is everywhere which seems to be unavoidable. And it was getting worse and worse in the 1950s. Blacks were looked dow

45、n upon in nearly every field. In America, the racial discrimination, the racial conflicts often happen, the black people are treated as slaves by white people, they often have the lowest salary, insurance and many unfair treatment.The first African slaves were brought to Virginia in 1619. Later the

46、servants were freed, they became competition for resources. Additionally, released servants had to be replaced. This combined with the relegation of Blacks into slavery. The colonies even made laws that passed slavery on to the children of slaves and making non-Christian imported servants slaves for

47、 life. When Africans first arrived in 1619, about 10-12 million Africans were transported to Western Hemisphere. At the beginning, the Africans in the South were outnumbered by white indentured servants, who came voluntarily from Britain. They avoided the plantation owners turned to lifetime slaves

48、who worked for their keep but were not paid wages and could not easily escape. Generally the slaves developed their own family system, religion and customs in the slave quarters with little interference from owners, who were only interested in work outputs. Till 1830 there appeared free Blacks in th

49、e United States. And some lived in the northern states. While the majority of free blacks lived in poverty, some were able to establish successful businesses that catered to the Black community. Racial discrimination often meant that Blacks were not welcome or would be mistreated in White businesses

50、 and other establishments. To counter this, blacks developed their own communities with Black-owned businesses. Black doctors, lawyers and other businessmen were the foundation of the black middle class. Above all, because of the racial discrimination, Blacks clustered as the bottom of the wage scal

51、e. All were usually the last hired and the first fired and performed menially jobs. Wherever the minorities worked the “native” Americans saw them as a threat to their livelihood, as they normally accepted jobs that the whites did not want. Despite the emancipation from slavery after the Civil War,

52、the former slaves remained at the bottom of the social scale in the southern states, where most blacks lived. Some had constitutional clauses limiting membership to whites only; others followed a de facto exclusion policy. Most commonly associated with Blacks, who were separated from whites in most

53、public areas such as trains, parks and even cemeteries, also extended to other minority groups.Although Blacks began to organize a Black community to fight against the unfair treatment from the whites and to continue the fight against slavery, what the Black community could do is the establishment o

54、f schools for Black children, since they were often barred from entering public schools. Further supporting the growth of the Black Community was the Black church. Starting in the early 1790s with the African Methodist Episcopal Church, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and other churches, the

55、 Black church grew to be the focal point of the Black community. The Black church was both an expression of community and unique African-American spirituality, and a reaction to European American discrimination. Black preachers formed separate congregations within the existing denominations. Because

56、 of discrimination at the higher levels of the church hierarchy, some blacks simply founded separate Black denominations.However, the racial discrimination is still one of the most controversial problems in America where there are a large number of people to fulfill their dream. Due to certain peopl

57、es complexion, different cultures and racism, they have been treated unfairly. 2.2 The White Supremacy Culture White supremacy is the belief, and promotion of the belief, that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds. The term is sometimes used specially to describe a politica

58、l ideology that advocates the social, political, historical and industrial dominance by whites. White supremacy, as with racial supremacism in general, is rooted in ethnocentrism and a desire for hegemony and power, and has frequently resulted in violence against non-whites. Different forms of white

59、 supremacy have different conceptions of who is considered white, and not all white supremacist organizations agree on who is their greatest enemy (Flint, Colin, 2004: 53). White supremacist groups can be found in some countries and regions with a significant white population including Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America and South Africa. The militant approach taken by white supremacist groups have caused them to be watched closely by law enforcement officials. S