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【Abstract】A Rose for Emily is a famous short story by American author William Faulkner. It is rated as a masterpiece which is comparable to his long masterpieces because of the concise strokes， delicate ideas， and highly personalized shaped characters. This paper is going to analyze A Rose for Emily from the perspective of reader-response criticism.
【Key Words】 A Rose for Emily；reader-response criticism； horizons of expectation
1. Introduction
William Faulkner was a well-known modern American novelist. His short story， A Rose for Emily， was regarded as one of his most famous short stories. It is a tragic story which told a fogyish and arrogant American woman Miss Emily who poisoned her lover when love turned to hate， then lived as a recluse and companied with the corpse for life. She is a strong woman with a great sense of tradition but at the same time she suffers from a much skewed perception of the world.
This paper attempts to use reader-response criticism to analyze A Rose for Emily. Reader-response critics believe that a literary work’s interpretation is created when a reader and a text interact and /or transact， these critics assert that the proper study of textual analysis must consider both the reader and the text， not simply a text in isolation. Only in context， with a reader actively involved in the reading process with the text， can meaning emerge. In A Rose for Emily， Faulkner arranges the plots and portrays the characters around the text’s gaps deliberately， and sets images to provoke the audience to participate in the story in various dimensions.
2. The Meaning of the Rose
For Wolfgang Iser， both the text and the reader must be in contact which will help her/him fill in certain gaps or blanks. These blanks， or gaps， can range from the literature’s meaning to the lack of detail for a character. He theorized that as readers， we need to invent or explain those gaps by filling in our own detail or interpretation of the work.
The title of the literary work has always been the theme that the author wanted to express and represent. The novel was named A Rose for Emily， from the title we could see that the rose was of enormous symbolic importance. In many literary works， a rose was the embodiment of the beauty， love and happiness. But actually in the story there were neither any description about romantic love nor any plots about portraying that Emily received the roses. There was no detailed plot of presenting a rose. Only at the end of the story do we find the word “rose” twice. The lack of the meaning of the rose leaves the important “gap” to the reader. There is no doubt that a literature master like Faulkner will not use the word for practical purpose. Apparently， the author tried to convey the implications which were concealed in the story through the title. Precisely， he used symbolism to express the special social psychology of ordinary southerners under a special historical background. Although the rose only directly appeared in the title， it surfaced throughout the story as a symbol. In contemporary times， the rose also symbolized emotions like love and friendship. The rose symbolized dreams of romances and lovers. These dreams belonged to women， who were like Emily Grierson， had not yet experienced true love for themselves. Throughout the life of Emily Grierson， she remained locked up， never experiencing love from anyone but her father. She lived a life of loneliness， and left only to dream of the love missing from her life. The rose from the title symbolized this absent love. It symbolized the roses and flowers that Emily never received， the lovers that overlooked her.
Though Emily was dominated by her father， she didn’t give up her dream of pursuing love and happiness. That’s why “in the summer after her father’s death” she appeared in a new look and fell in love with a Yankee， Homer Barron. When she succeeded in putting her will upon most people and let them accept the fact that she was going to get married， however， she was deserted by her lover unfortunately. She couldn’t bear the betrayal of a Yankee—her lover and then poisoned him， but kept his body in their supposed wedding room. Since then， Emily isolated herself from the outside and lived lonely in her house until she died. She locked the body in the bridal with “the valance curtains of faded rose color， upon the rose-shaded lights...” like the “faded rose color”. Emily’s dream of love went away， and the rose bloomed for Emily’s love and withered for Emily’s love.
Miss Emily was traditional and arrogant and seemed to be in contradiction with the social system. But in the eyes of the townspeople， “Alive， Miss Emily had been a tradition， a duty， and a care； a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town.” So for the people who lived in the town， Miss Emily’s death was just like “a fallen monument”. It symbolized that they attached to the old South in an incomparable sentimental way， but they also had the social mentality of “Disappear like a fallen flower”. Men went to her funeral with complicated feelings to present a rose for her. It was just like the nostalgia for the old South. On the one hand， the various meanings and implications of the “rose” challenge the reading ability of the readers； on the other hand， they provide large space for the meaning of the whole story. It makes not only the story full of tension but also the reader an active and essential player in the text’s interpretation as well. 3. The Readers’ Horizons of Expectation
Since different readers have their own knowledge base which is grounded as it is in a worldview， （下转第85页）
（上接第83页）the horizons of expectation about literary work are different. Jauss describes it this way， “a literary work is not an object which stands by itself and which offers the same face to each reader in each period”. In A Rose for Emily， Faulkner， on the one hand， enables the readers to participate in the interpretation of the text actively. On the other hand， he constantly challenges the readers’ horizons of expectation.
First， the “rose” in the title of the story suggests the reader that it may be a happy love story. With such horizons of expectation， the reader starts the story. However， the first part of this story is to represent the death of Emily. It seems to deviate from the reader’s horizons of expectation. Although the title of this story is “A Rose for Emily”， there isn’t any word about the “rose”. Then why the author mentioned the “rose” in the story？ Being asked of these questions， the reader continues to read the following story. And the question of “what’s going to happen” challenges the expectations of the reader.
Second， in the third part of the story， when people see Emily again， “her hair was cut short， making her look like a girl， with a vague resemblance to those angels in colored church windows—sort of tragic and serene”. People can’t help guessing that Emily has already said goodbye to the grey moments and started the new journey of her life. But on the contrary， Emily doesn’t live a happy life， because she still sticks to her lifestyle obstinately.
At last， Emily bought arsenic， the poison， from the druggist in the third part of the story. This makes people think that she may want to end her life. With various questions， readers accomplish the interpretation of the story， and expect to find the truth of it. But till the end of the story， the author doesn’t directly tell the readers why Homer Barron was dead. The readers may suppose that he is the one who died from arsenic poisoning. In A Rose for Emily， Faulkner continually challenges the readers’ horizons of expectation， so that the story makes the readers get great pleasure from the constant surprises during the reading process.
4. Conclusion
Reader-response criticism and reception theory both attach great importance to the role of the reader in the interpretation of literary works. But this doesn’t mean that readers can interpret literary works optionally. Actually reader-response criticism aims to interpret the works based on the balance of the text， the reader and the author. In A Rose for Emily， Faulkner arranges the plots and represents the characters around the gaps to make the work have the features of uncertainty and openness and construct the space filling with tension. Through a set of consciousness activities of imagination， thinking， analysis， and reduction， the readers can experience the artistic charm of the work and enjoy the whole process. And this is where the aesthetic value of the literary works is rooted in.
【Reference】
[1]William Faulkner. A Rose for Emily [M]. Perfection Learning， 1990.
[2]Anne B， Dobie.Theory into Practice：An Introduction to Literary Criticism [M].Cengage Learning， 2009.
[3]Catherine Belsey.Critical Practice [M]. Routledge， 2002.
【Key Words】 A Rose for Emily；reader-response criticism； horizons of expectation
1. Introduction
William Faulkner was a well-known modern American novelist. His short story， A Rose for Emily， was regarded as one of his most famous short stories. It is a tragic story which told a fogyish and arrogant American woman Miss Emily who poisoned her lover when love turned to hate， then lived as a recluse and companied with the corpse for life. She is a strong woman with a great sense of tradition but at the same time she suffers from a much skewed perception of the world.
This paper attempts to use reader-response criticism to analyze A Rose for Emily. Reader-response critics believe that a literary work’s interpretation is created when a reader and a text interact and /or transact， these critics assert that the proper study of textual analysis must consider both the reader and the text， not simply a text in isolation. Only in context， with a reader actively involved in the reading process with the text， can meaning emerge. In A Rose for Emily， Faulkner arranges the plots and portrays the characters around the text’s gaps deliberately， and sets images to provoke the audience to participate in the story in various dimensions.
2. The Meaning of the Rose
For Wolfgang Iser， both the text and the reader must be in contact which will help her/him fill in certain gaps or blanks. These blanks， or gaps， can range from the literature’s meaning to the lack of detail for a character. He theorized that as readers， we need to invent or explain those gaps by filling in our own detail or interpretation of the work.
The title of the literary work has always been the theme that the author wanted to express and represent. The novel was named A Rose for Emily， from the title we could see that the rose was of enormous symbolic importance. In many literary works， a rose was the embodiment of the beauty， love and happiness. But actually in the story there were neither any description about romantic love nor any plots about portraying that Emily received the roses. There was no detailed plot of presenting a rose. Only at the end of the story do we find the word “rose” twice. The lack of the meaning of the rose leaves the important “gap” to the reader. There is no doubt that a literature master like Faulkner will not use the word for practical purpose. Apparently， the author tried to convey the implications which were concealed in the story through the title. Precisely， he used symbolism to express the special social psychology of ordinary southerners under a special historical background. Although the rose only directly appeared in the title， it surfaced throughout the story as a symbol. In contemporary times， the rose also symbolized emotions like love and friendship. The rose symbolized dreams of romances and lovers. These dreams belonged to women， who were like Emily Grierson， had not yet experienced true love for themselves. Throughout the life of Emily Grierson， she remained locked up， never experiencing love from anyone but her father. She lived a life of loneliness， and left only to dream of the love missing from her life. The rose from the title symbolized this absent love. It symbolized the roses and flowers that Emily never received， the lovers that overlooked her.
Though Emily was dominated by her father， she didn’t give up her dream of pursuing love and happiness. That’s why “in the summer after her father’s death” she appeared in a new look and fell in love with a Yankee， Homer Barron. When she succeeded in putting her will upon most people and let them accept the fact that she was going to get married， however， she was deserted by her lover unfortunately. She couldn’t bear the betrayal of a Yankee—her lover and then poisoned him， but kept his body in their supposed wedding room. Since then， Emily isolated herself from the outside and lived lonely in her house until she died. She locked the body in the bridal with “the valance curtains of faded rose color， upon the rose-shaded lights...” like the “faded rose color”. Emily’s dream of love went away， and the rose bloomed for Emily’s love and withered for Emily’s love.
Miss Emily was traditional and arrogant and seemed to be in contradiction with the social system. But in the eyes of the townspeople， “Alive， Miss Emily had been a tradition， a duty， and a care； a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town.” So for the people who lived in the town， Miss Emily’s death was just like “a fallen monument”. It symbolized that they attached to the old South in an incomparable sentimental way， but they also had the social mentality of “Disappear like a fallen flower”. Men went to her funeral with complicated feelings to present a rose for her. It was just like the nostalgia for the old South. On the one hand， the various meanings and implications of the “rose” challenge the reading ability of the readers； on the other hand， they provide large space for the meaning of the whole story. It makes not only the story full of tension but also the reader an active and essential player in the text’s interpretation as well. 3. The Readers’ Horizons of Expectation
Since different readers have their own knowledge base which is grounded as it is in a worldview， （下转第85页）
（上接第83页）the horizons of expectation about literary work are different. Jauss describes it this way， “a literary work is not an object which stands by itself and which offers the same face to each reader in each period”. In A Rose for Emily， Faulkner， on the one hand， enables the readers to participate in the interpretation of the text actively. On the other hand， he constantly challenges the readers’ horizons of expectation.
First， the “rose” in the title of the story suggests the reader that it may be a happy love story. With such horizons of expectation， the reader starts the story. However， the first part of this story is to represent the death of Emily. It seems to deviate from the reader’s horizons of expectation. Although the title of this story is “A Rose for Emily”， there isn’t any word about the “rose”. Then why the author mentioned the “rose” in the story？ Being asked of these questions， the reader continues to read the following story. And the question of “what’s going to happen” challenges the expectations of the reader.
Second， in the third part of the story， when people see Emily again， “her hair was cut short， making her look like a girl， with a vague resemblance to those angels in colored church windows—sort of tragic and serene”. People can’t help guessing that Emily has already said goodbye to the grey moments and started the new journey of her life. But on the contrary， Emily doesn’t live a happy life， because she still sticks to her lifestyle obstinately.
At last， Emily bought arsenic， the poison， from the druggist in the third part of the story. This makes people think that she may want to end her life. With various questions， readers accomplish the interpretation of the story， and expect to find the truth of it. But till the end of the story， the author doesn’t directly tell the readers why Homer Barron was dead. The readers may suppose that he is the one who died from arsenic poisoning. In A Rose for Emily， Faulkner continually challenges the readers’ horizons of expectation， so that the story makes the readers get great pleasure from the constant surprises during the reading process.
4. Conclusion
Reader-response criticism and reception theory both attach great importance to the role of the reader in the interpretation of literary works. But this doesn’t mean that readers can interpret literary works optionally. Actually reader-response criticism aims to interpret the works based on the balance of the text， the reader and the author. In A Rose for Emily， Faulkner arranges the plots and represents the characters around the gaps to make the work have the features of uncertainty and openness and construct the space filling with tension. Through a set of consciousness activities of imagination， thinking， analysis， and reduction， the readers can experience the artistic charm of the work and enjoy the whole process. And this is where the aesthetic value of the literary works is rooted in.
【Reference】
[1]William Faulkner. A Rose for Emily [M]. Perfection Learning， 1990.
[2]Anne B， Dobie.Theory into Practice：An Introduction to Literary Criticism [M].Cengage Learning， 2009.
[3]Catherine Belsey.Critical Practice [M]. Routledge， 2002.