the rose for Emily 读后感

A Rose for Emily

This story was written by William Faulkner and happened after the American Civil War in Jefferson. The main character is Emily, a woman whose marriage was controlled by her father. After her father’s death, she met a northern man called Homer Barron and fell in love with him. Homer Barron was a day laborer, a man of obscurity. However, Emily was a noble, people in Jefferson thought she had been depraved. A noble should not fall in love with a poor man. Then her two cousins came, tried to prevent her from ridiculous behavior. Also, Homer Barron was tired of her and wanted to get rid of her. In order to keep Homer, Emily killed him and got him forever. In my opinion, the story reflects conflicts between the northern society and southern society after American Civil War, two different value systems.

In the story, Emily was a cold and traditional woman and she was the representative of the south. She was ridiculous. For she refused to pay the tax, and mentioned a colonel who has been dead for ten years. When she argued with mayors and aldemen and when she bought the arsenic, she was cold, people could not talk with her. She represented the old men, so she must be stubborn. She preferred killing Homer to giving up him. She was selfish.

A rose for Emily, it is ironical. Rose is love but Emily did not understand love.