摘 要

在文学作品中，“玫瑰”具有丰富内涵。它赞美自然，谴责丑陋，表达对爱的渴望。本文通过对比福克纳的《献给艾米莉的玫瑰》和张爱玲的《红玫瑰与白玫瑰》中对玫瑰的描述，来研究玫瑰象征意义的变化与延伸。两部作品中玫瑰均代表了起初爱情的美好和最终爱情的毁灭。《献给艾米丽的玫瑰》中，这朵玫瑰花显示了福克纳对家乡的热爱，对南方传统文化衰败的无助；对艾米丽悲惨人生的同情和对她敢于突破、坚持自我的尊重。在张爱玲的小说中，她用红白玫瑰表达男权社会中对女性的压迫和女性自身的反抗。这两位作家以不同的方式使用了“玫瑰”这个意象。福克纳赋予玫瑰鲜明独特的含义。而张爱玲对玫瑰这个意象的反复描写中，赋予其更深刻的含义。

关键词：玫瑰，象征意义，《献给艾米丽的玫瑰》，《红玫瑰与白玫瑰》

Abstract

In literary works, “rose” has many connotations such as the praise of nature, the condemnation of ugliness, and the aspiration for beautiful love. This paper is to study rose’s symbolic meanings in two novels: A Rose for Emily written by Faulkner and The Red Rose and the White Rose written by Eileen Change. Through comparison of uses of “rose” in these two novels, it can be explored how roses’ symbolic meanings are changed over time and what some extended symbolic meanings of “rose” are. In these two works, the symbolic meanings of rose have something in common, as they both represent sweetness of love in the beginning and ruin of love in the end.  In A Rose for Emily, the rose shows Faulkner’s love for his homeland, helplessness and deep attachment to the dying south culture, the sympathy with miserable life of Emily, and respect to her endeavor and perseveration. In Eileen Chang’s novel, she uses red and white roses to show suppression to women in male-dominated world and women’s fight against a sexism society. The two writers use the images of “rose” in different ways as Faulkner gives the rose multilevel meanings and Chang repeats the images to enhance its symbolic meaning.

Key Words: Rose, Symbolic Meaning, A Rose for Emily, The Red Rose and The White Rose

Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 Background Information 4

2.1 On authors 4

2.1.1 On William Faulkner 4

2.1.2 On Eileen Chang 5

2.2 On symbol 5

2.2.1 Symbol 5

2.2.2 Symbol and image 6

2.2.3 Basic symbolic meaning of roses 6

3 Analysis of Symbolic Meaning of Rose in A Rose for Emily and The Red Rose and The White Rose 8

3.1 Symbolic meaning of rose in A Rose for Emily 8

3.2 Symbolic meaning of rose in The Red Rose and The White Rose 9

4 Comparison of the Symbolic Signification of Rose in A Rose for Emily and The Red Rose and The White Rose 13

4.1 Similarities: love and destruction 13

4.2 Differences 14

4.2.1 Distinct way of representation 14

4.2.2 Different symbolic meanings 14

5 Conclusion 16

References 18

Acknowledgments 20

On the Symbolic Significance of Roses

- A Comparison of Works by Faulkner and Eileen Chang

1 Introduction

Roses have played an important role in the history of mankind. In 1985, the rose became the national flower of the United States. In the United Kingdom, the rose represents the royal family and the aristocracy. Rose’s inherent characteristics, such as beauty, aroma, thorn and easiness to fade, make roses have human feelings and spirit. People also give the rose many other symbolic meanings. 

In religion, the rose is rich in religious significance. People regarded “rose” as the flower of the soul, especially the “red rose” as the flower of the holy soul. The origin of roses in religion provides the mysterious color and rich imagery significance. When Christian churches energetically built all over Europe, the rose which had previously been the symbol of love for God began to symbolize the suffering and death of the martyrs and Christ. Christianity believes that the origin of the rose comes from the Christ’s blood that flowed to the ground when the Christ suffered the martyrdom on the cross. This blood rose is a holy blood rose; its bright red color is derived from the blood of Christ and it is inviolable. Therefore, one of the symbolic meanings of roses is fraternity, that is, Christ’s love for humanity.