Abstract

William Faulkner is famous for his excellent narrative skills in his works. In this thesis, I discuss one of his masterpieces--A Rose for Emily, and I focus on the motives of Emily’s murder. Faulkner uses a special narrative to confuse readers’ understanding of Homer Barron’s death. Therefore, Chapter I talks about how are we cheated by author. Faulkner makes the plots of novel inauthentic by complex narrative time order,mutable narrator and mutable narrative perspective. Chapter II discusses my interpretation of Emily’s murder from the perspective of Emily, and reaches a different understanding on the murder motives of Emily, that is, She killed the man due to the influence of her father and society, rather than a decline of her marriage. Chapter III studies on Emily’s murder motives from the perspective of town people, which also proof the argument of this thesis.

Key words: perspective; narrator; conservative; authority

Contents

Abstract

摘  要

1.Introduction.1 

    1.1 Literature review1 

2. William Faulkner’s ingenious narrative techniques.3

    2.1 Mutable narrative perspective3

    2.2 Complex narrative order.3

3. The inner conflicts of Emily.5

    3.1 The influence of others.5

    3.2 The deep-rooted characteristic8

4.The unreliability of town people ……8

5. Conclusion.9

References.10