"Death In The Woods" And " A Rose For Emily": A Comparative Study

This thesis uses “Death in the Woods” and “A Rose for Emily” as texts andconducts comparative analyses between them. Under the guidance of narrativetheories, eco-feminism and other theories, this thesis compares these two stories fromthree aspects: the narrative mode, the protagonists and the themes. Even though thethesis can not do a complete research about these two stories only in these threeaspects, it is expected to provide a new viewpoint and foothold, and also to makesense that comparisons between the two stories make it easy to dialyze their realartistic values.This thesis is divided into five parts. In the beginning, the thesis introducesSherwood Anderson and William Faulkner and their masterpieces “Death in theWoods” and “A Rose for Emily”, which is the bedding of the whole thesis. Then itpresents a general introduction to researches that have been done by scholars at homeand abroad. In the first chapter, the thesis compares “Death in the Woods” and “ARose for Emily” from the overall framework, which contains the narrative mode, thenarrative technique and the narrative order. Specifically, in this chapter the thesisstudies the points of view in two stories, and also the symbolic meaning of theirlanguages. Based on this analysis, the second chapter emphasizes the comparisonbetween two female protagonists. In this chapter, the thesis puts Maslow’s Hierarchyof Needs into use to reveal protagonists’ lifelong pursuits. Then guided by theeco-feminism, the thesis attempts to explore primary causes of their tragedies, and thisalso expounds the times in which the two stories were written. In Chapter Three, thethesis sublimates the contents to themes. The thesis makes comparative analyses ofthe two stories in the themes of death and loneliness respectively, and utilizes Freud’slife instincts and death instincts to elaborate the possibility and inevitability ofprotagonists’ deaths. In the last part, the thesis draws a conclusion of the wholepassage.All in all,“Death in the Woods” and “A Rose for Emily” share severalsimilarities, and this thesis conducts a comparative study from three parts. In this thesis, the three main chapters make a progressive illustration from structure tocharacters then to themes and finally make it sure that similarities do exit between twostories, and also explain the creation background as well as their social values.