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t such as scene or the description of Emily’s house, theme, narrative way, character. The gothic characteristics in the description of environment The gothic story usually takes place in isolated places where people seldom visit, such as a hidden castle in the jungle, a farmstead, and old dilapidated house and so on. The author attached much importance to the description of the scene and playing up the mysterious and horrible atmosphere. Baron Armond(1972)said:“ the word “mystery” connects with the gothic characteristics naturally.” Emily39。s house embodies gothic characteristics. Emily39。s house was a special style building made of wood. When her parents were alive, the house was noble style, which had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the Seventies.(William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily). As the time passed, however, the house still kept its outdated style and lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay.(William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily).We could feel an inpatible atmosphere with the age. And the description of the house also revealed Emily’s character that she rejected the modernized or changed world stubbornly. Several years later, the deputation had a chance to go into Emily39。s house for the first time. They went into “a dim hall from which a stairway mounted into still more shadow. (William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily). Moreover, there was a dust and disusea close, dank smell(William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily). in the air. The parlor was furnished in heavy, leathercovered furniture. (William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily). Faulkner described a dim and mysterious picture for us. And this mysterious picture made readers curious about her life in the house. It was really shocking that the town people saw in Emily39。s base room. “A thin, acrid pall as of the tomb seemed to lie everywhere upon this room decked and furnished as a bridal. (William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily). Homer39。s skeleton had apparently once lain in the attitude of an embrace. (William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily) . The second pillow which was in the same bed was the indentation of a head. It is clearly that it was Emily39。s long strand of irongray hair. Homer had been missed for forty years, and Emily had been slept with his skeleton for forty years. Sepulchral atmosphere spread the air. It is shocking and absolutely terrible. But it is not Faulkner who originally adds the terror element in fiction。 it is the traditional style of “gothic characteristics. Faulkner not only uses these characteristics in A Rose for Emily, but exaggerates several details such as murder, violence, etc. So the description of Emily’s house created the mysterious and horrible atmosphere successfully and connected the mystery with gothic characteristics naturally. The gothic characteristics in the theme of A Rose for Emily Mostly, the characteristics of the theme in gothic literature are that the author reveals the evil of human being and attacks the dark side of the society, such as the unfairness and crime through death, murder, violence and revenge. Gross, (1979) pointed out: “the difference between American gothic literature and European gothic literature is that the European gothic literature is mostly regarded as escapism and rejected by people, while American gothic literature speaks out people’s voice, especially people who are special such as females, homosexual, colored races and so on, although American gothic literature is still fictitious.” Due to people are not allowed to express their depressed feeling caused by the insecure society or the dark side of society, they can only express the feeling indirectly by gothic discourse or using gothic characteristics in literature. At Emily’s times, women were controlled by men strongly. Before marriage, women were controlled by fathers, so they had no right to choose their lovers or partners. Emily couldn’t go out to make friends as often as she can, and her father thought there’s no man who’s good enough to match his daughter in their town, so she was still single when she was thirty years old. When her father died, she depended on her father so much that she was not wiling to bury his father. After his father’s death, she had no courage to face the outside world alone, so she went outside seldom, and her neighbors were curious about her life and guessed how her life was going from her and her servant’s actions. And then the Northern worker Homer appeared and Emily was attracted by him, and Emily was too lonely and empty, and she was eager to his pany, but to her disappointment, he refused to marry her. She knew that she couldn’t control his life when he was alive, so she decided to kill him. In order to own him forever, Emily killed him by using drug. To a large extent, Emily’s life was deeply affected by her father’s control, even ruined by her father. If there’s no her father’s strong control, she might get married at the right time and certainly she wouldn’t make her lov er pany by killing him. So the theme of the short story which the author was trying to show was that he attacked the men’s domination over women by Emily’s murder, her necrophilia, and her separation from outside for many years, and meanwhile the author also showed his sympathy for women and he spoke for women’s freedom. Besides, the story also showed southern people’s suffering and anxiety after their loss in the Civil War. Especially the white people, they couldn’t easily get accustomed to the life without slaves, and their life became totally miserable, and they cherished the memory of the past rich life。 and they still thought that they were superior to others, and kept their family’s dignity. But in their deep heart, they