从”a rose for Emily“中分析种族歧视问题

郑金力

In the novel, remnants of slavery in the South are everywhere. The mayor, knowing that slavery had been abolished and blacks had won the right to vote, but still ordered black women not to wear aprons on the streets. This shows the seriousness of racial discrimination in small southern towns.

Discrimination against blacks can also be seen in the name of blacks. Emily had a black footman who served her faithfully, silently, from youth to old age. In the story, although he has his own name, he is simply referred to as "the Negro" or "that nigger of hers," which are highly racist terms. The black male servant is the real epitome of the existence of the black slave group in the background of that era.

The essence of the black servant's silence in the novel is that his right to speak is deprived. And even when blacks find jobs, they still face economic exploitation and job inequality. In the story, Homer brings the Negroes to the town to pave the road, and the town children can ”hear him cuss the niggers, and the niggers singing in time to the rise and fall of picks“.