第49章 献给爱米丽的玫瑰 (1)

　　A Rose for Emily

　　故事发生在美国的内战时期，战争给南方人造

　　成了致命的打击。小镇居民沉浸在对辉煌过去的回

　　忆之中，他们迫切需要一座代表传统的“偶像”给

　　他们精神上的支撑和慰藉，于是，她永远成为他们

　　的“纪念碑”和梦想中的“南方淑女”。爱米丽的大

　　院就成了“神龛”，爱米丽小姐既是全镇人的偶像，

　　也是全镇人的玩物。因此，她必须是一个无欲的南

　　方贵族，她必须要为保持自己高贵的身份舍弃超越

　　了阶级的爱情。

　　[ 美] 威廉·福克纳 （William Faulkner）

　　So the next day we all said，“She will kill herself”；and we

　　said it would be the best thing. When she had first begun to be

　　seen with Homer Barron，we had said，“She will marry him.”

　　Then we said，“She will persuade him yet，”because Homer

　　himself had remarked — he liked men，and it was known that he

　　drank with the younger men in the Elk’s Club — that he was not a

　　marrying man. Later we said，“Poor Emily，”behind the jalousies

　　as they passed on Sunday afternoon in the glittering buggy，Miss

　　Emily with her head high and Homer Barron with his hat cocked

　　and a cigar in his teeth，reins and whip in a yellow glove.

　　Then some of the ladies began to say that it was a disgrace

　　to the town and a bad example to the young people. The men

　　did not want to interfere，but at last the ladies forced the Baptist

　　minister — Miss Emily’s people were Episcopal — to call upon her.

　　He would never divulge what happened during that interview，but

　　he refused to go back again. The next Sunday they again drove

　　about the streets，and the following day the minister’s wife

　　wrote to Miss Emily’s relations in Alabama.

　　So she had blood-kin under her roof again and we sat back

　　to watch developments. At first nothing happened. Then we were

　　sure that they were to be married. We learned that Miss Emily had

　　been to the jeweler’s and ordered a man’s toilet set in silver，

　　with the letters H. B. on each piece. Two days later we learned that

　　she had brought a complete outfit of men’s clothing，including a

　　nightshirt，and we said，“They are married.”We were really glad.

　　We were glad because the two female cousins were even more

　　Grierson than Miss Emily had ever been.

　　So we were not surprised when Homer Barron — the streets

　　had been finished some time since— was gone. We were a little

　　disappointed that there was not a public blowing-off ，but we

　　believed that he had gone on to prepare for Miss Emily’s coming，

　　or to give her a chance to get rid of the cousins.（By that time it was

　　a cabal，and we were all Miss Emily’s allies to help circumvent the

　　cousins.） Sure enough，after another week they departed. And，

　　as we had expected all along，within three days Homer Barron

　　was back in town. A neighbor saw the Negro man admit him at

　　the kitchen door at dusk one evening.

　　And that was the last we saw of Homer Barron. And of Miss

　　Emily for some time. The Negro man went in and out with the

　　market basket，but the front door remained closed. Now and then

　　we would see her at a window for a moment，as the men did that

　　night when they sprinkled the lime，but for almost six months she

　　did not appear on the streets. Then we knew that this was to be

　　expected too ；as if that quality of her father which had thwarted

　　her woman’s life so many times had been too virulent and too

　　furious to die.

　　When we next saw Miss Emily，she had grown fat and her

　　hair was turning gray. During the next few years it grew grayer and

　　grayer until it attained an even pepper-and-salt iron-gray，when it

　　ceased turning. Up to the day of her death at seventy-four it was still

　　the vigorous iron-gray，like the hair of an active man.

　　From that time on her front door remained closed，save for a

　　period of six or seven years，when she was about forty，during

　　which she gave lessons in china-painting. She fitted up a studio

　　in one of the downstairs rooms，where the daughters and granddaughters

　　of Colonel Sartoris’contemporaries were sent to her

　　with the same regularity and in the same spirit that they were

　　sent on Sundays with a twenty-five cent piece for the collection

　　plate. Meanwhile her taxes had been remitted.

　　Then the newer generation became the backbone and the

　　spirit of the town，and the painting pupils grew up and fell away