Final Post

“Caddy and I ran. We ran up the kitchen steps, onto the porch, and Caddy knelt down in the dark and held me… “I wont.” she said. “I wont anymore, ever. Benjy. Benjy.” Then she was crying, and I cried, and we held each other. “Hush.” she said. “Hush. I wont anymore.” So I hushed and Caddy got up and we went into the kitchen and turned the light on and Caddy took the kitchen soap and washed her mouth at the sink, hard. Caddy smelled like trees.

I kept a telling you to stay away from there, Luster said. They sat up in the swing, quick. Quentin had her hands on her hair. He had a red tie.”

I choose this passage because represents Caddy as a symbol for Benjy for affection and for his importance in a world that seemed to never want him. Caddy is the biggest character in the book; Compson life centers around her. For Quentin she represent everything he feels pressure to protect and preserve. She is the reason he fight for the honor of strangers and for his obsession with sex. His obsession with her is a representation of everything else he obsesses over, everything else he cannot control.

You can also see Jason’s view of the world through his relationship with Caddy.  He blames Caddy for everything, for disgracing the family, for losing him his future, for dropping Quentin into his lap. When in actuality Caddy sacrificed for the family, her daughter, and for Jason. Jason rationalizes his action (like his theft from Quentin) he views himself as much more than he is or as a result of an unfair lot in life.

To me if you know Caddy’s story you know the whole story. Some may ask why Caddy is not given a chapter to narrate. Its because thats not Caddy’s purpose. Just like how the point of reading The Sound and The Fury is not to hear a story. You know the whole story by then end of the Benjy chapter. There is no great plot twist or mystery to keep reading for. The Sound and The Fury is a work of literature that captures complex emotions and images that we all experience but can never put into words. And Caddy is the perfect representation of what literature is suppose to be. She serves a purpose not for the story but for the book and that is an important distinction. Words are meant to share and a great work The Sound and The Fury is meant to convey and relate the more abstract things that we often have trouble sharing.

“When they began to sell the land to send Quentin to Harvard I told your father that he must make an equal provision for you. Then when Herbert offered to take you into the bank I said, Jason is provided for now, and when all the expense began to pile up and I was forced to sell our furniture and the rest of the pasture, I wrote her at once because I said she will realise that she and Quentin have had their share and part of Jason’s too and that it depends on her now to compensate him… You were right to reproach me.”

“Do you think I need any man’s help to stand on my feet?” I says. “Let alone a woman that can't name the father of her own child.”

Unlike the other narratives Jason spends his time in the present. Jason’s only concern is the next day, this is seen in the way he has hoarded money his entire. He doesn't plan to save it or use it. He only plans to have it and get more. He views himself as a patriarch without shouldering any real responsibility. Throughout his life he is constantly helped by his family but he still feels he is unappreciated. Jason feels entitled to the help he has received; he is ungrateful for the job his mother got for him, resent Caddy for losing him the job at the bank, and he sees no wrong in stealing Quentin's money ann manipulating his mother. Jason's attitude and character remains constant throughout the book and only changes to fit his more vulgar grown up life style. Jason is the last remaining compson child except for Benjy, and though this pleases his mother, he does not do the family name better than the others.

The narrative style of Quentin’s chapter reflect that of his mind constantly thinking, over thinking, and running on and on and on. Quentin is paralyzed by his depression and obsession with maintaining southern virtues. His obsession with time comes from a severe anxiety to preserve and a self loathing attitude. Quentin project this obsession on to his sister Caddy. Both Benjy and Quentin wish to preserve Caddy. Benjy wishes the innocence of Caddy to be maintained since she his only caring companion throughout his life. Quentin however want to protect and preserve Caddy not because she is his loving sister but because he has turned her into a symbol for the traditions his feels pressure to uphold. Quentin sees all women (and their honor) through Caddy.

In the South you are ashamed of being a virgin. Boys. Men. They lie about it. Because it means less to women, Father said. He said it was men invented virginity not women… and I said, Why couldn’t it have been me and not her who is unvirgin and he said, That’s why that’s sad too; nothing is even worth the changing of it, and Shreve said if he’s got better sense than to chase after the dirty little sluts and I said Did you ever have a sister? Did you? Did you? (pg.78)

At the time of this passage Quentin is an adult about to head off to Harvard. This takes place early in the chapter when Quentin is still in his dorm room at college. This however is not the present since we already know from Benjy's Chapter that Quentin has died.  Even this early in the chapter we can already see that the pressure and obsessions of Quentin come from himself and not from his family. To his family Quentin is the son who went to Harvard, something to increase their social standing. Quentin construes this into believing that it is his responsibility, as the oldest and most successful, to preserve the traditional values of his ancestors. Quentin projects this obsession on to Caddy. That is why the example of virginity is used here. Quentin's obsession is not over Caddy's virginity it is over her virtue and honor, how he must preserve what he views as the embodiment of the dwindling southern values.

Benjy has a different relationship with each character but to the family as a whole he acts as an unbiased observer since he has no personal agenda. He watches the family's life, without any sense of order, and seems to focus on the moments that are leading to the family's destruction. Though Benjy is unable to communicate he notices many things the others miss. Using Benjy's perspective we can conclude that the Compsons down fall is caused by their own actions.

Benjy has no sense of time so consistency is all he can have. As things begin to change more and more Benjy longs for the past when he could expect consistency. To Benjy his family was reliable in the past and that is why he is so nostalgic. Benjy is tied to his family by the memories of consistent experiences he has with them and not by communication. Benjy's love of consistency also applies to his very southern life where people have set roles, expectations, and values.

Though symbols are usually objects I believe benjy does the same function by symbolizing one single idea. Many of the compsons view him as an object rather than a character. He represent the family's lost. Lost of money, station, reputation, and one another.

Faulkner book The Sound and the Fury chooses to ignore chronological order. Faulkner's decision to do this can make the book difficult to read. The best advice I can give to help you read is to pay attention to which servant is taking care of Benjy. You can tell where in time the passage is based on who is taking care of Benjy. If you can tell when you are the book begins to become easier to understand and follow. Faulkner's choice to not follow a liner time line is not one he made idly. Once you are able to distinguish time periods the next question you ask yourself is why and how time is constantly changing.