Final Post

After finishing The Sound and the Fury, I can clearly see why William Faulkner won the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature. He is honestly the most talented writer I have ever read. It's not what he writes about, there are several other novels dedicated to the South's backwards ways, it's how he writes about them. Faulkner uses four different narrators to describe the fallen from honor Compson family. Benjy's, Quentin's and Jason's narrative are all first person, and show how distinct each brother has. Their stories all revolve around one person: Caddy. She is the only sibling that we don't get to see what goes on inside her mind. Caddy is different from her brothers. First of all, she is the only one who is truly free. She has no husband and no family so she can do as she pleases, but she still sends money in the mail, which shows that she must be doing pretty well. But the most important thing is the Caddy is really the only character that is capable of love. Although Benjy and Quentin do love their sister, both have not experienced real, romantic love. Jason is basically incapable of loving anyone or anything that is not money, even though he was the one child that was shown affection by his mother. Love is what family is all about and the force that makes it endure, yet the Compsons don't really seem to really love one another. Maybe it wasn't anyone's "sins" that made the family fall apart, but the lack of love that they had.
Faulkner uses the use of narration to his advantage. By looking inside each brother's mind, I got a much more powerful impression of them than if I was to just read about them from the outside. In Benjy's, we learn of the Compson's history, and can see that Benjy knows no distinction between the past and the present. Quentin's section shows that he is clearly not in a fit state of mind, and shows us the reasons why he committed suicide. In Jason's section, we can show in thoughts how awful he is, especially when he feels no guilt after scamming his mother. Although having three different perspectives was quite confusing to piece together, Faulkner used it to show the differences between each character, and the different ways that the corrupted "Old Southern values" have effected them.
The fourth section is a third person narrative that follows the black maid, Dilsey. I don't think that Faulkner's choice to not make Dilsey's section a first person narrative makes him racist or sexist. I think that by making the last section that way we could see the Compson's family through a pair of truly unbiased eyes. At the end of the novel, it is Dilsey that runs the family, even though Jason and Mrs. Compson are consistently degrading her. Even after all these years, and rasing all the children, Dilsey has not given up on the family. I would have been depressed if she hadn't been there. Without her, who would run the house? Jason? Ha no. She creates a feeling of hope in the novel. Even with all the corruption around her, there she is unscathed by it. Faulkner uses her to show that maybe it wasn't the corrupted southern values that destroyed a family, but a family whose corruption destroyed southern values.
The Sound and the Fury is a "tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Idiot could easily refer to Benjy, but Jason and Quentin weren't exactly the brightest either. Like Macbeth, which told the undoing of a man, it told the undoing of an entire family. It was a long and hard novel to read, yet it really didn't have much of a plot.Maybe Mr. Compson was right in the everything that we do is only temporary. The more things change, the more that they stay the same.

Just a Jerk- The Jason Chapter

I'm finally to the "easy" part of The Sound and the Fury. Finally someone who does not switch between the past and present without notice! Instead he is racist, anti-Semitic, sexist, and shows no respect for his mother. To be honest I prefer Quentin any day. Jason is consistently complaining about the state that his family is in, but he's to busy blaming others to know that he contributes to the Compson's lost honor. He is obsessed with money, and would do anything to get it, including scamming his mother and niece. He is a hypocrite, and always insults his family for their behavior when his is actually much worse. But to a certain degree, he doesn't think that he's really doing anything that wrong. In his chapter, his thoughts depict him as an unlucky man trying to save his family, but his actions show him as he truly is.
From the previous chapters, we know that Jason is different from the other siblings. Quentin and Caddy were best friends, and even from a young age Jason has sort of resented them for that. I saw that in Benjy's flashback in the river, when Jason tells on them after promising he wouldn't. This shows that there has always been mistrust and betrayal in his relationships with his brother and sister. Jason doesn't actually seem to be close to anyone. Even though he is his mother's favorite, he doesn't really seem to respect her. Then again, I guess my mom would drive me crazy too if I lived with her for the rest of my life. But he always lies to her. He makes it seem like he works extremely hard for his money, but he never seemed to actually be working, not to mention he deposits Caddy's checks that his mother thinks she's burning. He makes his mother come to dinner even when she's feeling ill.
Jason seems blames all his bitterness and problems on Caddy. I can see him thinking, If Caddy hadn't slept around, then Quentin would not have killed himself, and I could've gotten my job at the bank. He's stuck in the past because he keeps blaming all his problems on the past, even though its now Caddy that sends him $200 a month, which is a lot even now. Like Quentin, his relationship with Caddy has formed his judgement on all women. But instead of thinking of them as sisters, Jason has a general hatred for them. He is unkind to his mistress, Loraine, and giving her money instead of actually forming a relationship with her. He blames Caddy and his other female relatives for not getting married, "No thank you I have all the women I can take care of now if I married a wife she'd probably turn out to be a hop head or something. That's all we lack in this family" (154) He sees himself as the head of a failing family, taking care of the helpless women. I think its very ironic that the women take care of him in reality. If it wasn't for his mother, he wouldn't have a job.
Jason is a bitter man with no morals. He is completely unlikable, and is probably unliked by everyone that is not his mother. He provides an interesting contrast to his siblings. Another thing I found to be ironic, his mother views Caddy, Quentin and Benjy as being "judgments upon her" yet her savior Jason is not better; I don't recall any of the "Compson" kids stealing $1000 from her to "invest in the store." He is different from the others, he's worse.

Lost in Thought- The Quentin Chapter

When I started this chapter, I thought that compared to the Benjy section this would be a piece of cake. Turns out that Quentin is not exactly in his right mind either. Quentin's section was his thoughts on the last day of his life. He is so deep in his thoughts that often there were holes in his present day memories, such as when he fights Gerald. He couldn't recall why he woke up covered in blood, again, until his friends told him that he had hit Gerald because of the way that he talks about women. Even from Benjy's section, we know that this is not the first time that Quentin has fought someone because of the way they talked about women. As a child he got into a fight because someone threaten to put a frog on her desk (43). He also tried to defend Caddy's honor, and challenged the hated Dalton Ames. He hit him after Dalton replies "no but they're all bitches" when Quentin asked if he ever had a sister. Caddy plays a significant role in the way that Quentin sees women. When he sees the young girl in the bakery, he calls her sister and treats her like one. He sees every women as someone's sister. That's why he always fights to defend them. This is also part of the Southern culture if honor, where it was traditional for a gentleman to challenge someone who was talking dishonorably about women. His belligerence also shows his dedication to the old social code.

Quentin is in a state of confusion as a result of Caddy's promiscuity. His mother claims that Caddy has ruined the family. Yet Mrs. Compson believes that Caddy's true sin is not being a lady, not losing her virginity.  Quentin recalls his parents fighting, and his mother claiming that Jason was the only true child of hers, and views the others as a punishment for his sins. His mother's pride and selfishness cause them to have a loveless relationship.  His father tells him that "It was men that invented virginity, not women," and is indifferent to Caddy's actions. Mr. Compson believes in the reductio ad absurdum philosophy, and generally believes that all human experiences, from Caddy's promiscuity to Quentin's reaction, is absurd. He also instills a sense of shame in Quentin for being a virgin, saying that "Purity is a negative state." In the final scene, when Quentin tells his father that he has committed incest, his father does not take him seriously. He knows that Quentin is lying to save his sister, and tells him that all actions and emotions are temporary, maybe he should just go up to Maine for a month because time heals everything. 

But Quentin does not want time to heal this. He wants to find value in living, something that he tries to find in Caddy. When Caddy is no longer pure, he obsesses over the reasons why. "Do you love them?" he asks her, but she replies "When they touch me I died"(94). He wishes that it was he that was "unvirgin." He longs for a sense of order. He is in a state of confusion because he believes in the old Southern code and order, yet his sister whom he deeply loves has done everything to disassociate herself with it. As Quentin's section concludes, he thoughts become disoriented, as seen through Faulkner's writing. Sentences are jumbled , "i" is left capitalized, which tells me that he is not in a healthy mental state. His family's lost honor has had a horrible effect on him. Quentin wants to discard his father's philosophy, but Caddy's loss of purity and his inability to save her or make sense of it, force him into a state where he has to find something that has meaning. Quentin stops the clock so that time will stop. He stops it so that he can never move on. Quentin kills himself so he can stop his time on Earth, and that he can never forget the pain that Caddy's rebellion against order has caused him, which is the only way he can make meaning out of his life. 

The Benjy Chapter- Told through the Past and Present

To pretend that I was not entirely confused during this chapter would be a lie. However I will say that Faulkner's writing impressed me very much. He was able to capture the history, and present day existence of the Compson family through the eyes of someone who is mentally challenged. Benjy's chapter showed the changes that occurred within the Compson family. For example when Luster and Benjy go down to the river, and Luster remarks that Benjy "still thinks that he owns the pasture." (13) Benjy also connects the past to the present. Remembering when he caught Caddy and Charlie on the porch, he goes to the swing to find Quentin and a man doing the same. They may be different people, but history repeats itself within the family. Benjy is nostalgic for the past, and uses these memories to escape back to the past. He likes consistency. When Caddy wears perfume, and no longer "smells like trees" he moans until she takes it off. During his flashbacks, whenever something seemed out of place, or when he realized how things had changed, it seemed he began to moan.
Benjy is seen as a burden by most of the people in the Compson household, The mother calls him a "judgement on her," and is unwilling to stand his consistent moaning. Both Luster and Miss Quentin expressed that they would prefer if he were to go to Jackson, where the mental institute is. Caddy is very kind to Benjy. She is one of the only characters that actually cares and tries to understand why Benjy gets upset, while the other just try to hush him.
His mother is especially harsh to him, changing his name from Maury, after her brother, to Benjamin. Family and names are very important to the mother. When Mr. Jason comments on Uncle Maury's illness, she is quick to defend him. She insists that the children be called by their full name, like Cadence or Benjamin. Once Caddy leaves, the mother decides that her name will not be spoken in the house. By changing Benjy's name so that it is not associated with her side if the family make it seem like Benjy is not fully part of the family.
The present scene that takes place is in April, right before Easter. Easter is a time of rebirth and resurrection, which can only occur after death. Benjy is sensitive to the deaths that have taken place at the Compson household, such as his grandmother's and his father's. He also notes that the black family running the household think that his family is doomed, because of two events, and maybe one more. I assume that they think that Benjy's mental disability is one of the cursed events.  Benjy senses the sin and death around him, but he cannot communicate in a way that people understand, so he can do nothing to stop it. His family pushes him onto a caretaker, usually one of the black servants, and ignore him. Benjy's awareness of mortality and sin, but his family's disregard for him, make him a modern day Christ. Just like Christ, he is there trying to communicate with us, but no one listens. Following Christ is seen as the path to redemption, the way that the Compsons treat Benjy is one of the reasons that the family has lost its prestige.
Benjy is an objective observer of his family. The judgement that the reader makes of the characters is their own, not Benjy's. I see that from a young age, Caddy was very spirited and had no regard for social norms, such as when she undressed in the river. Quentin is studious, and he and Caddy are in confidence of one another. Jason is different from the other children and is rather sensitive. Caddy's high spirits make her the center of her family. I loved the scene where the children babbled on "who has to mind who," it reminded me of my own childhood. Benjy's chapter helped to set the scene for the rest of the novel, showing the changes that have occurred in the family, as well as their character.

The Journey begins: the Story of William Faulkner

William Faulkner was born September 25, 1897 in New Albany Mississippi. From the beginning he was both intelligent and cunning. He grew up in Oxford. Mississippi, the oldest of four brothers. He tried to join the US Air force, but did not make it. He did train for the British Air force in Toronto, but never actually flew because the war ended before he could. He lied about serving in the war, even faking injuries, and attended the University of Mississippi on a scholarship for veterans, even though he never even graduated high school. Honestly, the more I know about Faulkner, the more I like him. His life sounds like a movie. His high school sweetheart, Estelle Oldham, accepted a proposal from another man, thinking that it was a joke because he was going to live in Hawaii. When she got the ring in the mail, she realized it was not a joke, and her parents made her marry him. But several years later, Faulkner and Oldham did marry in June 1929, a month after she divorced her husband.
Faulkner is a paradox. I read stories of his alcohol dependency and his lazy days working in the post office, yet he was able to write and publish so much during the time that he was alive. Some of his most well known books are As I lay Dying, The Sound and the Fury, and Sanctuary. In his novels, his Southern roots and sense of family and clearly shown. Many of his writings he claimed to do just to make money, such as the book that made him famous, Sanctuary. He was a man of great compassion, taking care of his niece and sister in law after the death of his brother. But he was also a man of passion, and had an affair with his secretary in 1936 (and a little bit of a cliche) as his marriage to Estelle began to fall apart. He not only wrote books and short stories, but 1932 marked the year of his screenwriting career, which he did for financial reasons and actually hated the job. He would often go on day long drinking binges, where he could become delirious. His daughter, Jill, once asked him to stop and think of her before he drank, but he replied "No one remembers Shakespeare's kids."
He lived an unapologetic life, once he even insulted Hemingway's writing, to which he half apologized for. He also lived a very private life, and hide from the attention that he received after Sanctuary was published. But when he won the Nobel Peace Prize for literature in 1950, he became a public figure. He used his fame for good, when he moderately supported school integration in the 1950s. Faulkner was his own man. He disagreed with Southern segregation, yet he also disagreed with government involvement, which isolated himself from the North.  He continued to be active for the rest of his life. He died 12 years later in 1962 of a heart attack, but he accomplished something magnificent in his life: he was able to see his work appreciated and his legacy live on. He lived the life of an artist.