Final Reaction

After reading the final chapter of the Sound and the Fury, I have a better idea of what Faulkner was trying to get across. I thought that having Faulkner narrate the final chapter from Dilsey's point of view in the present tense was a good way to end the book, because it gives the reader some closure about the story overall. Throughout the book, there are so many time shifts and confusion, so I thought that the last chapter was was very clarifying. I think Dilsey was a great character to focus on since she knows the Compsons but is not as involved in their drama as the other characters, and she is not nearly as judgmental. She gives us a different perspective on things such as Jason's reaction to the thief than we would get from any other character. Her head is so level that she can see what is going on with the Compsons clearly without anything else getting in her way. It is only through her point of view that we can see that the Compsons are doomed and they will not succeed in the New South because of their old mindset.

Jason

         As I was reading Jason’s section, I got to see what the Compson’s look like from his point of view, and I also got to see the way he thinks. Just by reading his chapter, it was very easy to see that Jason is selfish, and he doesn’t care about treating others well. He always looks at situations from his own point of view, and only considers how things will benefit himself. In comparison to Benjy and Quentin, he is a terrible person, and while the other characters had large issues, his issues come out of pure narcissism.
            One thing that I did like about Jason’s chapter was that I found it easier to read than the chapters written by Benjy and Quentin. He skipped through time less often, and his chapter was overall easier to follow, because it consisted less of his thoughts, and more of things that actually happened. The way Jason narrates shows that he is more sane and present than Benjy and Quentin. He is people smart, and he knows how to manipulate situations to get what he needs out of them.
            In one section of the chapter, Jason expresses how upset Caddy makes him. He is super mad at her, because he thinks that she has ruined his chances of working at a bank. This shows the reader how self centered Jason is. He doesn’t see how Caddy’s actions affected her own life, he only sees the repercussions on his life. Jason carries anger out towards everyone in the Compson family, and he is just another reason that they are so broken.

Quentin

     Quentin, brother of Caddy and Benjy, narrates the second chapter. The way I see Quentin is that his mind races too fast for his own good. Similarly to Benjy, he doesn’t think in the present, his mind races from one moment to another. However unlike Benjy, he analyzes each thing he thinks about as they come to his mind. He never stops thinking, and his actions often show that he overthinks things.
    It confuses me how Quentin is able to function, and how others see him as a normally functioning person, because of this. He drives himself crazy because he wants to be in control, and he doesn’t want to let natural things, such as time, control him. He even destroys a watch because he wants to feel in control of time. He also likes to focus on other people in hopes that maybe he can help control what they do, such as Caddy.
    Quentin and Benjy both clearly have obsessions with Caddy, but they are very different. While Benjy is obsessed with Caddy because she makes him feel safe and comfortable, Quentin is obsessed with making sure that Caddy stays safe and pure herself. He is very overprotective of her, and when she losses her virginity he freaks out and can’t let it go for the rest of his life. He feels like his reaction and his obsession with the sin is the only thing that can help, but in the end, he just hurts himself.
    When Quentin is thinking about his suicide (p. 169), near the end of his chapter, he is obsessive and trying to regain control. He wants to escape all of his families ideas, and his life, and he thinks the only way to do it is to end his life. Quentin wants to get away from his family itself as well. He is most concerned with fixing all of his problems, which he tries to do before he dies. He thinks that he can clean up the mess that he is bound to leave, and he does so by overthinking things in his life that really don’t matter. He thoughts are almost in the present, but they are also in the past as he looks back at everything else.

Benjy

     In the Sound and the Fury, Benjy is a character that causes the whole story to be a lot more confusing. Like I said in my last post, I am very intimidated by all the skipping around in time, and Benjy does a ton of that. The reason Benjy does it though, is because he is very emotionally connected to the past, and he feels like it is the present. He spends most of his time thinking about things that have already happened to him, and this shows us who he really is. He plays the role of a child in the Compson family. He is not thought of as an adult in their family, and it is because he doesn’t act like one.
     However, the minimal effort that the Compsons put into helping him be understood shows who they are as well. I can already tell through the way they deal with talking to him and just his presence in general that they are very self focused. His perspective shows us a view from the outside, because he is not really a part of the included family.
     Benjy holds on to the past because he knows what happens, and if one thing can stay consistent, it’s his memory. He longs for the past because live was better for him back then, and his life now is not enjoyable. This shows that as time has gone on, the  family has given him less of what he needs. He is growing older, but not mentally, and he longs for things to stay how they were earlier in his life. It shows that the family is moving too fast for him. He feels like he is the same as he always has been, but they are all changing. This shows that in the South, people and families follow a pattern, and the pattern isn’t easily changed when one family member isn’t able to keep up.
     I think that Benjy is a symbol for the part of all of us that longs for the past, and feels disconnected from the present. We all daydream and think about things that have already happened, and we sometimes do it uncontrollably. Benjy shows us what it would be like if that was all we could do. He is very human, but he isn’t able to interact like one.

First Impression

My first impression of the Sound and the Fury:

When looking at the Sound and the Fury for the first time, it seems intimidating. The story is told out of order, and the reader must figure out what time period Faulkner is speaking about. When I read literature, I think it is a lot easier to analyze when it is all in order. I think reading Faulkner will be a good challenge though, and I will learn to figure out each part of it as I read. The story seems interesting, and I am excited for this book.