What a book.... Despite being one of the hardest books I have ever read, I really enjoyed William Faulkner's
The Sound and the Fury. I just finished reading the last chapter, which is a third-person narrator that mostly focuses on Dilsey, one of the Compson family's servants. The chapter, which occurs on Easter Sunday, highlights the final downfall of the Compson family—the future of the family, Miss Quentin, escapes from her psychologically and emotionally traumatizing family. The only remaining members are Caroline, the hypochondriac aristocrat; Jason, the self-loathing and bigoted store clerk; and Benjy, the mentally disabled "disgrace" of the family. Of course, Dilsey remains—the African American servant represents all that was good in the now-extinct Compson family. Now that's a humorously ironic ending.
The book started with Benjy's chapter, which was pretty much unreadable, and it ended with a clear third-person narrator. This gradual focusing of the writing perhaps symbolizes the shift from the chaotic old South into the bright new South. Over the reading of the book (and as time passes), the book emerges from a confusing period into a much more normal period.
Or, perhaps, Faulkner writes in the style he did to illuminate what the book is about...
The title of the book is "The Sound and the Fury," which comes from the Shakespearean quote in
Macbeth, "[Life] is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Faulkner presumably chose this title because he agrees that the story of life doesn't mean anything—it's just "sound and fury." And so, by extrapolation, I personally believe that Faulkner wrote in a gradually clarifying way to show that, even when the world seems to make perfect sense, everything from households to empires will still fall because life is random and it doesn't mean anything. Maybe the Compson family's story has two purposes—it both represents the fall of the Old South, and, perhaps more importantly, that greatness will, if corrupted and selfish, decay into nothingness.
I love your analysis of the ordering of the chapters. I also agree that Faulkner deliberately chose this style to illuminate his themes. Your breakdown of the title also helps add another layer of understanding to the book as a whole.
ReplyDelete(Caroline H)
I really like your idea that even though everything is clear that does not mean that it all cannot come crashing down. Even when reading Benjy's chapter it was apparent that there was little good coming out of the Compson family, maybe with the exception of Dilsey and Caddy. Making the chapters cleared helped to better understand the events, but it was always clear the Compson's were doomed.
ReplyDeleteI think its great how you keep a view of the book as a whole watching the narrators shifting in clarity. And reading your analysis makes the book seem a bit more readable. The way you explain it is clear and easy to follow.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading numerous blogs about the debate over Dilsey representing the old or new south, I find it interesting that you have associated her with the
ReplyDeleteOld south. I agree that at the end of the book, Dilsey represents the center of hope and all that is good within the family. When she stood up for Quintin, do you think that added to her positive view?
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your analysis of the meaning of the Compson family's story. Not only does the story show the transition period between old and new, but also clearly shows how the selfish desires of the individuals in a family, contribute to the downfall as a whole. Your point is further backed up because the last person remaining in the family with some control is Dilsey, the least selfish of them all.
ReplyDeleteI like how you said who the remaining Compson family members were. It was nice to see the standing Compson family and a little reminder of which character is which. I had no idea what the connection was between the title of the book and the actual book so it was nice to actually have that explained.
ReplyDelete