The Sound and the Fury, divides into of four sections and written by William Faulker The first three fragment are introduced from the three Compson son’s perspectives based on similar themes. The first section is in Mississippi on 7th April 1928. The first narrator, Benjy, has an intellectual disability and an idiot and has mixed tenderness of sensual feelings and memories. His hypothesis of his experience covers whole life. There are those happy times he had with Caddy. She was the nucleus for him. Benjy receives profound affection from Caddy. He recalls every moments of her, her wedding, her departure etc. Benjy also shares fine relation with Quentin and Jason. Benjy narrates this section.
The second part commences on dated 2nd June 1910 in Cambridge, narrated by Quentin. Quentin’s section oscillates between past and present. The occurrence are continuous. Quentin, at Harvard, determine to execute himself. A memories predominates (Caddy’s loss of virginity, His confrontation with Dalton, Caddy’s pregnancy etc). These particular factors compel his suicide.
The third portion narrates by Jason in April 6, 1928. He cheats the female members of the family, including Mrs. Compson, who is his mother, Caddy, the sister, and Miss Quentin, who is his niece. He has a lust of money. He is incompetent when it comes to a business whose position continue to fairly marginal.
In the last fragment narrated by an omniscient voice mainly focuses on Dilsey on 8th April 1928. In this story, Miss Quentin decides to filch the money Jason had fraudulently acquire from them and escape from the house . Jason, furious, goes to catch her but ultimately fails to do so.. This admits the virtuous and noble Dilsey, the housekeeper who is excellent despite the bad things happening around.
The novel represents excellent cultural change in America during 1920s. The portrayal of black servants with white employers depicts that aristocracy was slowly reducing and modernism is rapidly ascending. “Dilsey”, a black servant in the Compson family. She is the mother like figure with capabilities of aside her own personal concerns and focuses on raising the children and selfless to provide best to others unlike mrs Compson who is selfish and careless mother. Dilsey seems to be the only person in the family who has true sympathy for the Compson children’s good fortune, and she handles all of the children with benevolence and fairness, even Benjy. The last chapter’s focus on Dilsey implicit a trust for renewal after the calamitous incidence that have occurred. We sense that Dilsey is the recent carrier of the Compson name , and portrays the only prospect for renovation the values of the old South in an unmixed and uncorrupted form.
Dilsey obtains her duty very earnestly and heedless of being ill treated . She stays obedient to the Compson family. This evidence a cultural breach because Dilsey is black and during that epoch, they were judged inferior. Quentin, Jason, and their mother , can not see black people as co- existensive. Jason , particularly, is an outright racist who calls blacks lazy and worthless.
The sound and the Fury expresses “ alarm at the break down of sexual morality. In its fullest extension, it depicts “the inability of the ego to break out the circle of the self and of the individual to break out of the ring of the family”.
The novel was written and set in the postbellum American south, after Reconstruction. At this crucial moment of American history, the South was resettling itself and its worth in the absence of slavery The Civil War and Reconstruction badly effected many of these Southern families economically, socially, and mentally. Faulkner maintain that in the crisis, the Compsons, and other similar Southern families, lost contact with the existence of the universe around them and became lost in a mud of self-absorption. Certain Southern families ( old landed families) moved back to their traditions and values to indefinite belief of honor, clearness , and virginity.The novel marks the striking note on the downfall of these families. Men were recognize to act like courteous man , displaying boldness, ethical strength, perseverance, and heroic man in protection of the reverence of their family name. Women were rely upon to the highly standard of modest purity, elegance , and virginity until to produce offspring to posses the family legacy.
Faulker in “The sound and the fury”, describes social and economic divides. After losing civil war, southern lost not only the war but also their whole way of life. The aristocratic structure of slavery was destroyed. Blacks will no longer be slaved. Socially , blacks were legally free but socially disenfranchise from an equal education and equal economical opportunities. White still controlling social and economical areas while during the end of 19th century, southern economy was lesser profitable.
Faulker depicts economical crisis in The sound and the fury as he portrays Compson family. Their economical decline faced by every generation in the novel. In 1810, Jason’s father was compel to sell family’s land to pay tuition fee of Quentin and for Caddy’s wed. Moreover, Jason left to work in a local store to support his family.
Caddy’s unlawful pregnancy reflects illegitimate pregnancy among middle class women was a social disgrace that could lead to ostracization . In 1920s, mental disability of retardation was consider as curse and a heavily burden that the akin had to bear. Families feel ashamed if having mentally weaker child. This same happens to Benjy, family does not like him and do not pay any attention towards him except Dilsy.
We see this rotteness running furious in the Compson family. Mr. Compson has a general conception of family nobility something he proceed to Quentin but indulges in alcoholism and support a fatalistic faith that he cannot restrain the circumstances that fall his family. Mrs. Compson is just as self-imbibe, wallowing in hypochondria and self-pity and stays emotionally and psychologically far from her children. Quentin’s obsession with old Southern morality surrenders him deaden and unable to go past his family’s wickedness . Caddy keeps Southern concept of masculine cleanness and foster her in promiscuity, as does her daughter. Jason ruins his cleverness on s rapacity, endeavoring for personal profit but with no higher longing. Benjy does not perform any real sins, but the Compsons’ declension is physically and naturally exhibit through his retardation and his incapability to distinguish between morality and immorality.
The Compsons’ decay of Southern merits consequence the devoid of love, the strength that once held the family unitedly . Caddy, the only child who reveals the skill of devotion, is eventually abandon . Though Quentin attached with Caddy, his passion is neurotic, and overprotective. None of the men undergo into any true fabulous passion, and are thus unqualified to marry and transact the family name.
Faulkner implies that the problem is not essentially the cost of the old South, but the truth is that these rate were polluted by families such as the Compsons and must be re-seize for any Southern greatness to revert.
We see aesthetic beauty from the character “Caddy” as well as from “Dilsey” character. From Benjy’s monologue, we see relevant face of mother like aesthetic charm from Caddy than mrs. Compson.Benjy’s memories are connected to his sister, Caddy. Caddy gives nurturing love to Benjy when he needed . Caddy’s departure after marrying with Herbert Head leaves a void in Benjy’s life. Mrs. Compson thinks Benjy as a punishment of God to her due to her family’s transgression. Further, Faulker sketches Dilsey as “spiritual caretaker “ who nourishes Compson’s family effectively especially for Benjy.
Faulker takes a curve from the literary market place fall short to produce a satisfactory resources of elude from society, in spite of his insistence to the oppose. Instead, Faulker’s strive to compressed the door between artistic and capitalist method of formation results in a literary form.
To my opinion, this novel is far less self-conscious with regard to aesthetic. During the literary class war in many respects yeild the internal repugnance . The sound and the fury works ideologically to critique a socioeconomic pattern grounded in capitalism and to explore Impediment to collectively identify and impose central planing arising from trial to temper the social ills of capitalism by regeneratin classical liberalism.
