Dilsey;s Chapter

The ending of The Sound and the Fury is told coherently and clearly from the point of view of a third person narrator. The chapter opens up with Dilsey, the household maid, getting dinner started in the kitchen, accompanied by a pestilent Mrs. Compson. Jason comes in angrily and discovers that a locked box of his has been broken into, and three thousand dollars has been stolen from him. He steals Dilsey’s keys and forcefully enters the room of Mrs. Quentin. He discovers that she isn’t there. Jason angrily calls the police department and travels to meet the sheriff. He informs the sheriff how his property has been stolen, but the sheriff is dubious that the property was his in the first place.  Jason expresses his rage and threatens to call the governor but the sheriff says that he won’t mount a search. Jason believes that Miss Quentin has run away with a show company, and questions an old man about her whereabouts. However, Jason acts to aggressively and another old man comes to the aid of the first and they team up on Jason. After almost being killed by a hatchet strike, Jason learns that Miss Quentin isn’t there. Meanwhile, Luster takes Benjy for a ride in a carriage, and when they take a route foreign to Benjy, he begins to howl loudly. Jason scolds Luster for taking an unknown route and hits Benjy in an attempt to quiet him. Luster and Benjy then return to a well known route and Benjy quiets down.

This chapter shows a coming together of all the loose ends that composed The Sound and the Fury a deeper interrelationship between characters is revealed. The actions of each character in the final chapter are backed up by the emotional unveilings of the previous chapter. Benjy’s chapter starts the novel up in a very scrambled way, and understanding the characters and Benjy’s reactions is difficult. But each successive chapter clears up the storyline like a adding one lense at a time to correct vision. I think this novel is about adjustment. It is about the death of the ways of the old South and rebirth into a new life. This is represented through the confrontation of Jason with various members of the town and the rerouting of Luster and Benjy at the end of the book. I believe the chapters are presented in the order that they are because each chapter builds or clarifies the last. Each chapter is saying the same things, but from different focuses and exerting different emphasis. The order of the chapter related to the Macbeth quote, “Life is told by an idiot, signifying nothing.” It shows the futility of the effort of many of the characters. Despite all their differences, they all walk the same path in life.

Jason's Chapter

Reading Jason’s chapter means good news and bad news. The good news is that compared to Benjy’s extremely literal descriptions and Quentin’s scattered memory flashbacks, Jason’s account is pretty easy to understand and digest. His thoughts are clear and coherent, and it’s pretty easy to hold on and figure out what’s going on. The bad news is what’s going on. While easy to understand, Jason is arguably the most despicable character yet in the story. He is a shallow, cruel character that has a tendency to be a complete jerk whenever possible. Out of all of Jason’s interactions with other characters, every single one involves Jason being derogatory or unnecessarily black-hearted.

Jason specifically picks on black people, women, and old people. Throughout the chapter, Jason is referring to blacks as niggers and commenting on their incompetence. For example, he says how he is yet to encounter a black person with an “airtight alibi” after accusing a black valet man of joyriding his car. He also says Dilsey is incompetent because of her race. Jason also digs on women throughout the chapter. The opening line of the chapter is, “Once a bitch, always a bitch, what I say.” He refers to Caddy multiple times as a whore over the course of his account. There is also reference to “nigger wenches”, which even as a standalone comment give insight to Jason’s person. Old people also take a beating from Jason. When conversing with an old man in a non-confrontational manner, Jason closes the talk with “Don’t come complaining to me…” (pg. 123). Quentin also gets in a fight with his mom in a cemetery, showing minimal respect for the dead. These actions indicate the shallowness of Jason’s character, and he has been constructed almost purely on unkindness and spontaneous anger.

Despite Jason’s evil manner, his mother still tells him on pg. 126 that, “You are my only hope.” This confuses me because Jason seems to be the least likely person to put hope in. While he isn’t, handicapped, pregnant, alcoholic, or dead, like other characters in the book, he still comes off to the audience as evil to the core and the hope placed in Jason can only be done on a superficial level. There is nothing else to base this on. Jason might be my least favorite character at this point, surpassing Quentin.

Quentin Chapter

Faulkner’s second chapter of the Sound and the Fury was from the point of view of Quentin. Coming right on the heels of Benjy’s disorienting but honest chapter, Quentin’s account is given with real-time updates, as well as memories that are triggered by occurrences around Quentin. As Quentin walks about town and talks with people, he is constantly reminded of events in his past, most notably those involving Caddy. The memories are given to the reader in the italics, and are choppy and usually never completed. This shows that Quentin has a lot on his mind and there are a lot of things he can’t quite get over. Quentin often talks about Caddy and how he can’t get over her being with other men.

Over the course of the chapter, Quentin does many odd things. He first breaks his watch and rips the hands off. However, the watch continues to tick, symbolizing that even though he can’t see the time he is still bound by it. He walks around a clockmaker’s shop for a while, and decides not to get his watch fixed. Later, he finds a young girl on the street, and he tries to find her family and spends some time walking around with her. A man named Julio approaches Quentin, furious that he has kidnapped his sister. The two sort out the misunderstanding at the police station, and Quentin is off with a small fee for disrupting the Juilio’s work. Quentin can’t stop laughing during the encounter, showing a growing discomfort and detachment from the world around him. The chapter ends with a lengthy exchange with Caddy and how he almost kills her then himself. She eventually goes home, with Quentin saying he is going off to the woods and will catch up later. Quentin’s character seems certain on suicide, but unsure on the motives. Quentin’s detachment from time is shown as he constantly flashes back to memories of his past, but he is still bound by time as he can’t postpone his suicide.

Benjy

The first chapter of “The Sound and the Fury” is told from Benjy. Benjy name was originally Maury, however he is renamed because mother doesn’t want to disgrace the name of her brother by giving it to Benjy. Benjy is mentally handicapped, as indicated by his interpretation of golf in the beginning of the chapter and his extremely literal description of the things he sees. Benjy reveals that he has  a large family of many siblings and a sick mother. Also, he is very attached to a girl named Caddy, who “smells like trees.” I am not certain whether she is a part of the family or not. There are large sections of the text in italics, and I believe that they indicate a part of the story that is taking place in either the future or the past. It also seems that all the siblings in the story are trying to pawn Benjy off on each other because he is too much for them to handle.