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.
This had some good insight into Benjy and I also think the importance of Caddy becomes clear from the start. By now you probably know that Caddy is part of the family and that there are time shifts from present to past, etc. I like this because it shows that over the course of reading this book things became more and more clear even if they were very confusing in the beginning.
ReplyDeleteI love your analysis because it seems that you are one of the few people who read this completely on your own. By the way that you are unaware of certain seemingly obvious facts like Caddy being Benjy's sister, it is clear that what you said came from your own analysis of the chapter, not from an online source. No matter the inaccuracies in your interpretation of the twisted p[lot Benjy lays out, I love the authenticity of your impression of the chapter.
ReplyDeleteI find your comments on the literalness of Benjy's commentary really interesting. It really contrasts the complexity of the narration and the complication put forth in the reader's mind because of the innocence of Benjy's character as well.
ReplyDeleteIt's very unique that you included the name switch from Maury to Benjy because of the fear of disgrace. I like this too because it helps to understand the family's (especially Jason's) view on Benjy.
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