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.