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"All you need is the story..."- Tim O'Brien
"Literature has been the salvation of the damned, has inspired and guided lovers, routed despair, and can perhaps...save the world." John Cheever
22 comments:
I think throughout the sound and the fury we have seen the traditional southern aristocracy take a beating. Benjy provides an honest overall picture of the Compson family's decline. Quentin and his mother, I feel, are the only true embodiments of the traditional south, but one commits suicide and the other wastes away in bed. This leaves the old south in a very poor state. Quentin exemplifies the Old south's decline with his abstract ideals and his inability to control time (the old south must change). Quentin's death is a blow not only to the Compson family, but to the aristocracy also.
I think Faulkner makes it clear that the Southern aristocracy is dead, it is run over by cars and it is covered up with makeup and perfume. No male character (possible leaders of the house) can use time to their advantage and stretch the ability for the Compson family to carry on. Benjy has no concept of time, Quentin cannot leave the past, and Jason feels he does not have anytime. Time is the downfall of the Compson family because it has run out; there are no more ideals and the rest of the world has progressed forward. The old South is true to its name - it's old, so it must make way for the new.
Alright, I just finished the book and I gotta say "what the hell just happened?" I mean, there I was, on page 296, laughing hysterically about 'Little Jesus and the Roman po-lice' when suddenly the book ends (at least it seemed rather sudden) and I have no idea what happened.
Is this an homage to the South? No. At least, I don't think so. It's an homage to humanity and its decline as it withers away in the face of time. The old must make way for the new. If nothing else, time must continue. Those stuck in the past (Quentin) must perish as the past does. Those stuck in the present with no hope for the future (Jason) must accept the coming change. Those who have no idea where they want to be (Benjamin) must simply survive to face their judgement later. Meanwhile, Dilsey makes dinner.
To be perfectly honest, I don't really know what I'm trying to say because the book just ended so abruptly. I have no idea what to think.
Could the argument be made that this book is an homage to the South? Yes. Do I want to be the one to make that argument? No. I just don't believe it.
If anything, this is a book about nothing. I don't mean that in a derogatory way, I simply mean to say that this is perhaps a book that explores the concept of humanity at its most human points, and perhaps a tale about it's most hypocritical invention: the concept that time can be measured and the illusion that the measurement is a form of control.
Basically, it's a beautiful book, a masterpiece. Yet it manages to do what few books ever accomplish (or even come close to accomplishing), it tells the story of how humanity simply exists. There is no great and terrible purpose behind existence, no escape from it other than death. It's a depressing concept, but I honestly believe that Faulkner was trying to express that sentiment.
I'd be perfectly willing to concede, to admit I'm wrong, I just have yet to encounter any counter argument that makes any sense at all to me. For that, I apologize.
By the way, the church scene was hilarious. Seriously.
Faulkner intended for the Compson family to represent the decline of the old south. This seems obvious because the focus of the entire book is on each member of the family's problems. They were once a respectable, wealthy family, and they hold on to their old ways throughout the book. I think that each character's suffering or wrong doing is intended to say something about the south's decline. Caddy's promiscuity represents the destruction of the moral code in the south. Jason stealing and lying represents corruption in the south, and his treatment of the women in his family represents the southern patriarchy. Quentin, the smart son who is supposed to save the family kills himself, which is a very literal representation of the hopelessness of the situation. Benjy's mental state and its effect of his family is another representation of the decaying of the southern family and way of life.
The future in this novel is a day to day concept. The remaining members of the family can't think far into the furutre, all they can do is get through the next day. I think that Faulkner intends for there to be no hope for the future. I think that Faulkner didn't give any of the characters a future in order to portray this lack of hope for the Compson family (and for the south). All of the characters are defined by their pasts. Quentin literally doesn't have a future, Jason is stuck trying to take care of his family, the mother is waiting to die, Benjy will always be like a child, and Caddy will never be able to esccape her past mistakes. Even Miss Quentin, a new generation doesn't really have any chance for the future. I think that Faulkner's manipulation of time is supposed to suggest that time has run out for families like the Compsons and all they have are their pasts.
We talked in class today about Quentin and Jason as contrasting sides of the "old South" with Quentin as the idealized vision of the South and Jason as the harsh realities (racism, mistreatment of women, preoccupation with wealth and status.) If the romance and the values die with Quentin, all the South has left is the belief in its own superiority and its inability to cope with the changing times. Jason hates his car and the smell of gasoline. It's the only thing Jason can use to get out of the Compson family bubble, but a car can't convey a sense of dignity or family pride. He is the head of the family, yes, but the family is a crazy hypochondriac, an idiot, and Miss Quentin, a girl with questionable morals.
As far as time is concerned, I think it's an interesting that Jason has no access to time. Quentin does have access to time, and he becomes obsessed with what he has chosen to do with that time and he gets stuck in the past. Jason doesn't have regrets because, as he sees it, he doesn't have a choice in his life. He wanted to go to college; he wanted to get that job at the bank, but got dealt a bad hand. I think the future exists for Jason only the the most superficial sense: tomorrow, maybe the day after. He is stuck as the head of this dying family as the rest of the world goes on without him. The South is moving forward and recognizing that the American belief system is changing, and as long as Jason clings to the Compson family, he has no access to that.
And just a question that's bothering me: where does Miss Quentin fall into all of this? Is she a representation of the future?
I agree with Ashish that Faulkner is able to capture the idea that man's attempts to control time and life are essentially futile. However, I do believe that while accomplishing this, Faulkner wanted to portray the decline of the Old Southern aristocracy.
Although most of "The Sound and The Fury" takes place in 1928, (Quentin's section being the only one taking place in 1910), Damuddy was likely to have been alive during Reconstruction. As everyone knows, this was an extremely tumultuous time in the South, especially for the aristocracy. With all these abrupt changes occurring beyond their control, it is likely that the aristocracy desperately attempted to salvage their ideals and therefore the social structure of the Old South. However, the rest of America plunged progressively forward, leaving the Old Southern aristocracy in a sort of limbo in which diluted and corrupted the Southern values that they tried to protect. With the death of Damuddy comes the death of the Old South. What remain are the corrupted remains of the Southern values, which is represented by the Compson family.
Mr. Compson, perhaps the family's best chance for salvation, basically resigns to time and becomes an alcoholic. Mrs. Compson, who is supposed to emulate a dignified Southern Lady, is reduced to a hypochondriac and her continual complaining corrupts her value of grace and dignity. Like his father, Quentin, although constantly concerned with the ideals of the Old South, resolves to do nothing except kill himself. Caddy, with no one to represent the feminine concepts of the Old South (female purity and virginity), becomes promiscuous. And so does her daughter.
Jason attempts to abandon his ties to the Old South by using a car, but the gas makes him sick, and also by pursuing the stock market, which he is unsuccessful at. As Jesse pointed out in class, since he gets sick from the smell of gasoline and fails at the market, Jason cannot assimilate into the New South. This is because he is a product of the corruption of the Southern virtues. Instead of being honorable and chivalrous, he chooses to be dishonest, greedy, and callous. But, Jason does try to keep the social order intact by treating Dilsey and Luster as slaves rather than servants.
As other people stated in class, Benjy seems to be representative of the physical deterioration of the Old South.
(What's a little eerie about this blog is that I had itunes on shuffle and when I began writing, the song "For Whom the Bell Tolls" by Metallica came on. Wow.)
It seems that "time marches on" for the Compson family.
I don't believe that all of what Faulkner wrote is a criticism of the "Old South" lifestyle. I don't buy that for two reasons. First, I do not believe Quentin is designed to symbolize any part of Old Southern life, but rather was constructed to show the discontinuity of the Northern frame of mind and the Southern mindset. Second, I don't think Faulkner is that one-dimensional. It doesn't seem characteristic of Faulkner, from what I have read of his work thus far, to simply make a character, or a story about one simple problem. The Compson family, for example, does not struggle with one single issue, such as Quentin's suicide, but rather faces a more realistic situation of multiple problems on multiple levels. Hence, I do not think that Faulkner would construct The Sound and the Fury only to criticize this one aspect of the South he is witnessing. That being said, I do believe part of this book can be seen as a homage to some aspects of the South. For instance, part of what makes Benjy feel comfortable is when he is around Caddy, revealing that the family dynamic of Southern life, those strong bonds and attachments, are indeed an aspect to be respected. Also, most of the troubles in the novel occur outside the house, off of the Compson land. It is where Quentin kills himself, Caddy whores herself, Jason steals money, Benjy attacks school girls, and Miss Quentin runs away. Therefore, I can somewhat see Faulkner believing that the home is a facet of Southern life that does bring peace and unity, even to the hectic Compson family. While the appearance of the book is a pure criticism, threads of respect run deeply through the subtext.
Faulkner is definately criticizing the old southern values. He does so throughout all four sections of the novel, especially during Jason's section. He portrays the Compson family as clinging to a dying set of old southern morals and values, and such an attachment to these values is infact what leads to the Compson family destruction. I think Faulkner feels like the southerners need to let go of the southern aristocracy because if they dwell on past values and their past suceses in comparion to their future, they will never be able to adjust to the new techonology and business based way of life that the rest of the world has adopted. Faulkner portrays that because the Compson family has a tendency to focus on the past, that they are destroying the posibility for a sucessful future. Within the immediate Compson family i feel like there is no hope for the future, none of the compson men have procreated to carry on the Compson name, which mean that the Compson family does have a distinct ending in the future, who knows how far or near. But although the Compson family sruvivors will have a physical future, their future does not hold much opportunity for sucess, especially since Miss Quentin has run off with all of the Jason's money (which was rightfully hers in the first place. After thinking about the Compson family and their future, i came to the comclusion that the Compson family kind of goes in a circle. The Family can't progress becasue they dwell on the past so in turn they have a limited future, and knowing that thier future has not much opportunity for success, the family (especially Quentin) choses to dwell on the past rather then living in the future. At the end of the book the only option ofr sucess int he future is left on the only member of the Compson household who remains strong, and centered throughout the entrie book, the Comspon's servant Dilsey. This I found particularly ironic because she is treated like a slave, and she is considered extremely low class and unimportant, especially by Jason, but she raised the Compson children when their mother was constantly "dying" and while their father was drinking himself into the ground, she is the only solid force of life in their household, and is responsible for holding whatever is left of the Compson family together
Faulkner is definately criticizing the old southern values. He does so throughout all four sections of the novel, especially during Jason's section. He portrays the Compson family as clinging to a dying set of old southern morals and values, and such an attachment to these values is infact what leads to the Compson family destruction. I think Faulkner feels like the southerners need to let go of the southern aristocracy because if they dwell on past values and their past suceses in comparion to their future, they will never be able to adjust to the new techonology and business based way of life that the rest of the world has adopted. Faulkner portrays that because the Compson family has a tendency to focus on the past, that they are destroying the posibility for a sucessful future. Within the immediate Compson family i feel like there is no hope for the future, none of the compson men have procreated to carry on the Compson name, which mean that the Compson family does have a distinct ending in the future, who knows how far or near. But although the Compson family sruvivors will have a physical future, their future does not hold much opportunity for sucess, especially since Miss Quentin has run off with all of the Jason's money (which was rightfully hers in the first place. After thinking about the Compson family and their future, i came to the comclusion that the Compson family kind of goes in a circle. The Family can't progress becasue they dwell on the past so in turn they have a limited future, and knowing that thier future has not much opportunity for success, the family (especially Quentin) choses to dwell on the past rather then living in the future. At the end of the book the only option ofr sucess int he future is left on the only member of the Compson household who remains strong, and centered throughout the entrie book, the Comspon's servant Dilsey. This I found particularly ironic because she is treated like a slave, and she is considered extremely low class and unimportant, especially by Jason, but she raised the Compson children when their mother was constantly "dying" and while their father was drinking himself into the ground, she is the only solid force of life in their household, and is responsible for holding whatever is left of the Compson family together
Faulkner uses the decline of the Compson family to comment on the new order of the South. This social commentary was first most evident in the second book, in Quentins chapter, as he intellectualizes and obsesses over traditional southern values. Quentin looked at the past, desperately tried to hold onto romantic ideals that he could not move on from. He likewise cannot move on and forgive his family for their sins, and because he cannot forgive their sins, he must let go of his romanticized ideal. With Quentin, therefore, Faulkner shows that there is no hope for the future. Similarly, with Caddy, who is a vehicle to show the changing role of women in the South (through her promiscuity), shows the decline of the new order and the hopelessness in their future.
Quentin longs for certain ideals to be preserved, such as a woman’s virginity. His own sister Caddy however proves that in families such as the Compsons, life can be taken away in self-absorption. Ms. Compson cares for herself, Caddy acts on her own will, and Jason on his own need. This said, there is no love in the family. Caddy is disclosed and ostracized, Benjy mentally and physically abandoned.
The manipulation of time throughout the text relates to the concept that, for the Compson family, there is no future, and there is no longer any past worth holding onto; rather, time is suspended in a single moment. The story is not an ideal plan for the future, but a short narrative of oddities moving in circles. There is no structure because all sense of structure is lost for the Compson family, which parallels to their decline.
However, I do not think that there is exactly no future. I believe that Faulkner purposely intends to have that question left for the reader to determine. At the end, there is no satisfying conclusion to the Compson’s story. What happens to Miss Quentin, Jason, Benjy? We are left with a feeling that the family is completely a wreck, all members suffering. There is a thought that the story goes on in circles. Faulkner is not criticizing all Southern families, but aristocratic Southern families. With this said, the only member of the family, ironically, who shows any glimpse or hope for the future, is Dilsey. Dilsey seems to be one of the only redeeming characters who may be able to have a future.
OK...I think that the sound and the fury is Faulkner's guide to Southerners on how not to act. It's constructive criticism in a way. With Quentin we saw someone who tried desperately to hold onto these old Southern ideals, but also someone who was tortured when his ideals didn't coincide with the present. Time was out of his hands and all Quentin wanted to do was take a pause. In Quentin's section, Faulkner's saying, great, you can hold on to those ideals but you also have to move forward....you can't get stuck in the past. In the bigger picture he's saying the South needs to put these old ideals in the past - they can still remember the good old days, but modernization is crucial in order to keep up with the times and with the rest of the country.
With Jason we're seeing a darker and harsher representation of the South. We see the racism, gender bias, and the tension between technology and agriculture. As opposed to Quentin's section, Faulkner, here, is saying that the South needs to throw out this way of thinking and acting all together.
Overall, I feel like Faulkner does have hope for the South, just not for the Compson family. Like I said, the Compson family is an example of how not to come out of Reconstruction into the 1900s. I think Faulkner supports the fact that the South will have a bright future ahead of them as long as their practices become OLD traditions and that they adopt new ways of beliefs.
I think we can all agree that a main part of The Sound and the Fury is Faulkner's commentary on the South. The Compsons represent the old southern aristocracy, and the downfall of their family symbolizes the decline of the South as a whole. What I find to be more interesting is the concept of time throughout the novel. I actually think that out of all the narrators, Benjy is the one least affected by the past. Because he has no sense of time and can't distinguish between present and past, it has no affect on him. Events in the past do not change who he is, what he thinks, or how he acts. He just lives. The other extreme is Quentin, who cannot remove himself from the past. It affects his life every day. Both Benjy and Quentin have absolutely no future. then there is Jason who resents his past and blames it for his current situation. It is present in his mind, but he does not dwell on it. Unlike his brothers, Jason does have a future, though it may be limited. He plans on there being a tomorrow and a day after that. Dilsey's section did not seem to have as much of an emphasis on time. I'm not sure what message Faulkner was trying to send out, but maybe it is that in order to have a future, you must acknowledge your past, accept it, and then move on. Connecting it back to commentary on the South, maybe he is telling them to do the same - accept that in the Old South, women were inferior, blacks were slaves, and the family name meant everything, but then move on. Move forward. Progress.
Also something that I've really been wondering about is why is Dilsey's section written in third person?
I agree with many of the blog posts so far--the Compson family and their gradual decline represents the decline of the Old South, and the traditional Southern values that were once an integral part of Southern culture. The decline of the Compson family also represents the idea of a declining sense of control, in all aspects of life. In general, the Southern aristocacy is experiencing a period of tumult and instability. No longer can those Southerners used to wealth, an agricultural economy, slaves, and defined values control their changing atmosphere around them. This whole theme of "control" is then exhibited within each of the four narrations in the novel. Mainly, the characters possess little control of time. They are powerless against the continous ticking of the clock that gradually transforms their once stable lifestyle into a more modernized, uncomfortable environment. The characters are also powerless against their own emotions, and internal stability.
First,Benjy's mental state has left him absolutely no control in his life. He has no understanding of the world around him, and can not control the incohesive time sequences that form in his mind. His condition has also left him powerless in other areas of his life, including his entrapment by the "fence" barrier and his own castration. This helplessness Benji exhibits mirrors the helplessness of the Southern aristocracy in terms of the rapidly changing society.
Next, Quentin deeply portrays this lack of control against the new Southern condition. The lack of cohesion displayed in his thoughts reflect how he is constantly stuck in the past--a world of traditional Southern values he feels secure in. Any alteration to this traditional lifestyle (Caddy's lost of virginity and promiscuity) causes him to feel lost, and lose all grasp of a secure mentality.
Jason, who seems to have the most secure mentality based on his linear narrative, is also greatly affected by the decline of his family. However, his own character has allowed him to react differently than Quentin, who blames such circumstances on himself and dangerously analyzes the southern detoriation. I feel that his own character is generally more "cut and dry" in a sense. Instead of blaming such tumult on himself, he releases his anger through targeting others: Quentin, Mrs. Compson, Benji, Dilsey, and various other characters in his life. He demonstrates the most anger towards those who have contradicted the traditional southern values. He targets Quentin, for she explicity contradicts the traditional, proper "southern lady." He targets Dilsey, Luster, and Job due to their "free" status. He simply can not adjust to these dramatic changes in Southern society, and thus lashes out on those around him in the most brutal of ways.
I agree with Ashish and Jasper that the whole novel could not be only about the decline of the South. I see it as a reflection on paper of human consciousness, of the state of the human mind and its disconnectedness or, as in the case of Jason, sad connectedness. Just as in Benjy's section a lot of work was needed to carefully piece together the memories to create a coherent flow of events, so I feel this discussion of the social commentary in the novel is a careful piecing together of arguments, analyzing to the point of creating a new meaning.
Of course, there is evidence for the representative value of each character, which have all been mentioned in previous blogs, such as Jason's corruption and Quentin's inability to let go of the past. And yet I believe the novel is more than that, because social commentary is so tangible and concrete a concept. I feel that Faulkner's main ambition in writing The Sound and the Fury was to describe something a lot less tangible and a lot more ambiguous--the significance of human life and human memories, the interconnectedness of peoples' lives. He shows this through many characters, such as miss Quentin, who, although born as a new individual, is criticized as behaving in the same ways as her mother, and Quentin, the brother, who is so deeply emotionally involved in his family's affairs that he decides to end his life.
The beauty of this book is its timelessness and address of some basic problems of humanity; therefore, I do not believe it can be definitely tied down to the decline of the South alone.
What I really liked about the Sound and the Fury was how Faulkner used each narrator to convey a different aspect of his commentary on the South.
We start off with Benjy's book which is, if incomprehensible, at least objective. That's why all of the mirror symbolism in his section; Benjy simply reflects what's going on around him without putting any of himself into it. As others have noted, he is a constant. Time goes on around him, but his perspective doesn't change. In a way, he's like the control group of an experiment (blame the comparison on spending twelve years too long in school); he gives us something close to the truth about the events of the novel.
We then move on to the variables, Quentin and Jason. As we mentioned in class (and as Laura noted in her post), Quentin represents the romanticized ideal of the Old South. That image of delusional chivalry that goes back to medieval Europe - I particularly liked whoever it was that compared Quentin to Sir Galahad (Don Quixote works just as well). If you want to argue that any part of the Sound and the Fury is an homage to the South, this would be it. Quentin is sort of a Byronic hero (and Jason is an ironic hero...can you tell that I'm on painkillers?), and through him, we see a vision of the Old South as it was meant to be. An ideal almost worth obsessing over.
With Jason, what we have is a completely different picture of the Old South. Jason isn't trying to preserve any ideals; he's trying to maintain control. He's taking all of the worst elements of the Old South - the racism, the patriarchal system, the importance of blood and family name - and transferring them to his present and future. What I think Faulkner is trying to say here is that it's the only way Jason knows how to survive. Jason is meant to represent the survivors of the fall of the Old South, who are thrust into a new world but have only the mindset and tools of the old world to help them cope.
So ultimately, I agree with Parla. What Faulkner has written is a portrait of how the remnants of the Old South are reacting to a new order - and what they lack to cope with it gracefully. He's saying that a life lived like any one of the Compsons has no possibility of a true future (Jason's concept of future is purely self-serving, almost an animal sense of survival mechanisms), and that change is in order if the South is to regain success and stability.
Jasper, sorry if I come off as adversarial here, but I don't think the Compson home represents any kind of peace or unity. Yes, for logistic reasons, Quentin kills himself and Caddy whores herself out away from home, and it happened that the school girls Benjy chased were on the other side of the gate. I don't think Miss Quentin's running away supports your point--it shows explicitly that she feels the need to escape the Compson home, and although she's a dysfunctional teenager, she has the right to feel that way. Jason's section offers the best view of the Compson home, where the major landmarks of the Compsons' decline may not occur, but there's clear dysfunction. Jason's seething, frustrated with his self-pitying, melodramatic mother, promiscuous and morally reprehensible niece, intellectually challenged brother (whom he finds embarrassing and wants to send away), and servants he considers slaves. The present Compson home is largely dictated by Jason's inability to lead it (because, though he has his reasons, he's kind of a jerk), but those sorts of problems go back a long time, back to when Roskus said, "Taint no luck on this place." Benjy feels comfortable around Caddy because she truly cares for him. In the Compson home, she's the exception, not the rule, the only person who provides a sense of safety.
To Faulkner, or at least the Faulkner I made up, it's destructive to cling onto traditional Southern values and beliefs when society's changing, but it's not quite possible to escape one's ingrained traditional Southern values and beliefs. (That's probably true of any culture and its associated set of values and beliefs, but the South was what Faulkner knew, so the South it is.) It's a catch-22, all right. The characters who try to adjust in some way are still weighed down by some of their beliefs. Jason treats his servants like slaves, even though, by my rough math based on an unacceptable knowledge of American history (and what I remember Jesse saying in class today), he's among the second generation to grow up without slavery as a practice and social construct. His bigotry regulates him to the traditional South, even though he tries to modernize himself in a few ways, like his playing of the market and automobile driving. I suppose I've already made my point, but I want to look at Quentin. As we've discussed to no end, he's hung up on several abstract concepts, a few of which, like virginity and family honor, are old-fashioned. It's those concepts that drive him to his suicide. However, he has moments when he shows tolerance and is more of a forward thinker than his crippling Southern beliefs would make one assume. Deacon is a black servant whom Quentin treats with a fair amount of respect. Yes, Deacon was in a role of servitude, but that was the status quo. He hates "niggers," but he views them in an atypical way because he over-intellectualizes his way to somewhat progressive thinking. To paraphrase, he feels that being a nigger is a result of behavior and molded by one's surroundings, not the direct result of one's skin color. (In a crude way, he kinda sorta taps into the same ideas as Max in Native Son.)
Here's stretch time. The man in the red tie, as the detail represents lynching and in turn, destruction. The tie is red, which we can all agree symbolizes blood. Like a noose, it's around his neck. Death by lynching was a punishment typical of the traditional South, and the Compsons are punished by the fact that they're typical of the traditional South. And because the man in the red tie is a suitor of Miss Quentin, who takes after her mother, whose promiscuity is the center of all the family's problems, he represents that destructive force. Promiscuity is a joint effort, one that couldn't have happened without, in our favorite family's case, without Herbert Head, Dalton Ames Dalton Ames Dalton Ames father i have committed incest it's not what you think Julio, the man in the red tie, and a bunch of others--they all represent part of the Compsons' decline. I'm over-explaining everything to show that, for better or for worse, I really thought about this. I realize Faulkner, in rare form, wasn't drunk when he wrote The Sound and the Fury, which may make this whole idea either more or less likely. Have I destroyed my credibility yet?
I had this aside in my second paragraph, but I thought reading it and then getting back to my actual point was too jarring, so I'm putting it here. On top of hating his car and the smell of gasoline, Jason nearly gets into an accident with the dreaded "man in the red tie." I suppose that's just more reinforcement of the fact that he can't adjust to the changing world. Meanwhile, the near-accident is with someone who has contributed to the family's decline, so it shows an inability to escape the deterioration (I got sick of using "decline") of his family, a microcosm for the traditional South. He drives the car to try to adjust, but he is then brought back to his inescapable reality.
And pardon my typos. Blogger doesn't allow its users to edit their posts, so I'll just put that out there instead of deleting my entry, leaving an indelible "post deleted by user" mark (essentially littering in cyberspace), and posting a polished version.
I agree with Ashish that I don’t think Faulkner’s puprpose was to make a statement about the south. His main focus, and incredible accomplishment was how he is able to capture human existence and the complexities of the human mind. Laura said that after Quentin commits suicide, all that is left symbolically in the south is Jason who has this inability to cope with changing times. This is a significant statement about the detrimental effects of being attached to the tradition of the south but we also need to take Dilsey into account. She followed the moral codes and the class system but she was still able to be a caring, loving person, which is seen clearly when she takes Benjy to Church. That scene really stuck out to me, especially when she explains why to her friend. Faulkner ends with a third person view and with Dilsey’s experience to show more optimism. We cant decide Faulkners view of the South just by the Compson’s family which is completely corrupt and disintegrated. In this last section we get a greater sense of the outside world’s view of the compson’s family. For example, how the sherriff suspects Jason when he comes to him for help. It is clear that not all of the south is stuck in its old ideals, and it is more that the Compson family is truly fenced into a different time. I agree with Ken that Damuddy’s death is representative of the real death of the Old South and the Compsons are in this time limbo between the two eras. I also agree with everything he said about how each character deals with this time confusion so I wont repeat it.
I think each section progresses more and more into the outside world and into the real time—showing a correlation between time and the south. We start with Benjy who is ostracized from the Southern world mainly by his family, and who’s concept of time is based entirely upon his emotions. He cannot understand the problems with the South. Then we have Quentin who’s mind stays mostly in the past due to his inability to remain present and deal with the problems of the family. Quentin recognizes these problems but he cannot cope with them so he ends his life. Next is Jason who is so in the present and represents the southern corruption. Instead of dealing with the problems, he basically is the problem. Finally, in the last section, the view point is from the current progressing south, from society, from Dilsey, and from Faulkner. It ends with a sense of opportunity but also with confusion as Benjy quiets himself as they leave the graveyard.
Homage has a positive meaning for me. Therefore, I don't think that Faulkner intended the novel to be an homage to the South. I think that he uses the novel to express his views about Southerner society’s faults and problems (there a lot of them). Jason is probably the most representative of this negative view of Southerners. By making Jason the only "normal" character that narrates, Faulkner makes him seem like a typical southerner. I agree with a lot of other people said about how there is a new order trying to break through the but the old values and ideals (shown especially in Jason's character) are still evident in the South.
We all agree that time is important and that in Quentin’s section, at least, there is no concept of future. I think that there is no future throughout the entire novel. I think Faulkner is trying to show how being stuck in the past (having past values/morals/etc.) is a very bad thing for a society. He shows this through the entire Compson family and the curse that they exemplify.
Along with the idea of no future, I also think that Faulkner shows a kind of hopelessness by using different narrators and perspectives. I agree with Hamsini that using different narrators gives a better idea of Faulkner's own views. The first person narration is effective in giving the total insight to the individual characters and the insights of more than one people (which is usually the problem when using first person). By showing no future, I think Faulkner is trying to say there is no place for some of the old notations that had been held in pre-Civil War society. Jason's cynical nature and craziness (as shown by the conclusion especially) definitely give the impression that the old way and the past have ruined the Compson family and could ruin any society.
Going to Jasper's point about family unity, I think that there is always a certain tie inherit in a family. However, the tie in the Compson family is very weak to start and only weakens throughout the novel, finally snapping with the death Quentin.
Faulkner is trying to tell us that there is no hope for people, like Jason, who cannot detach themselves from old Southern attitudes. The author portrays members of the new South in a more positive light than he does the Compson family. For example, Faulkner depicts the banker Jason works with as an honest character. Also, in a general sense this book focuses on the decline of a family which represents the old South, not the decline of the new South.
Faulkner manipulates time throughout the text to show that time is literally running out for those who stick to Southern tradition. The author maintains that a new era has transformed the South and those who do not accept it are misfits in society. The book is an homage to the new South, a South with cars and trucks instead of buggies, a South which treats its women with respect, and a South that has severed its ties with slavery.
I really liked what Ashish said about this book being all about the human experience but not glorifying it like in most literature we are accustomed to. Yes, The Sound and the Fury does focus on human flaws rather than strengths; however, I maintain that Faulkner had a definite purpose for his work. I just don't understand why someone would choose to write something that signifies absolutely nothing. I have a different edition to the text, which includes some interviews with the author. Faulkner said that this story came to him in a dream, and he tried to tell the story as he remembered it through four different voices, which make up the four sections. Since this book is basically a dream, it makes sense that the narration is so indirect; we do not dream linearly. And our dreams are simply changed illustrations of the life we live. So, this leads me to ask: what happened to Faulkner to make him dream of a girl with muddy plants climbing a tree? I don't know, but my guess is that perhaps he had a sister who was promiscuous and he had to deal with her reputation in some part of his life.
At the time of the narration, the ideal southern aristocratic life exists entirely in the past. Jason, ranting and driving all around the county, is unable to find it anywhere he looks. The ancestral Compson family, symbolic of the classic rich bloodline, had all of its glory in the past. It is tempting to argue that the disappearance of that ideal is what destroys the family, but the case can also be made that it could have happened in any cultural circumstances. After all, a kid can be born retarded, a girl can become a whore, someone can kill himself, and someone can drink himself to death at any time in history.
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