Final Chapter/Blog

As I made it to the end of this novel, many things started to clear up for me. The Compson family dynamic as well as each sibling's personal stories were more clear when reading both Jason and Dilsey's chapters. I think Faulkner ended his story purposefully with Dilsey's point of view in order for the reader to tie his conclusions and assumptions together. Dilsey oversees everything in the Compson household, seems to be the most sane and to me it feels like she's really running the show. 

This last chapter allowed me to  understand once and for all the merging of the old South and new South, and how it took a toll on the Compson family. Mostly all the members of the family other than Caddy were unable to change their opinions and lifestyle in order to become part of the new South. Each character being somehow stuck in the past showed how difficult it was for them to live in the present. 

The Compson's decline was inevitable, and the last chapter's clarity made me realize while I was reading and during the seminar that the Compson's were never going to move forward. I believe now at the end of the book that no matter if certain events didn't transpire, the Compson's would still end up where they are at the ending scene. Stuck in the past, unwilling and unbothered to move forward. 

Jason - April Sixth, 1928

Jason Compson is not quite like the rest of his family, as I've found out while reading his chapter. In fact to put it bluntly, he's a very rude man. The fist sentence of his section starts with him saying "Once a bitch always a bitch, what I say". How comforting. He's a ruthless, mean leader of the Compson family, with a greed so visible it's haunting. In fact, the one thing he cares most about isn't his family, it's money. On top of that, he seems to have no respect for African Americans, Jews, his family or woman. When reflecting on his lover in Memphis, he says "I never promise a woman anything nor let her know what I’m going to give her. That’s the only way to manage them. Always keep them guessing. If you cant think of any other way to surprise them, give them a bust in the jaw." Definitely the bad apple of the family. Sadly, I couldn't find one redeeming quality in Jason. This man is always looking for a way to get ahead, and not wanting anyone to come along with him. Jason even uses his own mother to fuel his anger. Mrs. Compson wrongly feels bad for her favorite son, thinking she has failed the only hope in their family. She says once "I know I'm just a trouble and a burden to you," and he replies "I ought to know it," "You've been telling me that for thirty years. Even Ben ought to know it now." This was just one example of Jason using his family's wrongdoings to fuel his anger for just about everything. Jason is not a man ready to embrace the changes coming in the South. As a racist and sexist person, he is not willing to accept African Americans and women's new role upcoming around him. The forced patriarch of his family, Jason's archaic views economically, socially, and technologically don't help the Compson's image or their chance of survival in the South.

Jason's narration and his opinionated views eaily grasped me and immediately let me know the type of person he is. He's a man who believe in money, power, and the good of himself. Each sentence, he manages to be judgmental, rude, or unpleasant. His overwhelming bitterness throughout all of my reading has made me see that he doesn't change one bit. By him refusing to learn or take advice from anyone, he grows up to be a negative man who can't digest any actual meaning to life while being too ignorant to realize it.

June 2, 1910

As I began to read Quentin's chapter, I didn't believe there could be a narrator more choppy and skewed than Benjy. I was wrong. Although Quentin's outward appearance seems to be fine, there's something inside of his mind that isn't right. His thoughts are so intricate and pointed, showing that he remembers such small details in his life. He seems to take in every voice and action he observes and never forgets it, leaving his thoughts blurred and scattered. He has obsessions; with time, his family's status, Father's words, and let's not forget his sister Caddy. Quentin and his brother share a common obsession with Caddy, but in much different ways. Benjy looks to Caddy as a maternal figure and craves her physical touch, he is obsessed with her affection and support. Benjy's obsession is sweet, like an innocent brother looking up to his genuine sister. Quentin on the other hand obsesses over Caddy's promiscuity and sexual acts. He cannot accept her sins, although his father seems to shrug them off. His obsessiveness and possessiveness haven't waned one bit from the past to present. Quentin's sensual greed and incestual words are what set him completely apart from Benjy's views.


Passage at the stream, Caddy washing away her guilt and Quentin coming to join her. (P.150)

1. At this time, Quentin is yet again infused with sexualness around Caddy. They are alone, Caddy washing away her previous sin she just committed. As they lay together, his only obligation is Caddy. In this moment, she's all he sees and thinks and breathes. As he pushes a knife to her neck, he shows a promise of them being together, alone, with no impurity, corruption, or absurdity. He has found a way to escape time with the only person he can fully be with, but it doesn't seem that he's ready to leave quite yet. 
2. At this point, he is most concerned with Caddy. In a similar sense, it seems like Caddy feels the same way. They are together but Quentin's thoughts get in the way, Quentin vowing to kill her lover Dalton, speaking of old memories, wondering if Benjy's in bed yet. For those few minutes he was only concerned with Caddy, but his obsessive compulsive tendencies got in the way, forcing them to the trees back to the house. 
3.  This period is before Quentin has gone off to college. Caddy is not yet married, and she's promiscuous as ever. The passage is later in his youth, but he also talks of when he and Caddy were younger as well. 

April Seventh, 1928

1. Benji's the oldest in his family and is mentally handicapped. Through him I get to hear about the stories and details of his whole family. Through his perspective, although it can be jumpy and different than a basic narration, it's easier to step into his shoes and see how he really thinks. In his family, Benjy is almost seen as a burden sometimes because of his disability and other times is very under appreciated as well. Although many of the characters would believe they see more clearly than Benjy, his point of view proves that wrong. I see as I'm reading that he sees/feels things around him that no one in the Compson family chooses to see.
2.  Benjy does need consistency in his life, and does have a strong nostalgia for the past. I think that Benjy is always searching for the Compson's happy times and stronger past. He wants to remember everything that went right in their family. I think he needs a consistent happiness or goodness in his life, because he might know that the future might not be brighter for him or the family. As for the South, he's just trying to behave/remember things the way he's always known. The Southern culture's judgements and actions have given Benjy a reason to fear what comes ahead for him.
3. I definitely think Benjy has a symbolic role. It could be that Benjy's illness symbolize purity and innocence. He's physically adult, but has the mind of a child, and it that way he lives his life with a pure innocence that will always be there. As for being pure, Benjy's thoughts bring out a truthfulness and pureness that no one in the family can keep hold of.

I have begun The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner! So far this book is full of descriptions from the past, present, and future of our narrator Benjy's life. Benjy is a mentally disabled man who takes us through his own mind and thoughts, and although at times it has been difficult to keep up with, it is interesting to me to delve into his jumbled mind. This book so far has kept me entertained and I hope it continues to do so throughout the duration of the novel! Woohoo 

See ya later, Faulks