You could say that this book is about the downfall of a prestigious Southern family, but that would be wrong since that story never climaxed to anything and nothing profound came directly out of their story. However, through the downfall of the Compton family, this book explores larger thematic ideas, such as the decay and corruption of old Southern values and the struggle to accept, or at least tolerate, the values of the modern world, which can be seen through the struggle of Quentin as he tries to preserve Caddy. Even with all the bad luck that family has faced, there is also a sense of resurrection and renewal that the book focuses on. It is no coincidence that three of the chapters take place around Easter Sunday, and that the book ends with Disley on Easter. As everything about the Compton family deteriorates, Disley rises stronger than ever because she was grounded in the values of love, family, and faith while the Compton’s dwelled in values that no longer existed or were superficial. Dilsey resurrects these values. The lack of a plotline also shows that life is too complex to be accurately described in words.
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
April 9, 1928; Overview of the Book
The effect of starting the novel with disjointed and confusing chapters made the story seem that it would amount to something grand and insightful. At least for me, this method made me intrigued as I tried to figure out why it is that these are memories that Benjy and Quentin recall and what their importance can be to reveal some element of human nature, since that is the way most novels go. However, the more coherent and less personable the writing became, the more the tragedy that has struck the Compton family seemed meaningless and just another mundane part of human life. I believe this was Faulkner’s intention. By starting the novel with characters that fall into streams of conscious when prompted by an external force, it made the reader sympathize more with the Compton family as they traveled along with Benjy and Quentin’s jumbled thoughts. They received bits and pieces of the memories that caused despair in the household, intriguing them to find out what the full story was behind those memories and the actions taken by the character. But by the time we get to Jason’s chapter, those sentimental feelings towards the Compton’s lessen as we realize that nothing profound emerges from these tragedies, only confirmation on vague details from previous chapters and bitterness and self-pity from Jason and his mother. Caddy was just thrown out by her husband and then exiled from her house, the father’s death, and no one seemed to care about the suicide of Quentin. Jason and his Mother seemed to just brush off those deaths and fall back into their self- pity. Jason also just rants on and on in his chapter, sulking about the job Caddy deprived him of, his low status in the town, and his hatred of women. Four chapters tell the same story of the same tragedy from a slightly different perspective, and yet none of the characters could capture the significance of these events. Their narratives were just full of hollow emotions. This novel truly becomes a “tale… full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing”.
You could say that this book is about the downfall of a prestigious Southern family, but that would be wrong since that story never climaxed to anything and nothing profound came directly out of their story. However, through the downfall of the Compton family, this book explores larger thematic ideas, such as the decay and corruption of old Southern values and the struggle to accept, or at least tolerate, the values of the modern world, which can be seen through the struggle of Quentin as he tries to preserve Caddy. Even with all the bad luck that family has faced, there is also a sense of resurrection and renewal that the book focuses on. It is no coincidence that three of the chapters take place around Easter Sunday, and that the book ends with Disley on Easter. As everything about the Compton family deteriorates, Disley rises stronger than ever because she was grounded in the values of love, family, and faith while the Compton’s dwelled in values that no longer existed or were superficial. Dilsey resurrects these values. The lack of a plotline also shows that life is too complex to be accurately described in words.
You could say that this book is about the downfall of a prestigious Southern family, but that would be wrong since that story never climaxed to anything and nothing profound came directly out of their story. However, through the downfall of the Compton family, this book explores larger thematic ideas, such as the decay and corruption of old Southern values and the struggle to accept, or at least tolerate, the values of the modern world, which can be seen through the struggle of Quentin as he tries to preserve Caddy. Even with all the bad luck that family has faced, there is also a sense of resurrection and renewal that the book focuses on. It is no coincidence that three of the chapters take place around Easter Sunday, and that the book ends with Disley on Easter. As everything about the Compton family deteriorates, Disley rises stronger than ever because she was grounded in the values of love, family, and faith while the Compton’s dwelled in values that no longer existed or were superficial. Dilsey resurrects these values. The lack of a plotline also shows that life is too complex to be accurately described in words.
Monday, April 20, 2015
April 6, 1928 (Jason's Chapter)
Even though Jason’s chapter was the most clearly written and precise in its narrative, it was the most unbearable chapter to read. Jason is quite the character. He is cruel, bitter and greedy. Having to read about his personality for 52 pages, and along with his self-pitiful mother who blindly loves and adores him for being of Bascomb quality, was overwhelming to my. His account did clear up confusions and confirmed pieces that were missing in the plot about the Compton tragedy , such as Caddy being divorced from Herbert and Quentin drowning himself (to which he makes a snarky comment saying “at Harvard they teach you how to swim at night without knowing how to swim”). But the way he expresses himself is obnoxious.
Upon reading the chapter, you immediately get a sense of his bitterness. The first thing he states is “Once a bitch always a bitch, what I say.” This displays his sardonic attitude in life. He is bitter about having to work in a farming supply store. He feels he has become the lowest Compton after having to succeed his great grandfather, who was a Civil War General, and a grandfather, who was a governor. He is mostly bitter about how his siblings have wronged him. The family sold land and furniture to send Quentin to Harvard, but he ends up committing suicide. Caddy has ruined the family’s name by bearing a bastard child, causing her husband, Herbert, to divorce her. This causes Jason to believe that she “deprive me of a job that was promised to me” from the arrangement of the marriage. Now Jason has to care for Caddy’s child to which he comments “instead of me having to go way up north for a job they sent the job down here to me”. Along with his family, he blames just about everyone else for his misery and misfortune. For example, he blames the Jews in the North for the dropping value of his stock in the cotton market. It goes to show that Jason is narcissistic and self-pitiful.
Jason is also selfish and greedy. All he cares about is money. He thinks about money, the stock he invested in, and he will frequently count the money in his chest just to look at it. For the last 15 years, he has been scamming his mother and stealing money from Quentin as he cashes in the checks Caddy has sent him to be given to Quentin and his mother. He lies to Quentin about the money and tricks his mother to burn what she thinks are the Caddy’s checks because they don’t need anybody’s charity and “certainly not that of a fallen woman.” He then later will cash in the check for his own usage.
Most of all, Jason is downright cruel. Not only does he scam and deprive his mother and his niece of money that is rightfully theirs, he enjoys tormenting other people and is sadistic. He has threatens to beat Quentin and even Dilsey who comes to Quentin’s defense. When Caddy comes to her father’s funeral (which no one cared to notify her of), Jason is infuriated and boasts about how “We dont even know your name at that house” and that she would be “better off if you were down there with Quentin” in which he is saying she should be dead. He agrees to let Caddy see her daughter “Just so I can see her a minute” in exchange for one hundred dollars. He shows up to their meeting spot up, holds the baby to the window briefly, and then darts away, cheating Caddy from their deal. In another instance of Jason’s cruelty, he happily torments Luster who wants his two tickets to a show he does not even want to attend by first offering to sell them for a nickel and then burning them in front of his eyes because he has no money to pay for them. Lastly, he is very cruel to Benjy, wishing he had put him in Jackson sooner so that he would not embarrass the family. He sarcastically thinks “Rent him out to a sideshow; there must be folks somewhere that would pay a dime to see him”. His nastiness can be seen from these passages.
Upon reading the chapter, you immediately get a sense of his bitterness. The first thing he states is “Once a bitch always a bitch, what I say.” This displays his sardonic attitude in life. He is bitter about having to work in a farming supply store. He feels he has become the lowest Compton after having to succeed his great grandfather, who was a Civil War General, and a grandfather, who was a governor. He is mostly bitter about how his siblings have wronged him. The family sold land and furniture to send Quentin to Harvard, but he ends up committing suicide. Caddy has ruined the family’s name by bearing a bastard child, causing her husband, Herbert, to divorce her. This causes Jason to believe that she “deprive me of a job that was promised to me” from the arrangement of the marriage. Now Jason has to care for Caddy’s child to which he comments “instead of me having to go way up north for a job they sent the job down here to me”. Along with his family, he blames just about everyone else for his misery and misfortune. For example, he blames the Jews in the North for the dropping value of his stock in the cotton market. It goes to show that Jason is narcissistic and self-pitiful.
Jason is also selfish and greedy. All he cares about is money. He thinks about money, the stock he invested in, and he will frequently count the money in his chest just to look at it. For the last 15 years, he has been scamming his mother and stealing money from Quentin as he cashes in the checks Caddy has sent him to be given to Quentin and his mother. He lies to Quentin about the money and tricks his mother to burn what she thinks are the Caddy’s checks because they don’t need anybody’s charity and “certainly not that of a fallen woman.” He then later will cash in the check for his own usage.
Most of all, Jason is downright cruel. Not only does he scam and deprive his mother and his niece of money that is rightfully theirs, he enjoys tormenting other people and is sadistic. He has threatens to beat Quentin and even Dilsey who comes to Quentin’s defense. When Caddy comes to her father’s funeral (which no one cared to notify her of), Jason is infuriated and boasts about how “We dont even know your name at that house” and that she would be “better off if you were down there with Quentin” in which he is saying she should be dead. He agrees to let Caddy see her daughter “Just so I can see her a minute” in exchange for one hundred dollars. He shows up to their meeting spot up, holds the baby to the window briefly, and then darts away, cheating Caddy from their deal. In another instance of Jason’s cruelty, he happily torments Luster who wants his two tickets to a show he does not even want to attend by first offering to sell them for a nickel and then burning them in front of his eyes because he has no money to pay for them. Lastly, he is very cruel to Benjy, wishing he had put him in Jackson sooner so that he would not embarrass the family. He sarcastically thinks “Rent him out to a sideshow; there must be folks somewhere that would pay a dime to see him”. His nastiness can be seen from these passages.
Monday, April 13, 2015
June 2, 1910 (Quentin's Chapter)
Quentin’s chapter was even more confusing than Benjy’s when Quentin would remember things that happened in the past. The lack and unconventional use of grammar and punctuation (not having periods, commas, quotations, or apostrophes for words like we’ll; not capitalizing words and capitalizing others, extra spaces between words,) made this chapter very confusing. At times it was hard to determine who was speaking; what was just narration by Quentin; when one idea started and another ended; and if Quentin was mentally in the past or present during these flashbacks. All of this caused me to be disoriented to what was actually happening. It definitely forced me to go back a couple of pages and reread to realize what was going on.
However, this style of writing shows the turmoil that exists within Quentin. Quentin’s thoughts are jumbled together as he reflects on the past. This illustrates the disorder in his world that the he is desperately trying to escape. Quentin reflects the traditional Southern values of conduct and manner, where they took pride in the formal gentleman and the purity of ladies, but as Caddy, whom Quentin is very close to (maybe a little too close), challenges these views by being promiscuous, it causes the order Quentin wants to keep to fall into chaos. He is clearly troubled by these memories with Caddy or conversations about Caddy’s promiscuity with other people and shows an unhealthy obsession over it. Quentin is sensitive to Caddy’s behavior. The most extreme example of this is when he even tries to make a pact with Caddy that he would slit her throat and then his so that the family’s name might be preserved from Caddy getting pregnant out of wedlock. Even though Caddy agreed to it, since it was another way to challenge the southern values, Quentin could not bring himself to do it. So he instead wants to take full responsibility by saying he committed incest with her admit that it was some other guy who did this with Caddy’s consent that did this. For whatever reason, Quentin thinks incest is a less shameful act than premarital sex and it is better to have his family name be shamed from incest than the other. His obsession with Caddy can also be seen through his jealousy of her being with other men. However, Caddy also showed jealousy when Quentin was with Natalie. So maybe they see something more between them than just family.
Quentin’s turmoil is deepened furthered by his father lack of concern for Caddy’s behavior. His father says more to Quentin that defend Caddy’s actions saying that virginity is an unnatural idea that men created and a meaningless thing to women. This completely goes against Quentin’s views and creates more disorder, which was rooted in Caddy’s promiscuity in the first place. All this chaos within Quentin drives him to commit suicide, for he feels that is the only solution to escape it all. Yet is peculiar that Quentin is obsessed with having his hair neat and teeth brushed before he does so, so that he can have a little more order in his life before he leaves.
However, this style of writing shows the turmoil that exists within Quentin. Quentin’s thoughts are jumbled together as he reflects on the past. This illustrates the disorder in his world that the he is desperately trying to escape. Quentin reflects the traditional Southern values of conduct and manner, where they took pride in the formal gentleman and the purity of ladies, but as Caddy, whom Quentin is very close to (maybe a little too close), challenges these views by being promiscuous, it causes the order Quentin wants to keep to fall into chaos. He is clearly troubled by these memories with Caddy or conversations about Caddy’s promiscuity with other people and shows an unhealthy obsession over it. Quentin is sensitive to Caddy’s behavior. The most extreme example of this is when he even tries to make a pact with Caddy that he would slit her throat and then his so that the family’s name might be preserved from Caddy getting pregnant out of wedlock. Even though Caddy agreed to it, since it was another way to challenge the southern values, Quentin could not bring himself to do it. So he instead wants to take full responsibility by saying he committed incest with her admit that it was some other guy who did this with Caddy’s consent that did this. For whatever reason, Quentin thinks incest is a less shameful act than premarital sex and it is better to have his family name be shamed from incest than the other. His obsession with Caddy can also be seen through his jealousy of her being with other men. However, Caddy also showed jealousy when Quentin was with Natalie. So maybe they see something more between them than just family.
Quentin’s turmoil is deepened furthered by his father lack of concern for Caddy’s behavior. His father says more to Quentin that defend Caddy’s actions saying that virginity is an unnatural idea that men created and a meaningless thing to women. This completely goes against Quentin’s views and creates more disorder, which was rooted in Caddy’s promiscuity in the first place. All this chaos within Quentin drives him to commit suicide, for he feels that is the only solution to escape it all. Yet is peculiar that Quentin is obsessed with having his hair neat and teeth brushed before he does so, so that he can have a little more order in his life before he leaves.
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