Quentin, the oldest of the Compson children, is like Shakespeare’s Hamlet. He gets bogged down in the act of contemplation; he thinks too long upon a subject and cannot bring any of his acts to completion. He ends his life by drowning himself in the river. The question is, what […]
Read more Character Analysis Quentin CompsonCharacter Analysis Mrs. Caroline Compson
In Quentin’s section, Quentin cries out in a moment of depression and agony: “If I could say Mother, Mother”; later, he cries, “If I’d just had a mother so I could say Mother Mother.” These cries make us realize that Mrs. Compson has contributed strongly to the Compson doom and […]
Read more Character Analysis Mrs. Caroline CompsonCharacter Analysis Mr. Jason Compson III
Mr. Compson appears in only a few scenes, but his presence is felt by most of the characters. Quentin is affected most by his father. Mr. Compson maintains that life is essentially useless and that there are no values in life outside those of personal pleasure and acting the role […]
Read more Character Analysis Mr. Jason Compson IIISummary and Analysis Easter Sunday – April 8, 1928
The final section, the shortest of the four, is narrated by Faulkner himself. The principal figure in this section is Dilsey, the black cook. Amid all the sound and fury of the Compsons, Dilsey is able to bring peace and order. But Faulkner does not confine himself to her. Instead, […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Easter Sunday – April 8, 1928Summary and Analysis Jason’s Section – Friday, April 6, 1928
Jason’s section takes place on Good Friday, the day Christ was crucified. The tempo of this section seems exceptionally rapid after the slow pondering of the Quentin section. In terms of chronological time, this section would precede Benjy’s section, which takes place on Saturday. Jason is approximately thirty-five years old, […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Jason’s Section – Friday, April 6, 1928Summary and Analysis The Quentin Section – June 2, 1910
This entire section is told from within Quentin’s mind on the day that he commits suicide. Like Benjy, Quentin constantly returns to memories of scenes from the past. Quentin is at Harvard, but his mind, like Benjy’s, roams in memory around the Compson place. But Quentin’s mind is more intricate […]
Read more Summary and Analysis The Quentin Section – June 2, 1910Summary and Analysis The Benjy Section
Page numbers refer to the Vintage International “corrected text” paperback edition of The Sound and the Fury, published by Random House. Scene numbers are supplied for convenient cross-referencing. P. 3, Scene 1 (1928) Through the fence . . . As indicated by the heading, this section is set in the […]
Read more Summary and Analysis The Benjy SectionCharacter List
Jason Compson III The cynical and detached father. Caroline Compson The whining, selfish, neurotic mother. Quentin Compson The oldest son who is overly sensitive of his sister’s sin; he commits suicide by drowning on June 2, 1910. Candace (Caddy) Compson The only Compson daughter; her promiscuity is one of the […]
Read more Character ListAbout The Sound and the Fury
Image and Order in the Benjy Section Since the Benjy section is so difficult, and since it presents problems that the reader has never before encountered in any other novel (that is, no amount of prior reading really prepares readers for what they are about to experience in this particular […]
Read more About The Sound and the FuryBook Summary
The Sound and the Fury is a dramatic presentation of the decline of the once-aristocratic Compson family of Yoknapatawpha County, in northern Mississippi. Divided into four sections, the history is narrated by three Compson brothers — Benjamin, Quentin, and Jason — followed by a section by an omniscient narrator. Section […]
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