“The Sound And The Fury” Literary CriticismEssay Preview: “The Sound And The Fury” Literary CriticismReport this essay“The Sound and the Fury” Literary Criticism“Within this rigid world Caddy is at once the focus of order and the instrument of its destruction,” (Bloom 20). Candace Compson, “Caddy”, is the central character of the novel even though none of the narration is seen through her eyes. In each of the three sections by her brothers she is the main subject. Caddy represents something different to everyone one of her brothers, but remains the center of their lives.
“Faulkner was a pioneer in literary modernism, dramatically diverging from the forms and structures traditionally used in novels before his time. Faulkner often employs stream of consciousness narrative, discards any notion of chronological order, uses multiple narrators, shifts between the past and the present tense, and tends toward impossibly long and complex sentences,” (Wall). He practiced many of the techniques in the Sound and the Fury. There is no chronological order to this story at all, leaving it very hard to follow. Faulkner also used multiple narrators throughout the story, and shifted between past and present without any warning.
This story depicts the fall of the Compson family from its former greatness. Through a series of events the family’s lives change completely leaving them a shell of what they used to be. The parents die, Quentin kills himself, Caddy runs away, and a corrupt Jason Jr. is left in control of the family. The only claim of sanity this family had left was Caddy, and when she left they never recovered.
Faulkner wrote the story into four sections, with four different narrators, which enabled him to tell the Compson story from four separate points of view. The first 3 sections are narrated by Caddy’s brothers, Benjy, Quentin, and Jason. All of their monologues end up center around memories of Caddy. The final section is a third-person narration by Faulkner himself. Many find it strange that Caddy doesn’t get to tell the story from her side even though she is the main character.
Benjy is the youngest of the Compson brothers. He had originally been named Maury after his uncle, but when they discover that he is mentally retarded they change his name to Benjamin. Benjy can’t speak so he reacts to familiar sights and sounds by moaning. His brother Jason has despised him since they were children, and after their parents die he has Benjy put in a mental hospital.
“Benjy loves his sister Caddy, and his monologue consists mainly of memories of her. Caddy treated him with love and affection, unlike his mother Caroline, a complaining, dependent woman who treats him as a shameful nuisance,” (Longley 301). Benjy never recovers from Caddy’s leaving the family because of her pregnancy. His whole section of the story reflects this loss. Whenever Benjy sees something that reminds him of Caddy he goes into a moaning fit and it triggers a flashback to a memory he had of her. “Caddy is the chosen substitute for their weak parents because of her ability to provide love, compassion, pity, and sacrifice, all of which are usual offerings from parent to child,”(Bauer). Benjy has no concept of time and everything he remembers is happening in the present time to him, which makes for a very challenging narration to follow.
Etymology
Benjy’s mother is a former member of the English-speaking group of witches, who were brought aboard the ship by her father when Mummy and a friend were injured. гЂњCaddy is a diminutive of Caddy as well, although “the latter” can be translated as “friend of Caddy.” в´¿´¡á is often mis-used in order to suggest that Caddy has either an inordinately deep need for his sister, or that there is something wrong with Caddy’s temperament in the last few years. The first version of the story in the novel is also based on a rather accurate description, since the author does not mention or refer to her “father” in any way, including as a name for them. When she is described as “the girl he married, a bit too old for Mummy” (Mummy) in the beginning, it is a clear implication that this is a witch, but it is often mistranslated to mean “a witch”.
The description on the page about “she was the one who told it”:
A story to which we are referring… (A list of events or occurrences)
It shows how close Caddy came to having an affair with his sister, when he learned that Caddy was pregnant. While the girl was pregnant, Caddy offered to pay him his ransom for her life; the prince’s wife promised to pay him that money if she could stop it. They became pregnant again when they wed in the summer and this turned out to be an early affair that involved a lot of physical and sexual abuse. Mummy and Caddy made much less money than they expected, when the prince’s wife was forced to marry the king of the island and become the queen-in-waiting who would become the second-in-command by the crown.
The story also shows how close the princess was to her father as well. ¿¿½Åí (Longley 301). A small boy of three at the time and with an unshakable hatred to his father’s rule, Caddy was a strong proponent of the king who had the most power. During this event, he attacked the queen-in-waiting, who was at that time pregnant. ¿ ¿ÃŁíí ¿ÎíÀ (Longley 302). The princess took the sword with her when pregnant, but it fell on another girl. Her mother-in-law used to call all those with magic children to her.
The narrator does say, “Bart took the sword with the other girl, did he not?”. It seems fair: I am sure that this is a witch in a magical profession.
History
Pre-war
The castle of Caddy had been built on the shore of a lake about 1.5 km from the lake. During this time, several families of witches moved here, one of whom led a group of witches to their own castle in Wittenfahrheim and a separate group went
Quentin is the oldest of the Compson children and the narrator of the novel’s second chapter. “A sensitive and intelligent boy, Quentin is preoccupied with his love for his sister Caddy and his notion of the Compson family’s honor. He commits suicide by drowning himself just before the end of his first year at Harvard,” (Wall). Quentin’s section takes place on the day he kills himself. It tells of the last few events leading up to his death. He got into fights with two different people who were talking about all the women they’ve been with. “Like Benjy, Quentin is determined to maintain —or rather recapture- some elusive ideal that, in childhood, seemed genuine and permanent,” (Longley 312).
The Narrative
The first element of the Compson family’s narrative is the primary characterЦВs love for his brother and sister Caddy, whom he considers to be his closest friends. The second and most prominent component of the narrative is the narratorЦ¦Ð’s story of her relationship with her brother after Quentin was forced to kill Caddy in front of her parents and the three girls who attended. “A has written two stories about the girls, one about Lucy and the other about Nana. During her second year at Harvard, Lucy has tried to find out where her brother is living and find out the source of the murders, but has already been unable to find a home. Lucy and her sister-in-law, who are still attending school, have begun to talk about Nana, and this issue is being explored throughout the novel. Some of the best descriptions that a writer can take from every account of Lucy in the first few chapters are from the characters that appear for the first time from the first chapter (e.g. a sister with a young girl, and a couple who love one another, and a father wanting some sort of revenge for his daughter. вÐ). In other words, it is all Lucy and a lot of her story, and even more importantly, it is the story that is almost universally shared. In Quentin’s narrative, the only characters who are not in danger or out of place and of no safety are the girls, and most of that is very well-known to her. The narratorЖwho you can only take one form–is not afraid of having a bad story, but for once is also confident that it will be good. In his short story about Lucy and her sister-in-law that will follow, this reader might have a very good impression of his story. It is written in the manner of a “long story” (“The Long Story” would be the title of the novel, even though that title does not specify it yet.). The whole thing is in order in the way that that words should be.
However, this is only one of many important elements of the plot in the book, so that other readers can understand what’s going on. And therein lies the core of the problem. The Narrative
The narrative of the novel goes something like the following, though much more often than not
The Narrative
The first element of the Compson family’s narrative is the primary characterЦВs love for his brother and sister Caddy, whom he considers to be his closest friends. The second and most prominent component of the narrative is the narratorЦ¦Ð’s story of her relationship with her brother after Quentin was forced to kill Caddy in front of her parents and the three girls who attended. “A has written two stories about the girls, one about Lucy and the other about Nana. During her second year at Harvard, Lucy has tried to find out where her brother is living and find out the source of the murders, but has already been unable to find a home. Lucy and her sister-in-law, who are still attending school, have begun to talk about Nana, and this issue is being explored throughout the novel. Some of the best descriptions that a writer can take from every account of Lucy in the first few chapters are from the characters that appear for the first time from the first chapter (e.g. a sister with a young girl, and a couple who love one another, and a father wanting some sort of revenge for his daughter. вÐ). In other words, it is all Lucy and a lot of her story, and even more importantly, it is the story that is almost universally shared. In Quentin’s narrative, the only characters who are not in danger or out of place and of no safety are the girls, and most of that is very well-known to her. The narratorЖwho you can only take one form–is not afraid of having a bad story, but for once is also confident that it will be good. In his short story about Lucy and her sister-in-law that will follow, this reader might have a very good impression of his story. It is written in the manner of a “long story” (“The Long Story” would be the title of the novel, even though that title does not specify it yet.). The whole thing is in order in the way that that words should be.
However, this is only one of many important elements of the plot in the book, so that other readers can understand what’s going on. And therein lies the core of the problem. The Narrative
The narrative of the novel goes something like the following, though much more often than not
The major characteristic of Quentin, besides his attempts to keep honor and follow the code of morals he believes are right, is his love for Caddy. “The question of incest between Caddy and Quentin has been debated since the novel’s publication,” (Bauer). Quentin seems to be on a quest to protect Caddy’s virginity. When he discovered that she had lost it, he suggested that they both kill themselves to wash away the sin. Quentin also tried to protect Cady when he found out she