Analysis Of The Sound And The Fury

The Sound and the Fury is a story of sometimes unclear focus. From section to section we listen to three brothers: Benjy, Quintin and Jason, discuss their lives. We discover the inner workings of their home lives. The narratives disclose that their mother, Caroline Compson is a neglectful, hypochondriac. Mrs. Compson is shown to be a very self centered woman who really doesn't harbor any affection for her family and by this lack sends some of them to find mothering from a different source. “ How can I control any of them when you have always taught them to have no respect for me and my wishes I know you look down on my people but is that any reason for teaching my children my own children I suffered for to have no respect.” (Faulkner, 61) We meet Mr. Compson, the father, who is shown to love his children dearly, though in the case of some does not always like them all. He just happens to be an alcoholic, “Father will be dead in a year they say if he doesn't stop drinking and he wont stop he cant stop....” (Faulkner, 79) who is eventually killed by his addictions. Also introduced and discussed are the various household staff members whom the brothers love as if they were family. The brothers discuss horrors and anxieties that they are dealing with in their personal lives. Benjy's horrors of being unable to communicate, being tormented by his brother, Jason, and eventually being castrated due to a misunderstanding cover section one. In section two, Quintin takes his turn to share the anxieties that time and sexuality (among other things) cause him. The last of the brothers narrations, that of Jason, delve into the cruelty he imparts on others, as well as the bitterness and struggles he rapidly accumulates in raising his niece. All o...

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...ovel. Though she is not ever physically present, she is still always there. She shapes the story into a story of family, difficulty, sex and values. Caddy is not the best behaved character to ever enter a story, she can frequently be promiscuous, controlling and easily taken advantage of. None of which are considered to be character qualities we as a society value. But, she is strong and compelling. A hugely intriguing woman, and a character that we can love and empathize with. William Faulkner did a brilliant thing centering his book around her, he made her alluring. Had he told the story from her perspective, it seems that she would not have been a loveable character at all. He said it right, she was, “....to me too beautiful and too moving to reduce her to telling what was going on, that it would be more passionate to see her through somebody else’s eyes.” (WfotW)