The Sound and the Fury

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The Sound and the Fury

The first main point that Cleanth Brooks makes is that

the story is told through one obsessed consciousness after

another. Brooks response to this is that the “readers

movement through the book is a progression from murkiness to

increasing enlightenment, and this is natural since we start

with the mind of an idiot, go on next through the memories

and reveries of the Hamlet-like Quentin, and come finally to

the observations of the brittle, would-be rationalist

Jason.”1

His second main point is that each section with the

brothers represents their different conceptions “of love

they imply.”2 Benjys being the most simple childlike form,

Quentin love being most complex with his sister and Jason’s

not having any love for anything except when it is strictly

business.

The finale main point he makes is the brothers and

Dilseys relationship with time. Brooks says Benjy has no

more sense of time than an animal has. Quentins obsession

with his past makes him resent the future. As for Jason “he

is only concerned with something that has to be done and is

incapable of any real living.”3 On the other hand Dilsey has

no oppressed feelings about time.

All of these elements, love, time and stream of

consciences give us, as Brooks states, “the brothers status

as human beings.”4 Through each character we see the stream

of consciences marking memories with each person. With this

stream of consciences comes the complex kind of love each

one has towards another. We see this kind of love from a

maternal instinct to an obsession and finally to a self

gratifying cold hearted point of view. The perspective of

time, each Compson had, relays to us what state of mind each

one was in. The more we read into the book the more time

becomes relevant to us until we come to Dilseys section were

she says “I’ve seed de first en de last.”5 Which means that

the Compsons time has come to an end.

To summarize this article Brooks sees Benjys stream of

conscience as a vivid stream of the senses. He sees Benjys

conception of love as simple like a child seeking a maternal

love. Benjys perception of time tells Brooks that he “is

locked almost completely into a timeless present.”6 His

brother Quentin is filled with a low self esteem and can not

get over the failures of his family. He has an obsession

with his sister that is not about love but possession of her

virtuousness. He is infatuated with time because he can’t

posses it. Brooks describes Jason as someone who is out only

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