William Faulkner’s Quentin Section: Time Motif

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William Faulkner’s The Sound and The Fury (1929), focuses on the stream of consciousness narrative technique that is used in his fictional novel. Faulkner uses motifs throughout his novel masterly through time, shadows, order and chaos that bring into focus the consciousness of his characters. These motifs are used continuously as structures, contrasts or literary devices that develop and inform the text’s themes. He focuses on the theme of the corruption of southern aristocratic values, the economy, Civil War, resurrection, renewal, failure of language and narrative (www.sparknotes.com). Analyzing a motif as a thematic construct used by Faulkner makes it possible to identify the purpose of the device. In his novel the mechanism is used to develop an explicit character and point of view. Consequently, the author effectively brings into existence an impetus by which the reader will be controlled exclusively due to a motif. The use of a motif as a literary convention creates depth to the significance of his novel. A thematic construct, a motif of time, is used by writer, William Faulkner to give connotation and shape to his novel, The Sound and The Fury. Analyzing time motif in Faulkner’s novel along with the examination of the critical theories of Jacques Derrida and Jean Paul Sartre reveals the function of time in the Quentin section.

Jacques Derrida in 1966 gave a lecture at John Hopkins entitled “Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences” whereby explained the importance of identifying the structure, sign and play when applying his technique of deconstruction. A deconstructive reading is a reading which analyses the specificity of a text’s critical difference from itself” (www.stanford.edu). Ap...

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Sartre, Jean Paul. “Time in the Work of Faulkner.” February 18, 2011. (www.ingentaconnect.com//content/berghahn/sartre/2001/00000007/00000002/art00005)

Spark notes Editors. William Faulkner. The Sound and The Fury (1929). February 18, 2011. (www.sparknotes.com).

Stanford Editors. Derrida, Jacques’s “Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences” (1966). February 18, 2011. (www.stanford.edu).

Welzel, Martin. “Jean Paul Sartre's Philosophy in ‘The Transcendence of the Ego’ and

‘Being and Nothingness.’” March 19, 2011. (www.mwelzel.de/sartrebeing/#vorbezeit).

Johnduff, Mike. “Time and Derrida.” March 19, 2011. (www.mikejohnduff.blogspot.com/2008/03/time-and-derrida.html).

Olson, Robert, G. “The Three Theories of Motivation in the Philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre. March 19, 2011. (www.jstor.org/pss/2378793).

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