Personal Review

While my journey through The Sound and the Fury was filled with frustration and fury, some part of me eventually learned to enjoy this novel. My frustration initially stemmed from my sheer inability to keep up with what was going on throughout the story. While I was trying to figure out what was happening to Benjy at a golf course, I then had to adjust to his sudden talking to his disowned sister years earlier. This aspect of the novel most assuredly took some getting used to, though I did in due time appreciate the originality of the idea.

Once I was able to find my way past the confusion, I grew to enjoy the way the novel was written. I found the changing of style from character to character to be very clever. The writing seemed real as I was guided through the character’s conscious thoughts and memories as if I was reading an authentic person’s mind. I liked the way I was confused by Benjy’s shape-obsessed and disabled state of mind, and how the Quentin’s poetic and academic language drew me into his inner-demons of time and sin. Faulkner did a good job in showing his versatility as a writer as it seemed that each section of the story was written by a different novel.

In his style of writing, Faulkner proved himself to be unconventional and anomalous, which I found wonderful. In certain sections he would talk in short, fragmented sentences, then in others he would include unorthodox poetic framing, later using eloquent and grammatically correct language. I enjoyed that he took artistic license in his piece and did not leave colloquialism to just dialogue. I found Quentin’s suicidal poetic ranting mesmerizing as it was not formal and coherent, paralleling his mindset. Though it included confusion and frustration, Faulkner’s writing gave life and realism to the characters, ultimately contributing to an original novel.

Text Connection

In reading The Sound and the Fury, it became apparent that the literary work mirrored the teachings and stories of the Bible. This first was shown in the order in which the novel is written as it is divided into the four separate sections, similar to that of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The biblical similarity continues with the several Christ-like characters. In one aspect, Benjy portrays himself to be the Christ-like image through his purity. One might also paradoxically see Caddy as this figure as she becomes the leader and ideal of her brothers and is exiled, seeming dead to the family. In following the story of Caddie, one can find the motif of original sin in respect to her daughter. Because Caddie (Eve) led a promiscuous lifestyle, her daughter now makes similar choices. Along with the idea of sin comes the theme of resurrection. The first narration is that of Benjy’s taking place on Good Friday and the final narration being on Easter Sunday. This addition shows the Compson family has been immersed in sin and shall be resurrected that Sunday, through the Christ-like figures of the story.

Syntax

· “I was trying to say, and then I caught her, trying to say, and she screamed and I was trying to say and trying and the bright shapes began to stop and I tried to get out. I tried to get it off my face” (Faulkner 53).

· “Luster said. ‘You snagged on that nail again. Cant you never crawl through here without snagging on that nail.’ Caddy uncaught me and we crawld through. Uncle Maury said to not let anybody see us, so we better stoop over, Caddy said” (Faulkner 4).

· “is Benjy still crying

I don’t know yes I don’t know

poor Benjy

I sat down on the bank the grass was damp a little then I found my shoes wet

get out of that water you crazy

but she didn’t move her face was a white blur framed out of the blur of the sand by her hair

get out now”

Faulkner appears to use a different type of diction in various ways. In the first passage he includes very confusing phrasing accompanied by the word “trying”. It appears that Benjy is unable to finish a thought without having to try to do something. These phrasings contribute to add to the confused tone of the passage and to bring the reader to understand Benjy’s perplexed frame of mind. The next passage shows the italics used quite frequently throughout Faulkner’s work. The use of these italics are there to indicate the change in time and flashbacks that stream through the character’s minds. In the final passage Faulkner utilizes an informal poetic-like syntax to relay Quentin’s changing thoughts. The syntax usage is very abstract to illustrate the way the thoughts appear to be in Quentin’s overwhelmed head.

Diction

· “I ran into the box. But when I tried to climb onto it it jumped away and hit me on the back of the head and my throat made a sound. It made the sound again and I stopped trying to get up, and it made the sound again and I began to cry. But my throat kept making the sound while T.P. was pulling me. It kept on making it and I couldn’t tell if I was crying or not, and T.P. fell down on top of me, laughing, and it kept on making the sound and Quentin kicked T.P. and Caddy put her arms around me, and her shining veil, and I couldn’t smell the trees anymore and I began to cry” (Faulkner 40).

Here, Faulkner employs moderately simplistic diction because of it being the narration of Benjy. What word usage Faulkner does focus on are those related to sense. He used many verbs such as “climb”, “jumped”, and “fell”, first showing Benjy’s attention to simply actions and not the meaning of these actions. He also includes the “sound” of his throat, the “shining” veil, and the “smell” of the trees. These each are connected to sensory observations which shows Benjy’s simplistic track of mind and inability to grasp what is happening. His tone is switched between worried and neutral to show that he is in a confused state of mind.

· “Jason got in and started the engine and drove off. He went into second gear, the engine spluttering and gasping, and he raced the engine, jamming the throttle down and snapping the choke in and out savagely” (Faulkner 305).

In this passage Faulkner displays the angry and savage-like nature of the character Jason. He uses words such as “spluttering and gasping” to show the pain Jason inflicts on his car, similar to that in which he inflicts on those in his life. The gerunds used in the passage include “jamming” and “snapping” contributing to the tense and forced tone of the passage. The tone used when including Jason contrasts that of his siblings, such as Benjy’s simplicity and Quentin’s scholarly language, to further develop the characters differences.

Rhetorical Strategies

· Anecdote

Each section of Faulkner’s story appears to be their own individual anecdotes. Each story tells the incidents of a single day. What is original about the use of these stories is that each has other short anecdotes of the past included in each section to follow the writing style of Faulkner.

· Colloquialism

“’Shut up that moaning.’ Luster said. “I can’t make them come if they aint coming, can I? If you don’t hush up, mammy aint going to have no birthday for you’” (Faulkner 4).

“Dis here ti’ aint got no air a-tall in hit” (Faulkner 305).

· Simple Sentences

“He laced my shoes and put my cap on and we went out. There was a light in the hall. Across the hall we could hear mother” (Faulkner 34).

· Pedantic

“I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire; it’s rather excrutianting-ly apt that you will use it to gain the reducto absurdum of all human experience which can fit your human experience” (Faulkner 76).

· Imagery

“When we ran out of the trees I could see the twilight again, that quality of light as if time really had stopped for a while, with the sun hanging just under the horizon, and then we passed the marquee where the old man had been eating out of the sack, and the road going under twilight, into twilight and the sense of water peaceful and swift beyond” (Faulkner 169).

Faulkner’s use of rhetorical strategies seems to vary greatly throughout the cycles of the characters anecdotes. The use of colloquialism is primarily incorporated in dialogue as to give the characters a realistic voice, as well as show a contrast between the characters. Simple and concise sentences are used during the narrations of Benjy’s in order to also give realism to mentally disabled man’s train of thought. Faulkner juxtaposes Benjy’s thinking with Quentin’s pedantic narration showing the stark contrast in the disabled man and his Harvard attendee brother. Faulkner also incorporates a large amount of imagery through the characters as to add to the anecdotes and add to the story’s realism.