Final reaction

One part we touched on in the seminar in class was the concert of time and how it applies to each member of the Compton family. Benjy has No concept of time and this shows ghriughour his chapter because he is kind of all over the place. Quentin is stuck on the past because his whole chapter is written in the past. To tie into this idea of time we also discussed he idea of the old south and the new south. Quentin and benjy both represent the old south because they are unable to progress because they are stuck in the past or in the old ways. One of the major ideas of the book is the decline of the old south. Faulkner is trying to say that the old south can't survive and needs change in order to continue to exist. One symbol used a lot in the Quentin chapter was clocks or a watch and this represents time and how he focuses so heavily on time and controlling it. The old south along with the characters who represent the old south are not able to keep on existing.

Jason Chapter

A part of this chapter that particularly stood out to me is the very first part of it:
"Once a bitch always a bitch, what I say. I says you're lucky if her plating out od school is all that worries you. I says you ought to be down there in that kitchen right now, instead of up there in her room, gobbing paint on her face and waiting..."
This shows that Jason is a bitter person and just as passive aggressive as his mother. His writing is more chronological than Benjy and Quentin's so it makes more sense. This passage shows just how bitter he truly is about things and the way he thinks about Quentin. His sections reads as if he were telling about his day in an chronological order.

QUENTIN CHAPTER

One thing I found interesting in regards to Quentin's mental state was that he repeated himself a lot and some parts of this section were even more confusing than Benjy's part. He is a bit all over the place with his thoughts further supporting his fragile mental state. Quentin appears to be a downer. He wants things in life to be a certain way especially in regards to his sister Caddy. He is extremely upset about the fact she is no longer "pure" because he wants her and everyone else to follow a certain moral code. When this moral code is broken by Caddy this upsets him deeply and adds to his already fragile mental state. His obsession with Caddy differs from Benjy's because Benjy seeks love and protection from Caddy whereas Quentin is obsessed with her in a protective older brother way. He is very protective of her and is willing to do anything in order to save her. This shows in this part of the chapter:
"...If we could have just done something so dreadful that they would have fled hell except us. I have committed incest I said Father it was I not Dalton Ames..."
He is willing to lie and say he committed incest to save Caddy. This shows where his responsibilities in his family stand because he feels responsible for saving his little sister. In this passage he is most concerned with Caddy as he is most of the time.

Benjy chapter

Benjy is a 33 year old who is mentally challenged. He is not capable of logical thinking and this shows in his chapter because at parts it can be confusing and doesn't seem to make sense. He is more of a sensor than a thinker so most of this chapter is a record of sensory impressions he remembers. The members of his family are constantly required to watch over him because he is unable to watch over himself. He is a member of the family but sometimes can be seen as a burden because he isn't capable of much as he can't speak or do much of anything for himself. There aren't many things that remain consistent in his life even though he is a fan of order because it helps him to better understand things. Since he is unable to communicate change can be difficult for him because he is unable to communicate his feelings about it. I believe he plays a symbolic role in the book. He seems to Be a Christlike figure because he as Christ did suffers silently.

First Impressions

I have never read a novel written by William Faulkner. The first I will have ever read by him is The Sound and the Fury. His writing style is different from any I have ever read. He shifts from past to present often. I find that I  have to re read things often. I am excited to get deeper into this book.