Sir Bartholomew
02-05-2008, 09:25 PM
On first reading The Sound and the Fury readers would be either too perplexed or harassed as the novel creates initially this incomprehensible mismatch of events. We see text italicized for obscure reason. Characters come and go; a set of confusing names abound much to our understanding.
The novel is divided into four parts, a single day for each part. The first is narrated by Benjy who, through the course of this section of the book, we will discover has some serious defects. People treat him unfairly, even brutally, and although we may promptly call him an imbecile; he feels, he suffers, and cries for help to the only person who knows how to understand him.
Part two takes us 18 years back. A young man called Quentin, Benjy's brother, a name we hear mentioned several times in the first part, is getting ready for school. He's in Harvard and has some issues. We notice how the novel shifts abruptly, and dramatically, without our awareness. Now here comes the most curious part of the novel. This is where, I think, Mr. Faulkner goes beyond what we may call proper writing. Flood of words bristle incessantly without any apparent punctuation marks. Instead of giving his readers a proper time to breathe after the bewildering first part, Mr. Faulkner dives on without heed to what readers may expect of the outcome.
In part three things begin to change, for the good. Our narrator is now Jason, another brother and we are back to the original time and setting (actually one day before part one). Jason in some way has a clearer mind but is bitter about something and later we will know why. Several confusing instances are made clear: an example is the name Quentin, whose namesake is actually shared by two people.
Faulkner utilized the internal monologue or the stream of consciousness method for the first three parts: Benjy's, Quentin's, and Jason's. These brothers share a bitter past and what's fascinating to witness is how the brothers reacted to this event. It would be better if the reader himself figure out this "event". It centers on another sibling called Caddy whom Benjy and Quentin are equally fond of.
In the final chapter this is where the reader will tell himself whether he's reading a great book or not. For my part after the final page I swore to read it again. I did. And afterwards instantly called it as one of my favorites. Why did Mr. Faulkner constructed this as such? I don't know. Maybe to exercise his skills or maybe to provoke something stronger. We see the decline of a family, as well as of morals, and how various members respond to the change. In the end who suffers most?
The novel is divided into four parts, a single day for each part. The first is narrated by Benjy who, through the course of this section of the book, we will discover has some serious defects. People treat him unfairly, even brutally, and although we may promptly call him an imbecile; he feels, he suffers, and cries for help to the only person who knows how to understand him.
Part two takes us 18 years back. A young man called Quentin, Benjy's brother, a name we hear mentioned several times in the first part, is getting ready for school. He's in Harvard and has some issues. We notice how the novel shifts abruptly, and dramatically, without our awareness. Now here comes the most curious part of the novel. This is where, I think, Mr. Faulkner goes beyond what we may call proper writing. Flood of words bristle incessantly without any apparent punctuation marks. Instead of giving his readers a proper time to breathe after the bewildering first part, Mr. Faulkner dives on without heed to what readers may expect of the outcome.
In part three things begin to change, for the good. Our narrator is now Jason, another brother and we are back to the original time and setting (actually one day before part one). Jason in some way has a clearer mind but is bitter about something and later we will know why. Several confusing instances are made clear: an example is the name Quentin, whose namesake is actually shared by two people.
Faulkner utilized the internal monologue or the stream of consciousness method for the first three parts: Benjy's, Quentin's, and Jason's. These brothers share a bitter past and what's fascinating to witness is how the brothers reacted to this event. It would be better if the reader himself figure out this "event". It centers on another sibling called Caddy whom Benjy and Quentin are equally fond of.
In the final chapter this is where the reader will tell himself whether he's reading a great book or not. For my part after the final page I swore to read it again. I did. And afterwards instantly called it as one of my favorites. Why did Mr. Faulkner constructed this as such? I don't know. Maybe to exercise his skills or maybe to provoke something stronger. We see the decline of a family, as well as of morals, and how various members respond to the change. In the end who suffers most?