Literary Criticism, "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner

During a Southern Literary Renascence class, I received twenty-three out of twenty-five points for this essay. Dr. Taylor Hagood, who always struck me as a brilliant scholar was most kind to have mercy on me as I wrote two whole pages without indenting. Mercifully, he stated, “paragraph breaks needed, but nice essay overall.” I have kept it to this day…

The character that I see occupying the centered position is Benjy. He has the gaze of panopticism, all seeing. Benjy is like a sponge. He absorbs everything and sees everything. To me, it’s like, that he takes on the craziness in the house onto himself and acts it out. Maybe he’s not retarded. If he couldn’t see in the text (like Helen Keller), I would venture to say that he was blind, but with an extra sense. People that are disabled can usually do other things better. However, we know in the text that he watches, as I did a close-reading to be sure. The only time he speaks in any way is when Quentin disappears and everyone especially Jason, is frantic as to where she is. I believe Benjy knows and he knows a lot of things. Caddy slept with him and said to him, “We were asleep.” Benjy also narrates so the reader gets a peak inside his mind. He pays attention to things, the fire, “the dad’s face says to hush.” Benjy is the focus and I believe he represents to the novel the severity of the household, the “Carnivalesque” going on. It goes like this, Jason IV kept booze in the sideboard. Faulkner repeats this often. Benjy knows what’s going on. He’s like the feelings for everybody and the pain. What the text does is present the fragmentation so it appears normal, all is well in the Compson household, when it is far from the truth. He is the all seeing, all knowing gaze. I think he occupies the center however, he goes to the periphery at times, can be both. Benjy cries and this to me is what is the most truthful emotion to be felt in that house. It certainly is not the home of June and Ward Cleaver. But, what I think works is Faulkner makes it appears as a normal family’s goings on. People in Benjy’s family take care of him and he might be the most normal one in the bunch besides Dilsy. What Faulkner has done is given him power in the text. Benjy is also predictable, until at the end when he cries and somewhat speaks a loud moan. The reader is left wishing he’s say more but then Faulkner wrote the book didn’t he? It occurred to me that a clock is referred to as a Big Ben. Time is an important feature in the novel. Time is a constant. Ticking is predictable and a sound, a comfort in the midst of chaos as well as “saw” is monotonous, but predictable-back and forth, back and forth. In dysfunctional homes, life is unpredictable so Benjy is somewhat of a comfort to his family as long as they have him to focus on they don’t have to look at the other stuff. It’s like having an elephant in the living room and everyone dances around it. Benjy come and play, where’s Benjy? Focus-gaze is on him, from the periphery, because he’s in the center most of the time.

Addendum (written later on down the road)

On December 28, 2007 as I was reviewing the dates that were presented in the book, I thought the 6^th, 7^th and 8^th might be biblical, representing three days that Jesus was in the tomb and then his resurrection. Perhaps, Faulkner was speaking about death and resurrection. There is mourning and weeping in the days before Jesus rises from the grave. People are sad because of the death of Jesus on the cross. Mary Magdalene is one of them, as she stands outside the tomb crying, “Woman, why are you crying?” (book of John). The first date being April 7, 1928 is the Easter month and Easter is when Jesus rose from the grave. Then, Faulkner regresses in time to June 2, 1910 and the only thing that I could come up with is, first, that there are eighteen years in a child’s life before they become an adult and the father is a significant figure in the home. June is the month that Father’s Day is celebrated, which could prove significant since this family needed a “real father.” Then, Faulkner moves forward again to April 6, 1928 which could be the time that the body is still in the tomb and, as we know that Jesus rose on the third day and there are three days that work here. Along that same line of thinking, now looking at April 8, 1928 to account for two more days in the tomb before resurrection. Lastly, October 10, 1928 would be after the resurrection and the spread of the gospel after Jesus appeared to his disciples for forty days and then ascended into heaven and then the disciples, by the power of the Holy Spirit continued to spread the gospel as he told them to do. This is a hopeful time to end on, a time of rebirth.

Drugs and Real Life

I was walking along the beach today and I was thinking about how sad it is that many of the youth of today are turning to drugs and so I decided to post this true story about why I have never used drugs and never will. John Hagee, minister has a saying, "There's no high like the Most High God," and he is right. Even though things are not perfect in my life and I don't expect them to be cause even Jesus said, "In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world. My life is so much better now that I have Him in it. And don't believe the lie about marijuana, it is a drug and unfortunately in some places they are using it for "medicinal" purposes which gives a mixed message to people. It is ok to be yourself and not under the influence of anything. I do not drink, smoke or do drugs. So when people tell you everyone does it, they don't. Let this be a witness to someone today. And if it helps even one person, it was worth it. God Bless You...
I do not use drugs; I never have and I never will. When I was younger, I saw a family member being carried from the house, after a convulsion due to drug interaction between two medications used to treat her kidney disease/transplant. As my father carried her out of the house, we kids thought she was dead. She was as stiff as a board and I will never forget that image, indented in my mind. She had to take drugs to stay alive and as I grew up, I could never understand why people take drugs recreationally. I sometimes found myself among groups of people who would gather at someone’s house and, not to my knowledge at the time; they were involved in drug use. This happens when you go places with your friends and end up in another place you would rather not be. Even though you are innocent, you are now among people who are not. I also lost a friend at the age of thirty-five from brain cancer. He taught me how to play the guitar. The song that I picked up quickly was, “A Horse With No Name.” Kind of ironic now as I remember the lyrics, “On the first part of the journey, I was looking for the light…” Unfortunately, he used marijuana in Vietnam and continued on using it throughout his short life. He said that it relaxed him. Him and his roommate partook. They never did it in front of me. He knew my position on it and that I thought it was stupid. He didn’t wish for me to know about the cancer, but his friends told me that he had less than a year to live. He died less than three months later. He finished out his days in the hospital on a morphine drip because the pain was so bad and he did not even know that I was there. I visited him in the hospital and it is a sad thing to watch someone die an agonizing death, especially my friend Alan. The Bible says, “Bad company corrupts good character.” Choose your friends wisely. Keep your standards high and do not settle for crumbs. Your will never regret it. Kids, say NO to drugs. Schools, brings on the DARE program, it works. (Dedicated to my friend, the late Alan Turner of Eliot, Maine, rest in peace.)