Dilsey Chapter, April 8th, 1928

This novel was about the corruption of the old south, and how it is changing its ways. Throughout the whole book it focuses on the corruption and ruin of the Compson family, the old south, but in the last chapter this feeling changes. There seems to be a sense of hope in this last chapter. The hope manifests from many things. The fact that the chapter was written by Dilsey because she is the glue holding the family together with her love and compassion. The passage being written about Dilsey signifies that the family will builds itself back up as will the south. This will be done through love and order. Dilsey loves everyone for who they are. Also, order is shown when Luster veers the carriage off of the normal path. Benjy cries until it is brought back on the right path. He cries because Benjy needs order. Benjy represents the old south and how it needs order to be stable. We also get a feeling of hope because this passage is written on Easter, the day of Jesus' resurrection, which means symbolically the south will have a resurrection and begin again. Hope also comes from Quentin finally getting all of her money back and escaping the evil Jason. This shows that the new south can prevail and overcome the old south.

The chapters go from very confusing to very easy to understand. This is done to show how corrupt the old south was, and its progression towards fixing itself up again. It starts out with Benjy who represents the old south, he is very hard to understand and thus shows how disjointed the old south is becoming. The south hits rock bottom with Jason's chapter. Jason's crude character shows the displeasure of the old south. The fact that no one likes Jason also shows that no one wants the old south anymore. The novel ends with the hopeful Dilsey restoring order to the south. The chapters are also in order of how joined together the family is. In Benjy's chapter he mostly speaks of times when Caddy, Quentin, Jason, Father, Mother, and Uncle Maury were all there. As the book goes on the family splits apart. In the next chapter Quentin talks a lot of his times with Caddy and Benjy but does not focus much on the rest of the family. The following chapter, Jason's consists of a chapter all about himself. Yes he is living with a family but due to his self-obsessed attitude he focuses his chapter on himself. This signifies how the Compson family is literally falling apart. The family is breaking apart one by one. In the last chapter it brings most of the characters back into the story to show that their family and the south can be rebuilt.

His story was not only about the corruption and resurrection of the Compson family and the south but it was also about breaking free from social norms to do what is right. It shows how society is always changing and to push for positive progression is good. For example Caddy loves Benjy and she does not care how society at the time views him. She disqualifies the social norms and does what she feels is right. This novel focused a lot on class and the social system and how the Compson family wanted to be the highest. Ironically they ended up much on the bottom and the only successful one in the family was Caddy, the one who broke free of the class system and did as she wanted. The fact that the story is written in four perspectives shows that no one's life is the same and that everyone has a different outlook and different experiences.

Jason's Chapter: April 7th

Jason's chapter was a hard one to read, yet it is not difficult to comprehend. It is hard to read in that Jason's character is the least bit likable. The fact that Jason starts his chapter off with, "Once a bitch always a bitch, what I say" shows you just how much of a jerk he is right from the start (3.1). He is a cruel person who treats his family, and everyone else, awfully. His mom loves him and tells him he is "the only one of them that isn't a reproach to" her, meaning her children (3.2). Her love for him hints at an awful side of her. Therefore, she allows him to treat Quentin awfully. Jason constantly mocks Quentin and makes her life hell. She is only truly loved by Dilsey. Quentin has a hard time and rarely goes to school. Jason punishes her, and bullies her, nearly beating her. 

Jason's character is revealed through his evil words and actions. For example, Luster really wants to go to a concert in town, which Jason has two tickets for. Jason does not want to go to the concert and tells Luster that he has two tickets for him. Luster gets excited until Jason mocks him by asking Luster to pay for them, knowing Luster has no money. Jason then precedes to burn the tickets in front of Luster. You can imagine how much this upset Luster. This is just one example that shows Jason's pure cruelty. He does not treat anyone with kindness or respect. Instead, he mocks people and makes their lives' hell. 

Another example of Jason's pure evil is what he does to Quentin. Quentin has a hard life because she has no mom, no dad, her grandmother is bedridden, and Jason is well he's Jason. The only one who treats her with love and compassion is Dilsey, but that is still hard for a girl to grow up living like that. Jason, decides to set Quentin straight, for his mom. She has been skipping school to be with a guy, so he puts it into his own hands to stop her. He mocks and makes fun of her every time he is around her, and when he sees her skipping school he follows her. This is no way to discipline or parent a child, and if anything makes Quentin more rebellious. Quentin also gets checks from her mother to help support her, but Jason steels most of that money for himself. He lies to his mother and Quentin and pretends he does not steal it. 

His evil ranges to everyone he meets. For example he is awful to Benjy and wants to send him off as soon as he can. He has no compassion for him and thinks that Benjy is just a stupid kid that is ruining their family. He also treats black people with disrespect. "What this country needs is white labor. Let these dam trifling niggers starve for a couple of years, then they'd see what a soft thing they have" (3.108). Here he is talking about how they should take away all black jobs. He does not believe in equality. He thinks that he is higher up than everyone, not only black people. He thinks that he is too established for the job that he works in and thinks that he deserves to be working in the bank with Caddy's ex-husband. He is mad at Caddy for divorcing him and does not forgive her for it. All he cares about is money. "Then when she sent Quentin home for me to feed too I says I guess that's right too, instead of me having to go way up north for a job they sent the job down here to me and then Mother begun to cry and I says it's not that I have any objection to having it here; if it's any satisfaction to you I'll quit work and nurse it myself and let you and Dilsey keep the flour barrel full, or Ben. Rent him out to a sideshow; there must be folks somewhere that would pay a dime to see him" (3.147). He has no compassion for his family. This chapter was hard to read because of how much I hated Jason's character. 

Quentin Chapter June 2, 1910

This chapter, written from Quentin's perspective, is written with opinion, unlike Benjy's chapter. He shows his self in this chapter by the way in which he presents his opinions and thoughts. He expresses his pain and suffering. All of this gives the reader a sense of who Quentin is. For example he presents his memories of how much he loved Caddy, and how much pain it caused him when she got pregnant and married. He wanted them to run away together. This gives you an idea for how he feels towards Caddy. He also becomes very jealous of her pregnancy and pressures her with questions about who the father is. He lies and tells his dad that he is the father, presenting the idea that Quentin wishes to have been the father. His personality is also shown in the present when he helps an Italian girl. He gives her bread and tries to bring her back home. This shows his caring and compassionate side. Another way that we are given a chance to see his personality is in his thoughts. For example he always thinks of dark and hard times. He expresses the need for killing himself and the release from this awful time, showing his depression.

Although we get a good look at who Quentin is, the chapter is still very disorienting. I think William Faulkner presented it this way to not only show the way in which people's memories and thoughts work, but to also show Quentin's pain and suffering in his life. Benjy's chapter was disorienting to show his disoriented thoughts, whereas Quentin's is disorienting to show his pain and the fact that he is stuck in his past and can rarely be in the present. His flashbacks are hard to decipher from the present symbolizing his hard life. His chapter is confusing in that he will associate memories with certain objects or people. It is hard, as a reader, to determine the past from the present. His memories are also randomly thrown throughout the chapter, making it hard to put them all together. This is done often because he too often thinks of his past, and of Caddy. Rarely in the chapter does he talk about the present, because he is rarely in the present.

This chapter presents Quentin in the state of depression. He seems to always think back on something sad and dark. For example his memories consist a lot of Caddy and how she got pregnant and married. His depression and need to get away from Caddy's love for other men is shown when he suggests that they both commit suicide. He also thinks about suicide a lot, suggesting that he thinks it is the only way to escape his thoughts of Caddy. He thinks of her in a way that he needs to be with her, and the fact that he is not with her destroys him. He cannot escape the thought of her and of being with her.

Benjy's chapter April 7, 1928 Post#2

This chapter was written from the point of view of Benjy. Faulkner created it very disorienting in that it would periodically switch between different time periods due to Benjy's flashbacks. This was done to fully express how disorienting it is for Benjy, how difficult his life is. He also lives off of his senses, mainly his sight, sound, and smell. In example he may here the word caddie and then have a flashback about Caddie. This was shown at the beginning of the novel when a golfer says "here, caddie" bringing to Benjy the memory of hearing her name being called (3). He then remembers a time with Caddy, "Caddy uncaught me and we crawled through…" (4). This is important because it proves how the way Faulkner wrote this chapter is just how Benjy's mind works, because sensations bring memories upon him. This happens with his other senses as well. For example when he sees something that reminds him of his past, a pillow or a fire, it triggers his memories from what he had seen in his past. His memories are also triggered from smells, for example when he smells trees it reminds him of Caddie because he thinks "she smelled like trees" (72). Therefore this chapter is disorienting because that is how Benjy's mind functions.

Benjy's need for his sister and his past shows the insensitivity of his family. When Benjy waits by the fence hoping for Caddy's return it shows that she was the only one who loved him. His moaning and crying every time he hears her name proves that they loved and took care of each other, and the fact that Benjy is 33 and still cries over her shows that no one else has loved him so since she left him. In fact his family is not only unloving but they are also embarrassed of him. He is also bullied by his caretakers, for example Luster will repeat Caddy's name just to make Benjy cry. This shows that family is supposed to love and support one another, but when they do not it is destructive. His family cares only about appearance and discredits love and compassion. This shows how, at the time, the south cared a lot about social standing, certain families in particular. These families were aristocratic, meaning they valued money and class. It was important for these families to keep their family name in such high standings, which is why Benjy's aristocratic family is embarrassed of him. These families were inadequate at loving one another which is shown in the way they treat poor Benjy. 

Benjy was born on the Saturday before Easter and is the age (33) of Christ when he died on the cross. Which means that he can be a symbol of Jesus. Benjy can represent Jesus because of his pure, innocent, lovable character. Everyone else in the novel does not see this just as Christ was not acknowledged by the people around him. Benjy is living a life of goodness, as Jesus did, but is being acted upon with hatred, just as Jesus was persecuted. The Easter weekend is a sign of death, which means there must be hope and resurrection to come. 

William Faulkner

William Faulkner knew the south very well because he spent most of his life there. This is seen in his writing when he talks about family, community, and the people he knew there. In 1949 he earned the nobel prize in literature and gave an amazing speech. He travelled to Europe after he wrote his first novel. One of his favorite places there was the Luxembourg gardens. He wrote a long description about them which he later incorporated into one of his novels, Sanctuary. He was scrutinized a lot by the public and tried to keep his personal life a secret. 

In the beginning of his career he published a collection of poetry in 1924 called The Marble Faun. He moved to New Orleans and published a lot of essays in The Double Dealer and the Times-Picayune which were literary magazines. After writing his first novel and traveling to Europe he returned and focused on writing novels. His second novel was called Mosquitoes and was a satire about his experience in New Orleans. This was one of his weakest novels. His next novel would not get published, so he had to trim it down and change the name. This novel, Sartoris, was finally published. While getting that novel published he was writing another one for pleasure. This novel was called The Sound and The Fury and was liked a lot by the publishers for being stylistic and for the character's growth. He wrote As I Lay Dying to make money for his family. This book is about the journey of a family that is taking their dead matriarch to be buried. In 1930 he went further into debt when he bought himself a house way too expensive.

 His novels slowly stopped selling so he began to write and publish lots of short stories for financial support. His publishers finally agreed to publish Sanctuary, which got him to revise it. It became his number one novel for 8 years. His first collection of short stories, These 13, was dedicated to his wife and dead child, Alabama. He went on to write Light in August. 

He then became a screenwriter in Hollywood. He received on screen credit for 6 screenplays. He needed more money so he sold Hollywood the rights to make Sanctuary into a movie. He published his second and last collection of poetry, A Green Bough. In 1934 he published a collection of stories called Doctor Martino and Other Stories as well as the novel Pylon. His brother's child died and he took the role to educate her. He had an affair with his secretary in Hollywood and later had to go to a nursing home due to his drinking. He published Absalom, Absalom! He bought a wooded area that he had his brother manage. In 1939 he was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters. In 1942 he published  Go Down, Moses and Other Stories. He then went back to his career on screen writing.