The Sound And The Fury
“… no battle is ever won he said. They are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools.”
The Sound And The Fury describes the tragedy of the southern Compson family fragmented by both history and legacy. The Compson family features some of the most memorable and devastating characters in American literature: neurotic Quentin, independent and rebellious Caddy, narcissistic Jason, manchild Benjy, and the loyal Dilsey. The novel is divided into four sections with each section told in the point of view of each of the characters with the exception of Caddy. Each section has a very distinct syntax and diction in order to effectively portray the personalities of the four characters. Most notably known is Benjy’s narration who started off the novel. Benjy utilized a “flow of consciousness” strategy which causes his section to be fragmented and abrupt. Benjy is mentally inept, which causes him to not be able to understand what is happening around him, and he can only merely remember what happened without any of the context. This causes his section to be very confusing to the reader as he is merely recalling memories and sometimes it’s difficult to identify when one memory becomes another. For this reason, The Sound And The Fury is often regarded as one of the first novels to utilize a stream of consciousness, and is highly regarded as one of the most famous books for using it.
This is a devastating book. Probably one of the most depressing stories I've read. Incest, castration, suicide, racism, misogyny—this one has it all. Even at the beginning, when it is possible to make out only pieces of the events, a nauseating sense of dread permeates Benji’s narrative per Faulkner’s pungent writing style. And this feeling never really dissipates. The entire course of the novel is drenched in this heavy sense of dread and dispair that when you finally finish the novel, you are left feeling both empty and relieved.
As a reader, this text was perplexing, magnificent, and so very frustrating. I completely understand why so many readers quit reading this novel when trying to comprehend Benjy’s narration. I HATED reading this book at first, however once I reached Jason and Dilsey’s section, I gained some appreciation for the haunting aesthetic it beheld. Maybe I will be able to gain more appreciation for this novel on a second run now that I have gained methods to understand the perplexities of the stream of consciousness approach. Overall i’m glad I read it, however I kind of wish the first section was just slightly more comprehensible.
