Tuesday, April 19, 2016

In the last chapter of The Sound and the Fury,  there is a grand emphasis on the downfall of the compson family. Caddy, though, has been exemplified through this whole book, especially this chapter, as the provider in a sense. She provides each character with a specific piece of knowledge or necessary feeling. For example, she provides Benjy with a sense of security and familiarity, and that constant is so important to Benjy's functioning. She is in a way,  the dominant one in the family and book.  After reading the book, I felt a sense of feminism eminating off of Faulkner's words. It seemed as though the females had a more dependent role for the other characters. The males signified a failure in the patriarchal society and how the males were actually dependent on the woman for a sense of identity.   I enjoyed the feminist aspects of the novel and truth it brings.

Friday, April 15, 2016

Dishonesty,  cruelty,  and raging feelings of distaste towards others around him describe Jason Compson's disposition. In this section of "The Sound and Fury", we learn a lot about Jason and his view on things.

There is a certain irony in Jason because of the fact that although Jason is truly the most despicable person in the family, he is still somehow considered the best and the only one he still has a chance at his life, according to Mother. To Mother, everyone else in the family is a lost cause who have only caused disappointment and shame to the family, such as Caddy,  Benji, and Quentin.

Through this section of the book,  we see more and more to Jason's evil character. He attempts at discipling Quentin (not to be confused with the older generation male) for her "promiscuous" ways; he is harsh and abusive; he feels no remorse for his actions towards Quentin and the family. Not only is he abusive in his disciplinary skills, we also see how he has been taking the money for himself, that Caddy has sent for her daughter Quentin. Every month he collects this money and doesn't even tell Quentin her mother has been sending letters and money. Jason feels absolutely no remorse for what he is doing.

While although Jason is an evil, spiteful human being, with only selfish and cruel intentions, we learn to love to hate him because with all the horrible deeds he does comes an intriguing personality, that is horrifyingly captivating.

Along with his shady and cruel character, comes a lot of hypocrisy and irony. These two factors go hand in hand and this is evident in the scene where Jason is talking to a costumer at the post office he works at, about how he couldn't care less what religion this costumer might be, but Jason keeps probing at the man to tell what he his and keeps saying "no offense" and immediately talks about how he hates Jews. But of course again restates that he has no prejudices...except for Jews of course.

A lot happens in this chapter that gives more perspectives to the reader as to what the characters are doing and why. We still love Caddy and for her attempts at being a decent mother in the only ways she can, but we learn to hate Jason with a passion yet love the intricacy to his spiteful disposition. This chapter also gives a clearer glimpse into Jason's mind and how much hate he holds inside him.

We can see how towards the end of the chapter Jason's thought processes become less fluid and more rapid, abrupt, and crazy. We can feel and almost understand Jason in a twisted way. Of course he has no right to to do the things he does, but the reader is somehow able to connect with him, maybe not on a personal level, but on a level of understatement.

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

In the beginning chapter of Faulkner's novel, The Sound and the Fury, the reader is first introduced to several characters. We see how Caddy is adventurous and a little rebellious, and this is identified by the way Benjy describes her. He mentions the way she smells like trees, like she is outside constantly, on adventures, and exploring. Benjy's fondness over Caddy is shown through his over concern and how he is upset when he notices when Caddy doesn't smell like trees, but perfume. He takes this a sign of change, that she will lose her curiosity.

This chapter is very important because we see how Caddy is the kindest person to Benjy. Caddy is a very important person to Benjy. Not only is this factor important, but throughout the chapter the reader is introduced to the style of writing Faulkner uses in this novel. He uses a style in which time is not an important concept. Faulkner plays with tenses such as the past, present, and future, in order to show the reader certain events. While his style of writing is confusing and difficult to read, there are benefits to the way he uses time because of the chance the reader has to look into the character's past and present, and to understand and connect with the book and people within it.

Tuesday, March 22, 2016


William Faulkner was an artistic and highly intellectual man, who has shown promise in his artistry since an early age. His inability to perform well in social situations was made up for in his expansive knowledge.

In the mid 1940's, Faulkner signed a contract with Warner Brothers in which he wrote screenplays for movies. He wan't given credit for his work and only did it because he was running out of money. 



This shows a scene of one of his most successful films that he wrote called The Southerner. 

William Faulkner had his own set of strong views and beliefs. He was considered a moderate and was very active in the debate over school integration. At a conference in Rome, he heard about a black teenager who was killed for trivial reasons back in his home state of Mississippi. He wrote a dispatch saying how he was opposed to this kind of behavior and condemned the murder. 

Faulkner was a world renown writer and was even considered "a God" to the young people in France, but his good publicity around the world didn't affect Americans. They ceased to read his work. The Portable Faulkner was the reason Faulkner's work had a resurgence of popularity in America. 


Due to his great accomplishments as a writer and as an intellectual, Faulkner was prized with the Nobel Piece Prize for literature. Although his speech at the ceremony was not easily understood because he was said to be drunk, later when his speech was recorded, his speech was considered phenomenal. His speech reveals his selfless intentions he has for his writing and artistic talents. 

It seems to me that most great writers are selfless in their writing intentions and that they use their talents to express who they are, what they have been through, and their strong opinions on the world.