Soung And That Fury :: essays research papers

There are iv Compson children, and four chapters in The Sound and the Fury. Each ofthe three previous chapters has been narrated by one of the Compson children the onlyone left is Caddy. Since Caddy is in bity shipway the most important character in the book,it would be natural to want Caddy to be the narrator of the fourth section. But instead,Caddy is slashed out of the novel completely this chapter is narrated by a third-personomniscient narrator, and the cogitate of the section, bewilderingly, is on Dilsey, theCompsons Negro cook.The rarity of the novel, and the symbolic ending of the Compson clan, does not bump witha climactic bang, but rather with a kind of fizzling off into insignificance. Jasons lossof the seven thousand dollars--four of which did not belong to him (hence his claim tothe sheriff that he had lost three thousand dollars)--and his subsequent, ineffectual chaseof Miss Quentin and the man in the red tie are hardly exciting, moving, or sad events.More i mportant is Dilseys childlike, strong, protective presence, the only thing holding theCompson family together. Dilseys simple piety enables her to love Benjy and feelunashamed when she takes him to church. Faulkner once called the Compsons "tragic" passel and Dilsey a "good" person. This contrast sheds light on the roles of the characters throughout the novel. Dilsey is not obsessed with the passage of time, and is notovercome by the chaos of check in the same way as the "tragic" characters. Rather,she simply endures through happiness and sadness with the same incorruptible faith andthe same leave behind to protect those she cares about.For just a split second at the end of the novel we are taken back into the mind of Benjy,