The Sound and the Fury

The Sound and the Fury derives its greatness from many sources. Providing readers with a compelling plot, portraying tragically realistic characters, and utilizing a structure that, though somewhat influenced by the work of James Joyce, achieves a unique and thought provoking effect all its own, William Faulkner’s work comes together as a truly fantastic piece of literature that has survived throughout the generations. Spanning about thirty years, The Sound and the Fury focuses on the Compson family, and is told (in stream of consciousness form) through the eyes of Benjy, a severely retarded thirty three year old man, Quentin, a neurotic college student on the verge of suicide, and the sadistic, frustrated Jason (all of whom are brothers). The final section is told in third person form, and focuses mostly on Dilsey, the Compson family’s servant. The story details the tragic and demoralizing effects of the Compson family’s decline, calling upon notions of lost Southern glory and the disappearance of Southern values such as honor, purity, and morality. At the heart of this novel is Caddy, the Compson brothers' captivating sister, whose actions (she gets pregnant out of wedlock, and is later left by her husband when he discovers that Caddy’s child isn’t his) have dramatic and terrible effects on her brothers and the rest of her family.
One of the most interesting aspects of this work is the way it depicts time; told out of chronological order, any real sense of cohesive time (especially Benjy’s) becomes lost in most of the narrations amongst numerous flashbacks and memories that are extremely confusing at first, but ultimately help to advance the overall meaning and impact of the work. Focusing on themes such as birth, death, love, honor, family, obsession, corruption, and hope, the messages of The Sound and the Fury transcend the context of the Compson family microcosm. Through placing symbolic, archetypal significance on his central characters, Faulkner enables his work’s subject matter to apply to the greater human experience, each part of it relating to humanity as a whole in some way, and thus each individual reader. While this novel is complex, challenging, emotionally riveting, and very well executed, its true significance comes from the fact that it not only encompasses all the necessary requirements of “good writing,” but also achieves a universal effect that explores the emotions, motivations, and psychological experience of the human race as a whole.
-GM