Faulkner begins The Sound and the Fury with a more complex chapter to set the tone for the rest of the book. It's not just this chapter that's "disorienting", granted, some chapters are going to be more confusing than others, but his writing style in general tends to air more on the side of confusion rather than ease. Especially when writing from Benjy's perspective. This is probably to provide a more in depth look at what Benjy's mind must be like; scattered, but factual and unbiased.
Benjy is unique in that he doesn't really have a specific role in the Compson family. His family members (with the exception of Caddy), all perceive him as a sort of burden on them. Specifically his mother, who seems to feel compelled to constantly refer to him as a "baby" and act as though her life is somehow worsened by Benjy's existence; she's embarrassed to call him her son. Nothing is expected of Benjy, and that is why he makes the perfect narrator. He presents things just as they are, he has no biased opinions, only innocence (at least, as far as we can see right now).
The only issues that may arise with Benjy being the narrator is lack of consistency in the ways that he tells the story. While he does present the Compson family in an unbiased, innocent light, he often daydreams and has flashbacks which makes for a painfully confusing reading experience. However his natural disposition for nostalgia provokes an interesting question; what happened? Plot-wise we know that something happened to Caddy, something so big that the event has split Benjy's consciousness right down the middle into two separate eras; while Caddy was with Benjy, and while Caddy wasn't around. This resembles the AD / BC timeline revolving around Jesus' life/death. The only problem being that we don't know what happened.
The Sound and the Fury is all one big puzzle, and as we read we gather bits and pieces and start to fit them together. However as we fit this puzzle together we realize that every piece we have been given fits one specific piece that we don't have yet; and that piece is Caddy's story.
Monday, March 30, 2015
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
About William Faulkner
William Faulkner was a well known American author who was born on September 25, 1897, in Mississippi. Arguably one of the greatest authors to ever come out of the South, Faulkner was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Literature for his outstanding works. Much of his earlier pieces revolved around poetry, but as Faulkner became more and more developed as a writer, he began to write stories about life in the Deep South; these were the stories that would end up making him a wildly successful and popular author.
William Faulkner spent much of his early life moving from town to town in Mississippi; he moved twice before the age of 5 before finally settling down in Oxford, where he would live for a majority of the rest of his life. Faulkner learned most from the women in his life. His mother, grandmother, and "mammy" all influenced his education more than anyone else. His mother and grandmother were both very artsy; enjoying things like reading and art and photography. However, his mammy would instill the moral values that we see reflected in his writings.
Faulkner always seemed to have an interest in the South's history. Despite his lack of effort in school (Faulkner never finished high school, and briefly enrolled at Ole Miss before dropping out of there as well), he was fascinated by Mississippi's history, as well as stories of the KKK and the Civil War. This undoubtedly would guide him in his work for the rest of his life, as many of his books took place in the Southern United States. Its actually quite shocking that Faulkner became an author, and a successful one at that, because he never finished college and received a D in the only college-level English class that he ever took. In spite of his poor performance in school, his poems were consistently published in the school newspaper.
After he dropped out of college, Faulkner became obsessed with flying. He wanted to became a pilot in the United States' Air Force, however, since he was only 5'5, they refused to let him enlist. So he applied to the Canadian Air Force instead, which he did, in fact, get accepted to. However, he never actually saw any action during WWI despite common belief.
After his brief obsession with flying, Faulkner began focusing almost exclusively on his poetry before finally publishing his first book in 1927 after many of his poems and short stories were rejected by publishers. A little over a year later in 1928, Faulkner began work on The Sound and the Fury, which would become his most successful novel yet. Which would eventually lead to him winning the Nobel Peace Prize in Literature 11 years later. He would then go on to serve as a professor at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville from 1957 to 1958, Faulkner died in 1962 from a massive heart attack,
Faulkner's success story is one that is both surprising and heartwarming. To see a high school / college drop out not give up on their dreams and do so well as to win a Nobel Peace Prize is astounding, and few people can say that they have been as successful as William Faulkner even with a college education.
William Faulkner spent much of his early life moving from town to town in Mississippi; he moved twice before the age of 5 before finally settling down in Oxford, where he would live for a majority of the rest of his life. Faulkner learned most from the women in his life. His mother, grandmother, and "mammy" all influenced his education more than anyone else. His mother and grandmother were both very artsy; enjoying things like reading and art and photography. However, his mammy would instill the moral values that we see reflected in his writings.
Faulkner always seemed to have an interest in the South's history. Despite his lack of effort in school (Faulkner never finished high school, and briefly enrolled at Ole Miss before dropping out of there as well), he was fascinated by Mississippi's history, as well as stories of the KKK and the Civil War. This undoubtedly would guide him in his work for the rest of his life, as many of his books took place in the Southern United States. Its actually quite shocking that Faulkner became an author, and a successful one at that, because he never finished college and received a D in the only college-level English class that he ever took. In spite of his poor performance in school, his poems were consistently published in the school newspaper.
After he dropped out of college, Faulkner became obsessed with flying. He wanted to became a pilot in the United States' Air Force, however, since he was only 5'5, they refused to let him enlist. So he applied to the Canadian Air Force instead, which he did, in fact, get accepted to. However, he never actually saw any action during WWI despite common belief.
After his brief obsession with flying, Faulkner began focusing almost exclusively on his poetry before finally publishing his first book in 1927 after many of his poems and short stories were rejected by publishers. A little over a year later in 1928, Faulkner began work on The Sound and the Fury, which would become his most successful novel yet. Which would eventually lead to him winning the Nobel Peace Prize in Literature 11 years later. He would then go on to serve as a professor at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville from 1957 to 1958, Faulkner died in 1962 from a massive heart attack,
Faulkner's success story is one that is both surprising and heartwarming. To see a high school / college drop out not give up on their dreams and do so well as to win a Nobel Peace Prize is astounding, and few people can say that they have been as successful as William Faulkner even with a college education.
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