Sound and The Fury
William Faulkner's The Sound and The Fury is a complicated story of tragedy, lies, and destruction. The whole Compson family is filled with negativity and bad decisions. The family is broken down little by little until it is finally destroyed. Ms. Compson is supposed to be in control but she is a neurotic self-centered woman that escapes responsibility by depending on Dilsey for every need. Ms Compson also created hostility between the Family.
Jason, the head of the family since their father died, is always knowing but only cares for himself. He is a cold, vicious, and openly cruel person, he values only himself and ways to make himself richer. Part of the reason he is like this is because of the lack of attention he received as a child, and because of the fact that he was not able to attend Harvard. Nevertheless, Jason does what is needed for his family to survive, he goes to work and earns the living for the entire family. Jason also spends a tremendous amount of time in his room counting and reviewing his money. The money was another big motivation for Jason to take responsibility for his family. If that motivation was not there I don't think that Jason would have been as responsible. However, Jason does still represent hate and ruthlessness. Jason is not the only that deteriorates in this book, Ms. Compson represents insanity and delusion. She has an imagined illness, she tries to control things around her including people and she complains very often. Ms. Compson is also in denial of many things, she imagines that people think ill of her and that her husband never liked her brother. The deterioration of each family member is solid and consistent even though they are all different.
Quentin thinks that he is going out of his head because of his sister Caddy. While Caddy does not smell like trees to Benjy anymore because of her actions. Quentin then finds out that Herbert cheated on his test for Harvard. Herbert tries to bribe Quentin's so that no one will find out about his wrong doing. Everything that has been done wrong has been tried to be covered up by that person in the family. Things just pile up which leads to the destruction of the family. Benjy is a 33-year-old man but can hardly perform task such as bathing without assistance from someone in the house. Since Caddy does not live at the house any more, Benjy just stays at home with the family servants. Benjy starts hoping that Caddy would come home, that is why he goes out to the gate every day. Each day that Caddy does not return home Benjy gets a little sadder. Caddy is the only daughter of the family. She was one of the few people in the household who treated Benjy well. While she had a close friendship with both Benjy and her older brother Quentin, she grows into a young woman who has an illegitimate child, and is then thrown out of her husband's house. Because of Caddy's ways, the family refuses to even speak her name in the house. Quentin feels a big burden of responsibility to have to live up to the families greatest past. He is a very intelligent man but d paralyzed by his obsession with his sister Caddy.
However with all of this going on Dilsey is still the responsible person. She is the only real person that takes care of the Compson's. I think that if Disley wasn't there the family would have deteriorated much quicker than what it did. Even when Dilsey gets older, she is still the real caretaker of the Compson children. Ms. Compson does not have the ability to take care of and look after even her own children. She is too caught up with her own life to even acknowledge her kids life's. That is the main reason for the whole family falling part, the lack of love, and the lack of attention from their mother.
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