High Modernism In William Faulkner's The Sound And The Fury

William Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury" (1929) is one of the monuments of High Modernism. It was the dark side of the social scene, that caught Faulkner's imagination and makes him delves deeply into the social structure of the Americans. He shows the fall and the decay of the family as a unit of society, the failure of the family to hold together and its damaging. The Compson family is one of the samples of a disintegrated and ruined American family whose members are characterized by absence of either the parental or the maternal role, lack of respect and constant conflict, which has shaken the balance of their family leading to its disintegration. Compson family Children are living a life of prisoners of family manners and beliefs in

They are portrayed as puppets, their parents the puppeteers” ( qtd. in Easterbrook 62). The relationship among the members of the Compson family seems to be void of emotion; both parents and their children express no emotion towards one another. The family seems to live in chaos where there is no father to be feared, obeyed or even defied. Mr. and Mrs. Compson seem to be alien to one another, the only thread that seems to join them together is the roof of the house; their relationship proves the absence of harmony, love or even attachment, which are usually observed between any married couples. The vanishing of the Compson family has been by several reasons such as the parents who have given up their role in the family; the stability of the family has been affected by the psychological problems of Mr. and

Compson the father of the family is dissatisfied with modern world, finding a refuge in alcohol; he becomes alcoholic person who cannot face his reality, his conflict with his wife change the house to bullring in which Mr. and Mrs. Compson rarely communicate. He is portrayed as powerless having no word over his family’s decisions or his children’s behavior. Candace Compson: is one of the victims of her family, of alcoholic father and absent cruel mother. Quentin, as one of the sons and members of the family, also is a victim, he is not able to tolerate the decay and what is not acceptable in their society nor what spoils their family honor (Li 16). He is the only one who tries to prevent his sister from being engaged in sexual relations and cares about the family honor, his interest in his sister’s honor makes him imagine that he has committed incest with her. He cannot bear his sister’s behavior and sin, which has contributed greatly in his tragic end, he chooses to commit suicide as the only way to escape degradation and escape the society that does not believe in moral values. This appears when he