In speaking of stream of consciousness in "The Sound and the Fury," one must take into account a few factors. Amongst them, confusion of chronology and dislocated time sequences are the most important. From Faulkner's point of view, time, more than anything else, is the ordering principle of social relations that, according to its organic connection with social situation and individual consciousness, creates different levels of consciousness. For example, in the case of Benjy, lack of consciousness may lead to a chaotic sense of time that may also paradoxically be linear. Or, time, as is the case with Quentin, may assume a philosophical dimension, a state, which results from his conscious wrestling with the questions of identity, honor and desire. In relation to Jason, the significance of time is locked with the importance of financial success. The flashbacks and transitions from the present to the past in Jason's mind are always associated with events in which he has lost a profit. Consequently, Jason always thinks that he has lost a deal and therefore he is drawn where he thinks he is behind time. But apart from these three conceptions of time, there is another view of time. This view of time, without emphasizing any of them in particular, combines the three different senses of time that are associated with Benjy, Quentin and Jason. It is natural that this complex and multi-dimensional view of time should affect the structure of the novel.
In The Sound and the Fury, Faulkner narrates the struggle with time through the point of views of four characters. Benjy, the first narrator, is a castrated idiot who is incapable of speech. His lack of speech is symptomatic of his entrapment in the past and his unawareness of the present...
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... monologue is in such a way as if he was defending himself against a court. To prove his innocence, Jason goes on to condemn and damns anyone who opposes him (Caddy, Quentin, Benjy, Dilsey, etc). Here one can clearly see that Jason and Benjy, ironically, share one quality: they both evaluate any action only as it may affect them personally.
"The Sound and the Fury" is the novel of time and timelessness. Although the concept and the impression of time is used differently in every section, it remains the main issue of the novel, and its relation to the ordering principle of social relations and individual consciousness, creates different levels of consciousness, thus, remains the main concept of the novel.
Bibliography
1- Faulkner, William. THE SOUND AND THE FURY, The Corrected Text with Faulkner's Appendix. The Modern Library, New York, 1992, Random House
Having lost all of his memories, Jason is put in a difficult situation where he cannot look at his past to help him with his decisions. This quote shows his lack of confidence before the start of his quest “Everyone seemed to think he was so brave and confident, but they didn’t see how lost he really felt. How could they trust him when he didn’t even know who he was?” (Riordan 166). He is forced to rely on his instincts, and what his heart tells him is right, so that he can make the best decisions. This quote shows us how he makes decisions “He reached in his pocket and pulled out the gold coin. He let his instincts take over, flipping the coin in the air like he’d done it a thousand times. He caught it in his palm, and suddenly he was holding a sword—a wickedly sharp double-edged weapon.” (Riordan 23). Keep in mind that when doing this, he had no knowledge of him ever doing this before. This was all done on his instincts. Jason might not have memories of who he was, or what he did, but he has learned that if he is going to lead his friends like a Husky leading a sled ☺ (Simile) he is going to have to lead with integrity and use his instincts to help
Jason was confounded by how to pass this trial and was saved at the last moment by Aeetes'
16. James Hinkle and Robert McCoy, Reading Faulkner: The Unvanquished. (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1995), 141.
In Sacred Spaces, Jason spends an hour every single day writing and reflecting. And although for most an hour is excessive, the idea of taking time to think and reflect and put your thoughts into words is not. While Jason may not have the opportunity to consume as much media as the average person, what he does consume he has time to really think about and examine from all angles to learn as much as he can. This self-examination allows for the filtering out the noise in favor of the heart of the issue. Because Jason takes the time to think and reflect, he can make better decisions in the future instead of repeating old
The Sirens of Titan gives a great sense of direction and compactness. It is astounding in that the novel with its science fiction nature creates human warmth. Three reasons for this phenomenon present themselves. Vonnegut's skill has been developing in 7 years and the science fiction disposition offers the reader more impassiveness. Also he is more informative in this particular work. Like many other Vonnegut's books, The Sirens of Titan was influenced by Vonnegut's experiences from World War II. Although the war is not the novel's major target, it has a significant affect on it. Winston Niles Rumfoord's believes that "'everything that ever has been always will be, and everything that ever will be always has been" (20). In order to escape Dresden with a newer vision, Vonnegut cleverly attempts to rid himself of his youthful philosophy (romanticism and liberalism) by acquiring background from Rumfoord's theory of time and by isolating to define the visual problem caused by Dresden.
The most important element in Quentin’s section is his obsession with time. To Quentin. time is torturous and destructive. He blames time for his loss of Caddy to sin and hence for his own suffering. Quentin becomes obsessed with avoiding time and attempts to avoid all implements which tell time. When he realizes that he has about as much chance of escaping time as stopping Caddy from losing her virginity, he tries to defeat time by destroying himself Therefore, at the end of his section, he commits suicide.
Understanding literary elements such as patterns, reader/writer relationships, and character choice are critical in appreciating William Faulkner's Barn Burning. Some literary elements are small and almost inconsequential while others are large and all-encompassing: the mother's broken clock, a small and seemingly insignificant object, is used so carefully, extracting the maximum effect; the subtle, but more frequent use of dialectal words which contain darker, secondary meanings; the way blood is used throughout the story in many different ways, including several direct references in the familial sense; how Faulkner chooses to write about poor, common people (in fact to the extreme) and how this relates to the opinions of Wordsworth and Aristotle; and finally, the relationship between the reader and writer, Faulkner's choice of narrator and point of view, and how this is works successfully.
Edelstein, Arnold. “Billy’s Time Travel in not Science Fictional but Psychological.” Social Issues in Literature: War in Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-five, edited by Claudia durst Johnson, Gale Cengage Learning, 2011, pp.59-66.
Over the course of Kurt Vonnegut’s career, an unorthodox handling of time became one of many signature features in his fictional works (Allen 37). Despite The Sirens of Titan (1959) being only his second novel, this trademark is still prevalent. When delving into science fiction, it is often helpful to incorporate ideas from other works within the genre. This concept is exemplified by the “megatext,” an aspect of science fiction that involves the application of a reader’s own knowledge of the genre to a new encounter (Evans xiii). By working within the megatext, Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed (1974) provides an insightful avenue in exploring the handling of time and its consequences in Vonnegut’s The Sirens of Titan.
A man begins to cry. Not because of sorrow or joy, but because he’s terrified. The man who once enjoyed viewing the firework show that symbolized the freedom of his nation now cowers, because of the hardships he endured to maintain the freedom of his nation. Like many war veterans, the man suffers from PTSD. Billy Pilgrim, a WWII veteran, also suffers from PTSD. While Kurt Vonnegut wrote his novel Slaughterhouse-five before PTSD became an official diagnosis, the protagonist of his story, Billy Pilgrim, displays the disease’s symptoms. Vonnegut uses Billy Pilgrim’s non-linear voyage through time as symbol to reflect his theme of the destructiveness during and after war.
Throughout the Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut displays the clash between free-will and destiny, and portrays the idea of time notion in order to substantiate that there is no free-will in war; it is just destiny. Vonnegut crafts this through irony, symbolism and satire. And he successfully manages to prove that free-will is just a hoax that adopted by people that cannot percept time fully.
Harris, Charles B. "Time, Uncertainty, and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.: A Reading of Slaughterhouse-Five." The Centennial Review 3rd ser. 20 (1976): 228-42. Web.
"William Faulkner (1897-1962)." Short Story Criticism. Ed. Jelena Krstovic. Vol. 97. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2007. 1-3. Literature Criticism Online. Gale. Hempfield High School. 31 March 2010.
William Faulkner uses multiple narrators throughout The Sound and the Fury to depict the life of Caddy Compson without telling the story from her point-of-view. Benjy, a mentally disabled 33 year old, Quentin, a troubled and suicidal Harvard student, and Jason, a racist and greedy man, each give their drastically different sides of Caddy’s story to create an incomplete chronicle of her life. Faulkner’s first chapter explores Caddy’s life through the silent narrator Benjy. As a result of Benjy’s inability to talk, much of how he describes the world is through his heightened sensory awareness. Benjy constantly repeats the fact that, which, to Benjy, symbolizes Caddy’s innocence (Faulkner 6). Later in the novel when, Benjy realizes that Caddy has lost the innocence Benjy once idolized and loved (Faulkner 40).
A main trait of Jason’s is his obliviousness to everything. Jason doesn’t realize that Medea is crying for a different reason and thinks that whatever he says is right when he asks Medea, “Why is your cheek so white and turned away from me? Are not these words of mine pleasing for you to hear?” (p.55). Jason lacks mindful attention to what is happening around him. Jason was smart enough before to know that Medea is evil and even says that she is “incapable of controlling her bitter temper” (p.43). Mede...