The Sound and the Fury: Meditation Reflections

Faulkner created an interesting aspect to his novel in the way all of his characters reflect upon the past. The way his characters reflect on the past reveals much of their motivations for their actions in the novel. Without these varied reflections on the past, the reader would struggle even more to piece together the movement of the story. All of the character's struggles result from events or problems in the past, and the present day struggles are revealed through reflections on the past.

Benjy is caught in a "Groundhog Day" and Bill Murray type scenario in which he only knows the present, but events from the past bleed into everyday activities. He actually does not possess the mental capacity to reflect upon the past, yet his memories can still pentrate his present day life. His struggle with missing his only mother figure, Caddy, is constantly present through various memory triggers. Things like scents, sights, and sounds will remind Benjy that Caddy was once in his life. Faulkner introduced Caddy's importance in the novel through Benjy's struggles. Interestingly, Benjy's reflections, although mixed and jumbled, are very insightful to Caddy's roll in the family and it's downfall.

Quentin might have the most depressing reflections upon the past of any character. He lives only in the past, with a mind caught up in thought of how things could be different in the present. His need to uphold Southern traditions and his family's good name keeps him reflecting on what he could have done to prevent his family's downfall. He constantly day dreams about his past asipirations to commit incest with Caddy in order to save her from riddicule of promiscuity. Sadly, Quentin's reflections on the past eventually lead him to kill himself. He is so obsessed with how he could have changed the present in the past, and he eventually comes to the belief that the only way he can maintain his imagined honor is to kill himself.

Jason's mentallity is unlike any other's in that he rarely focuses on the past at all. He is simply obsessed with taking money from family members and figuring out ways to gain things for himself. The ironic thing is that Jason does not have the ability to see how great his family's patriarchs were in the past because he is so focused on the present and gaining selfish material things. If only he could see his family's great past, he might realize that he is the last viable member of a crumbling dynasty. Without knowing it Jason's passion for money leads to the family's lowest point and end.

The three children's varying interactions with their pasts helped Faulkner paint a very compelling novel for the reader. His illustration of their reflections on their respective pasts reveals much of the needed information about the past so the reader can vibe with and understand the intricate tale itself better.

IS TIME REAL?

Ever since the concept was created, time has ruled men and women. You can be late to school, and you get detention. You are late to a job interview, you might not eat for a week. But is time really relevant? Does it really matter if it is seven or six o'clock?

Quite possibly, my favorite aspect of this novel is the way Faulkner toys with the concept of time. He uses Benjy to illustrate the uselessness of time. Benjy is perhaps the most pure and inherently good child of the Compson family, yet he has zero knowledge of time. He can still remember events from the past, and the feelings those events provoke. But he does not realize that they are in the past, he simply remembers them when something reminds him of them. Faulkner is pointing out that for Benjy, time is unimportant, and he still leads a normal life (other than his retardation). Benjy doesn't live by the clock, and he remains the most pure child.

Quentin, on the other hand, is ruled by the clock. He continually lives out things from his past, and avoids the present. He is obsessed with his childhood with Caddy, and the fantasy that he committed incest with her when they were younger. Quentin also breaks his watch, and symbolically, he is cut by the broken glass. This symbolizes Quentin's eventual downfall to time, blood is drawn from him because of time. When he goes into the clock store, he asks the watchmaker if the clocks are right, but he doesn't wish to know what time it is. He is so obsessed with falling into his past fantasies, that Quentin becomes unable to live in the present and future. Therefore, time becomes a constant reminder that Quentin is no longer living in his glorified past. And because he can no longer live in the past Quentin takes his own life because time will always exist to remind him that he is in the present.;

Faulkner, in the first two chapters has already shown the ways time can affect humanity. Benjy has no concept of time, and Quentin is ruled by time itself. These two opposing takes on time in the first two chapters challenge the idea of time itself. Benjy gets along just fine without time, and Quentin kills himself because of time, Faulkner is arguing if we even need time in society. Of course, the world would be very unorganized without time, but Faulkner's arguments remain very compelling especially since he argues his point through the development of characters in THE SOUND AND THE FURY.