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Nov 04, 2012iwasthewalrus rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
William Faulkner displays his true gift in his most renowned novel, “The Sound and the Fury”. What his “true gift” is, is his ability to analyze his character, to the point where he can write as if he was that person. The novel depicts the Compson family, a family living in the South (where all Faulkner novels take place). Over the thirty years the novel shows, we witness their gradual fall from grace. Faulkner divides the various time allotment into separate narrators who share the events of the Compson family through their point of view. The essential characters of the novel consists of: Jason Compson, the father of the family; he also happens to be an alcoholic, which makes matters more complicated. His wife Caroline, is both self-obsessed and darkly neurotic. We meet their oldest son, Quentin, who suffers from the abuse of his brother and his obsession with his sister. His sister is Caddy, who seems to be the least affected of her family’s dysfunction. Their other son, is named Jason. He is bitter and cold, racist, bankrupt and experiencing sexaul difficulties. All in all, he’s the most pathetic of the Compson family. Finally, the final son is name named Benjy. He is a man-child who desperately requires the assistance of most of the rest of his family. They mostly don’t have the patience for him, with the sole exception of his more caring sister, Caddy. Faulkner once wrote that he believed Caddy was the only sympathetic character in the novel, and by the logic; the hero. You’d think Faulkner had lived through this family because of how well he seems to understand the character and family dynamics. You can see how each action affects the lives of the other characters and how it brings them to do other actions, which continues the cycle. It’s a great example of why many consider Faulkner to be the greatest American novelist. But the difficulties and tragedies that arise in “The Sound in the Fury” do not constantly revolve around the characters within the family. As I mentioned earlier, Faulkner’s novels almost always are set within the south, because he always believed there were large problems with the treatment of African-Americans and it was not easy to survive there. We see a through glance into both problems with “The Sound and the Fury”. Dilsey is the name of the African-American maid working for the Compson family. Some of the members of the household treat her with common decency while others see her as less than a human being. It’s an excellent depiction of the mistreatment of blacks in the South during the 1920s. As well, the Compson family struggles to stay financially afloat. Every subject Faulkner touches on is clearly one that was dear to him in his heart. It all feels extremely sincere and for that reason, it is among the greatest novels ever written.