The Sound and the Fury. Faulkners application of certain diction for Benjy, Quentin and Jason in combination with the twentieth century stream of consciousness approach sheds light on their character, conflicts and contributes to a bette
The Sound and the Fury
AP English, pd 6
Faulkner’s application of certain diction for Benjy, Quentin and Jason in combination with the twentieth century stream of consciousness approach – sheds light on their character, conflicts and contributes to a better understanding of their complex family relations.
The “Benjy” section of the novel is presented using simple diction and figurative language, as anything complicated would be beyond the comprehension of a mentally ill person like Benjy. Events are presented in an unorganized manner in that recollections of past occurrences arbitrarily interrupt the present – in the order in which Benjy remembers them. For example, upon remembering memories of Caddy, Benjy starts crying. Many of the events occurring in 1928, while Benjy is under Luster’s care – is often associated with a memory of Caddy from the past. For example, when Benjy heard Luster call Caddy’s name during a game of golf, Benjy started moaning. In one instance, Versh and Benjy went outside in the cold and waited in front of the gate for Caddy to return from school (p. 6). When Caddy returned, Benjy and Caddy walked outside together and upon remembering this, Benjy started moaning. It was later learned that the cause of Benjy’s moaning while with Luster, was because Benjy felt that it was time for Caddy to come home from school and he wanted to wait for her at the gate. When Luster helps Benjy through the fence in 1928, Benjy is reminded of an earlier time period in which he was snagged on a nail while crawling through the fence with Caddy and came upon the presence of rattling flowers. When Luster and Benjy passes the carriage house in 1928, Benjy’s mind was taken back to an earlier scene which involved commuting with the carriage to the cemetery. When Luster and Benjy passes by the barn in 1928, Benjy is reminded of an earlier scene, when he and Caddy went around the barn to deliver a letter to Mrs. Patterson from their Uncle Maury. Once Caddy climbed the fence, Benjy observed the presence of rattling flowers (which he and Caddy came upon after crawling through the fence before), which Caddy had to go through in order to reach Mrs. Patterson’s residence. This scene reminded Benjy of another time, when he went to deliver a letter to Mrs. Patterson himself, but his attempt was not successful in that the letter fell into the hands of Mr. Patterson. In the branch in 1928, when Luster tells Benjy to get into the water and play, Benjy is reminded of an earlier scene when Caddy got her dress wet with water while playing in the branch. Benjy started crying when Caddy abruptly said she would run away from home and never return in fear of getting whipped by her parents because of the mess she has created. In 1928, when Luster tells Benjy to assist him in finding the quarter he had lost, Benjy was reminded of an earlier scene when Jason was walking with his hands in his pockets as if he was protecting his coins -- when they all were returning home from the branch. When Benjy observes Roskus milking the cow in the barn once they returned from the branch, Benjy was reminded of an earlier scene of when he and T.P. accidentally became drunk at Caddy’s wedding by consuming champagne in mistake of sassprilluh. Thereafter, Benjy recalled Quentin taking him to the barn and he remembered seeing weird cows jumping out of the barn and cows running down the hill. Versh carrying Benjy to the top of the hill after his drunken stage at Caddy’s wedding, reminded Benjy of Versh carrying him up the hill at the discretion of Caddy, as they were returning home from the branch the day her clothes were wet. Benjy’s desire to play with the golf ball in 1928, reminded him of the lightning bugs that beloned to T.P. Also seeing buzzards reminded Benjy of the bones of an animal called Nancy, which the buzzards were eating. This memory lead to another memory of Caddy asking whether the buzzards were going to eat their dead grandmother, Damuddy.
