Final Post

The final chapter of this book ties the whole book together. Quentin running away is a final blow to the men of the Compson family. Caddy has been banished, Caroline is a delusional drama queen, and Quentin is a floosy who made the poor decision to run away; the women in the family are all detrimental to the Compson name. That being said, the men aren't exactly shining stars; Jason is a jerk, Benjy is mentally handicapped, and Quentin killed himself. The family itself has basically fallen apart, but the one piece of stability in this chapter and in the book is Dilsey. The fact that the African American servant is the only stable character in the family is an indication of the changing South and the role reversal that is about to take place. Overall, this book is telling the story of the crumbling old South and the rise of the new South from its ashes told through the story of a deteriorating family.

Jason Chapter

For lack of a better word, Jason is a jerk. Though the chapter does not reveal a lot of plot content, it does demonstrate Jason's character. He seems to go out of his way to belittle and abuse others. For example, when Jason has extra tickets to the show that Luster wants to attend, Jason doesn't just refuse to give Luster the tickets; he burns the tickets and makes Luster watch. Jason is also a bigot, and he is highly intolerable of anyone else who isn't him. In his chapter, he talks down on women, black people, and mentally handicapped people. The characteristic that I find most interesting about Jason is his insecurity. He is always concerned with the way people view him. He hates Benjy because Benjy's mental illness embarrasses him. Jason's biggest concern with Quentin is that her behavior will make him look bad. Even though he believes that he is above everyone else, he seems to care a whole lot about what others think of him.

The Quentin Chapter

I was expecting the Quentin chapter to be much more lucid than the Benjy chapter, but I found that assumption to be false. Quentin jumps from thought to thought without much punctuation. Even though it is text, it seems like the words are coming a lot faster when he is talking about Caddy and his feelings for her. He also seems to have an odd fixation with time. While Benjy paid no attention to time and thoughts flowed freely with no chronological order, Quentin pays a little too much attention to time. His observations on time constantly interrupt his flow of consciousness, and it seems that Faulkner is trying to say something with Quentin. If you pay too much attention to time, then your thoughts become clouded and scattered.

Continued Thoughts on Chapter One

This chapter is rather disorienting because it is an unfamiliar point of view. Faulkner uses this format to give an unbiased view of the family before introducing narrators who most likely will have obvious biases. I find Benjy to be very interesting to me personally. I have a sister with Down syndrome, and often times my family and I wonder how much she understands. Of course, we are MUCH more caring than the family in the book, but I have been wondering for sixteen years how she must see the world. Benjy's cut and dry, non-interpretive method of insight is something my sister might experience. I'm also worried about how she sees the rest of the family, but I'm hoping her view is positive. She provides as much insight to life in general as Benjy does to the book with her beautiful simplicity, and Benjy's character brings this book to life for me.

Blog #2:
Benjy is the constant presence in the novel, and a fairly trivial part of the family. However, his over-simplified narration leads us to conclusions instead of forcing them upon us as we read. This provides even more insight than I would get if the book were spoon-fed to me. His age and the time of year obviously relate to Jesus Christ. In a way, Benjy can relate to Jesus; Jesus was the "only begotten son", and Christians learn more from his teachings than any other part of the bible. Benjy can be considered "begotten" also due to his mental retardation. Despite this fact, I learned a lot from him about the world that he lives in and his perspective.

Faulkner's Life

William Faulkner was a Southerner, born and raised. He was born in Albany, Mississippi and later moved to Oxford for grade school. He skipped several grades and shot through grade school with flying colors. His writing was very much so affected by his Southern heritage; he (allegedly) witnessed the lynching of a black man when he was eleven years old, which could have altered his perspective and later, his writing. As he matured, he became bored with school and began to sluff. Although he was brilliant, his grades suffered greatly due to his indifference towards school. Faulkner dabbled in drawing and writing poetry, plays, and stories as he matured; he even wanted to join the air force, but he was declined due to his height. He kept writing throughout college, and his poetry became more well-known as time went on. By 1926, he was regularly publishing his works. As time went on, he became more and more prosperous. He married the love of his life, accepted numerous awards for his writing, and even took flying lessons. After a long and successful career, William Faulkner died of a heart attack in 1962.
Padgett, John B. “William Faulkner Chronology.” William Faulkner on the Web. 17 August 2006. 11 March 2014 <http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~egjbp/faulkner/chronology.html>.

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