The Sound and the Fury/William Faulkner/Southern Gothic
The story begins with a narrative from Benjy, the mentally challenged son of a previously wealthy family, the Compsons, who live in the Southern United States. The book takes place as the 1920's are winding down, and is a precursor of the Great Depression. Benjy has many siblings, including his sister Caddy, who is a rebellious youth; his brothers Quentin and Jason. Caddy's rebellious behavior causes her to become pregnant before she is married, and then she tries to become married to save her honor, but fails. Quentin tries to help her through her problems, but is also unable. He then goes to Harvard, where the second section of the book takes place--narrated by him. Jason, the only child who Mrs. Compson loves, also has a section of the book. He is grown in this section and has to search for Miss Quentin, Caddy's daughter. The family owns a family of African-American slaves. The mother of this family is named Dilsey, and she narrates the final section of the book, where she takes the family to her church.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to experience something unique, but for the everyday person, I would not recommend it. The book is extremely confusing in that the first to sections are basically incomparable. Faulkner uses "stream of consciousness" in which he gives many thoughts to the reader in quick succession, but that is not the worst of it. In these sections, sometimes Faulkner does not use punctuation at all, making it nearly impossible to decipher what the meaning of much of the story is.
http://11rflam.glogster.com/The-Sound-and-the-Fury/
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I have read part of The Sound and the Fury before. I agree with you that the dialogue William Faulkner uses is very confusing, because of Benjy's mental retardation (Benjy is the narrator). When I read it at first, I was younger, so I did not understand much of the book and found it boring. Today, however, I know much more of what the book referred to, and I know that I would have enjoyed the book had I read it now.
ReplyDeleteYour Glogster page is very well laid out. I like how you incorporated a certain element of disorganization, hinting at Benjy's mental state. I also liked your YouTube video and the age of recklessness both it and the story refer to in the 1920s.