Classics Without All the Class discussion

Caddy is presented as maternal, erotic, promiscuous, and imperious, she is also unknowable, given that she can only be glimpsed in the rather unreliable narrations of her brothers. Does she appeal to you as a sympathetic character?

Is Caddy's fall the cause of the family tragedy or is she just another child-victim of the abdication of parental responsibility?

Why do Caddy's brothers each have a narrative voice, while Caddy has none?

I will look forward to this thread playing out, but no there isn't a thing about her that is appealing to me.

I give her credit for being the only family member who tried to understand Benji's thoughts and feelings.

Maybe I'm a little harsh, but I expect them all to. I know, I know, it was a different place and time.

I always saw Caddy as the result of her mother's narcissism. Caddy is the only person who is living a real life in the real world. Everyone else seems caught in the dream world that is the past.

That's true....and her daughter Quentin may be headed for a real life too. Great observation!

I think Caddy has the potential to be a sympathetic character based on the tenderness she exhibits early on for Benjy and her love and concern for her daughter at the end. But she, like her brothers, is the product of of the horrendous neglect of her parents and if she had her own narrative it would be just as sad and tragic as her brothers'. Even having escaped, her life seems to be one of prostitution and separation from her daughter, the only thing dear to her.

So that makes me wonder why Faulkner did not give her or her daughter her own narrative...

Its an interesting question. He also does not let Dilsey tell her own story....instead it is told in the third person by an unknown voice.

The book was written in 1929 - it could be as simple as he just didn't think her narrative was important. Women played a very different role in 1929 than they do today. I think he uses Caddy's character as a catalyst for the other three narratives. She is the common theme that keeps the book together. Apparently Faulkner was a very private person - it would be interesting to know what his views toward women were. Caddy's father's indifferent acceptance of her pregnancy as a natural woman shortcoming and his generally demeaning views on women and virginity in general gives the reader a glimpse into a different time in women's history.

On the surface, the book is about Caddy and the way her choices affect the family. But it's also a picture of the decline in the south during that time.

Perhaps Caddy doesn't have a voice because she never really adhered to the passing traditions anyway. Moreover, she escapes their confinements, in a way. Even if the others liken it to her ruin. She was never interested in Southern glory or morality, so to give her a voice would be to give the new generation's point of view rather than showing the people who were trying to desperately hold onto the past.

Where to start? Of course, the Compton family is completely disfunctional. Caddy appears to really care about Maury/Benjy, however Maury/Benjy and Quentin (the elder) seem to have an insestuous attraction to Caddy. I found this disturbing. And I had the impression that Caddy not only was aware of this, but used it to her advantage at times.

Caddy became much more real to me when she was wanting to see her daughter. I felt that she was much more grounded as a person at this point in the novel. Unfortunately, she had to go through Jason in order to see Quentin.

I do think that Caddy's situation and decisions had a lot to do with the lack of involvement of her parents, and the complete disfunction of her family.