Brain Pain discussion

This discussion covers Part One: April 7, 1928 (The Benjy section)

Welcome to Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, the fictional county where William Faulkner set the majority of his novels and short stories. The Sound and the Fury was Faulkner’s fourth novel and was published in October, 1929, just three weeks before the Black Tuesday stock market crash which lead to the Great Depression in the United States.

His first three novels met with limited success. In 1928 he began work on TS&TF and decided to concern himself less with the demands of publishers and instead, to work in a more experimental style to express his vision of Southern culture.

This first section is ‘narrated’ by mentally disabled Benjamin ‘Benjy’ Compson. Unable to speak, Benjy moans and bellows in response to the world around him. Obsessed with the memory of his absent sister, Caddy, he patrols the fence of the neighboring golf course, waiting impatiently to hear the golfers call for their ‘caddies’. Faulkner does his best to present the narrative in a way he imagines an autistic person might perceive the world. This imagined perception is mixed with memories to help the reader understand the childhood events of the Compson children.


The main action of the novel takes place over the three days of Easter weekend, 1928, plus a flashback to June 2, 1910. In addition to cutting the narrative into four parts told from four different perspectives, Faulkner splits the time into four non-consecutive days.

Faulkner’s use of the Easter weekend is significant in this novel. Easter is at the core of the Christian faith and represents the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The Compson family and the culture they come from represent the remains and result of the end of slavery in the United States. While there is not a one-to-one relationship between the Easter story and the Compson’s story, the themes of loss, death, and the hope for resurrection are present, as is the central theme of female virginity and its romantic/destructive potential in the male mind.

The first section (Benjy) takes place on Holy Saturday, April 7, 1928. In the Christian faith, this represents a day of vigil, awaiting the return of the prophet Jesus, who was crucified and died on Good Friday – represented in the book in section 3 (Jason) April 6, 1928. Section 2 (Quentin) takes place on June 2, 1910 – a fine spring day at Harvard University. This falls outside of the Easter weekend and serves as a flashback (or backstory) to why the Compson’s find themselves in the psychic/financial hell of April, 1928. The final section (Dilsey) is Easter Sunday, April 8, 1928. There is still much to be resolved in the Compson story, but this fourth section offers a glimmer of hope for resurrection, though most of the wounds will likely never heal.

There are many themes and threads throughout The Sound and the Fury and all the elements have their significance - the voices, the dates, the personal history, and the cultural history. It is a testament to Faulkner’s skills that he wove these strands together to create this portrait of the deep South struggling to find its way in the 20th century.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

The word “nigger” shows up many times throughout The Sound and The Fury. In contemporary American society, this word is at the center of racial controversy and legal arguments about hate-speech and racial prejudice. It is important to discuss this word in the context of Faulkner’s work. However, this topic can quickly expand to the point where it can overpower discussion of other aspects of the book. For this reason, I setup a separate discussion topic specifically for the word “nigger” and its place and function in The Sound and The Fury. I would ask all members who wish discuss the word itself as a topic, to please join in the discussion here:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/8...

Jim wrote: "IMPORTANT NOTE:

The word “nigger” shows up many times throughout The Sound and The Fury. In contemporary American society, this word is at the center of racial controversy and legal arguments abou..."

LOL, good call and good pro-active thinking there, Jim!
So is the thread open now? Can we jump away and start discussing? I'm struggling to keep to the proper dates with the discussions going on here on BP alone, - let alone all my combined groups... (I probably belong to too many groups - but which to cull?) :P

Traveller wrote: "LOL, good call and good pro-active thinking there, Jim!
So is the thread open now? Can we jump away and start discussing? I'm struggling to keep to the proper dates with the discussions going on here on BP alone, - let alone all my combined groups... (I probably belong to too many groups - but which to cull?) :P ..."

Yes, it's on!!!

Groups are a mixed blessing, aren't they? I don't know what you might cull, but I would suggest you follow your instincts and interests about which books to read and let the groups themselves be a secondary priority.

Faulkner holds a special place for me because I studied him in university. I remember reading the Benjy section for the first time and being amazed at what he attempted with this book. Now, some 30 years after the first reading, I'm just as impressed! I'm looking forward to reading Absalom, Absalom! this Fall with the group.

One aspect of this first section is Faulkner's exploration of how our childhood experiences shape our lives. Caddie's rebellious side, Quentin's seriousness, Jason's immature attitude towards the rules.

The last two sentences:
" then I could see the windows where the trees were buzzing. Then the dark began to go in smooth bright shapes like it always does.." described my experience of reading this pretty well.The edition I have has a helpful introduction by Richard Hughes:
"There is no need to disentangle ... this rigmarole holds one's attention on its own merits". (Which it does.)
Benjy appears to be operating at the level of a very young infant - he has no notion of cause and effect, no notion of time passing, lives in an eternal present made up of whatever has caught his attention. I'm intrigued by what writing in this way has allowed Faulkner to do, look forward to reading others' views of this

Chris44 wrote: "The last two sentences:
" then I could see the windows where the trees were buzzing. Then the dark began to go in smooth bright shapes like it always does.." described my experience of reading t..."

I always thought of Benjy as being all "id". The pleasure principle, represented by infancy, desires what it desires, coos when it gets what it wants, cries and bellows when it is denied its desire.

Benjy was witness to the events in this section, but of course, Faulkner had to include narration that was beyond what an autistic mind could articulate. Still, the imaginary feel of what it might be like to be a grown adult with the mind of a toddler seems to work well.

Chris44 wrote: "The last two sentences:
" then I could see the windows where the trees were buzzing. Then the dark began to go in smooth bright shapes like it always does.." described my experience of reading t..."

I just wish Benjy could have lived in a happier family. One cue I found to the time frame: Luster, Dilsey's grandson, is only in the present-day scenes, the day before Easter, 1928.

Yes, I think it's extremely confusing to try to orient yourself regarding where on the timeline Benjy is every time that he makes a jump in time. I think that it forces you to look for "clues" (Who is what age in each little subsection, and so on).

I found Faulker's inclusion of how Benjy witnesses cruel and callous remarks made in regard of him and his "condition" quite chilling. It's like he hears it, probably doesn't understand the implication, and moves on.

..and his instinctive reactions, the noises he makes, is like something he experiences from outside himself, and one often has to gauge whether he is laughing or crying or whatever from the reactions of the people around him.

"My throat made a noise"

It's a brilliant section, bravely done, in artistic terms. For the reader, it's a bitch.