Dilsey

Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury proved to be quite the roller coaster ride.  The four person narrator variation of the novel makes the piece challenging but incredibly interesting. A four person narration gives readers insight they could have never received with just one; Faulkner’s characters have great depth enabled through this writing method. The Compson brothers are obviously quite different, but they do share one thing in common: Caddy. All and all, the novel is about Caddy. 

Not gonna lie, I was a bit disappointed in the ending. I don’t know what I was really expecting (I definitely wasn’t expecting a “happily ever after” or anything) but I did end up being a little let down. I think the last chapter really reassured all of our thoughts of Jason being a horrible human being after Quentin runs away (I was definitely rooting for her). 

But what really stuck out to me in the final chapter was Luster driving the carriage backwards. He goes counter clockwise, and that just takes me back to the whole idea of time. All the characters seem to have the desire to either stop or have some impact on time, and I think Luster driving backwards is a symbol of that. This is temporary chaos, until Jason stops Luster and things resume per usual...and probably how they always will be. Once that clicked, I had a increasingly better understanding of the book as a whole, especially of Faulkner’s theme of time. Time, and perception of it, is ultimately the point Faulkner was trying to make through his novel.