The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

My opinion of Faulkner before this week was that all of his books were dense and difficult to read. The Sound and the Fury in particular presented an extra challenge, due to its non-chronological narrative.

However, I managed to finish this book in 2 days, thanks to a wonderful online project. The University of Saskatchewan has created a hypertext that color-codes each chronological event. I know my explanation of probably makes no sense, so you should check it out for yourself. All I can say is that it saved me from trying to figure out which sentences were flashbacks and which were not.

Thanks, University of Saskatchewan!

The Sound and the Fury is, at its best, the tale of a highly dysfunctional family. The Comptons are all unstable characters, with a tendency to lash out at each other at a moments notice. Every family member is either on the verge of or completely racist, as shown by the generous use of the n-word throughout the book. While I know that the word is used often in early 20th century literature, it still catches me off guard every time. After I finally accustomed myself to his word choice, I began to truly read the work.

My favorite section was "June 2nd, 1910", which follows Quentin, a Harvard student who sets out to commit suicide by the end of the day. The chapter centers, in my opinion, around a conversation he once had with his father about the nature of time (read that excerpt here). Throughout the rest of the chapter, this conversation is alluded to, due to a peppering of words like "time", "ticking", "clock" and "ringing". This, to me, is Quentin's rationale for his suicide: if his life only truly begins when the "clock stops ticking", then he'll do what he can to end his time on earth. Yet despite his wanting to end time, he never seems rushed for time. In fact, the calmness with which he takes care of his final affairs is unnerving to say the least. He packs his suitcase, mails some letters, buys a small girl a pastry, and generally goes about his business as if it were a normal day. He is not fazed by his decision, and in fact seems pleased with the whole situation. It is this juxtaposition that makes this chapter so fascinating.

Another wonderfully heart-wrenching section was the first chapter of the book, told from the perspective of Benjy, the mentally retarded son of the Comptons. While Benjy's family and caretakers all view him as a burden who is incapable of comprehending the world around him, the reader knows the opposite to be true. Benjy's narrative is clear and knowledgeable, despite his inability to share his thoughts with the world around him. It is the desperation with which he wants to communicate with others (especially in this portion) that made me teary-eyed on many occasions.

The rest of the book didn't really appeal to me, which I found ironic considering how much easier it was to understand! I think it's because the last two sections felt a little labored: not much happened and the characters weren't very relatable. Oh well, in my opinion it's worth it to read this book just for the two sections alone. Just make sure to use U of S whenever you can!

Next up on the agenda: Catch-22! I'm very excited for this one!