What Is The Relationship Between The Sound And The Fury

The characters in The Sound and the Fury, by William Faulkner, are psychologically complex, haunted, prone to spells of vanity and desires, and ultimately tragic. Always one to play the role of the noble Southern gentleman, Quentin Compson III is passionate and neurotic, consumed with the ideal Southern values of chivalry and honor. Quentin is tormented by his father’s nihilistic philosophy and degradation of women and African Americans, as Jason Compson III provides no moral compass to steer Quentin away from the storms of his chaotic thoughts. Rational, cold, and calculating, Jason Compson IV is a cruel and racist man who will stop at nothing to ensure financial success. Caddy Compson, unlike her hypochondriac Mother,

death. He feels guilty that he’s done so, and to show his loyalty to Mr. Keating and that Mr.

on going to the jail when he senses that his father may be in danger.

guts and that he wanted to survive. In return for his favor of helping the guard,

It is common for the concepts of both manliness and honor to go hand in hand with one another. This nobility is defined by what they believe is entitled to them. The male

“You got to learn to stick to your own blood or you ain’t going to have any blood to stick to you” (Faulkner 173). Sarty decided to stick up for himself and do the right thing in the end. In order to do the right thing Sarty had to go against his blood. He lived in fear of his father for too long. If Sarty didn’t stop his father now, he would continue to keep burning things like he had been.

In the minds of the southerners they would rather be subjugated rather than enslaved by Yankee rule, the southerners boasted with confidence and patriotism “the concepts of southern nationalism, liberty, self-government, resistance to tyranny, and other ideological purposes quoted earlier all have a rather abstract quality” (McPherson, p, 18).

He stands up for himself again saying in his diary just before his execution “good by mr wigin tell them im strong tell them im a man”(234). He is standing up for himself saying he is a man not a hog like so many people have told him, he wants Grant to know that he did not die thinking he was anything less than any other man no matter what their skin color was. He could have just let other people tell him how he should feel and how he should act but he has free will to do and believe whatever he

separate himself and his family from the community. He also shows courage by again taking the

     In the novel The Unvanquished, by William Faulkner, most of the characters strictly follow by a code of laws and moral values called the Southern Code. At the beginning of the book, the characters follow the Southern Code more strictly than at the end. Some of the rules which start to diminish during the course of the novel are as follows: no stealing, no profanity, no lying, treat women and the elderly with respect, and seek revenge on those who have caused you pain. The characters obey these during the start of the novel, and eventually as the novel progresses, the rules are broken.

The struggle for Sarty is that he wants desperately to believe in his father’s innocence. But he also knows that the Justice of the Peace’s verdict was not right. He knows what his father has done and he is immensely grateful that he was not forced to testify against him. At this point Sarty is still fighting with himself to remain loyal to his father. He even attacks a “boy half again his size” (Faulkner 6) for calling out “Barn Burner” (Faulkner 6) as they leave the hearing.

because he wanted justice, and valued the importance of life. In the last part of the story a line

Throughout the piece, Faulkner works to show the conflict that exists between the future and the past and the tension that is felt by those involved. Rather than evidently telling us, Faulkner presents this idea more broadly by including several important symbols for us to recognize and understand as the story develops.

William Faulkner’s unconventional writing style is widely renowned for his disregard of literary rules and his keen ability to peer into the psychological depths of his characters. His novel As I Lay Dying is no exception to his signature style. This book sets forth the death of Addie Bundren, her family’s journey through Yoknapatawpha County to bury her with her relatives in Jefferson, Mississippi, and examines each character in depth from a variety of perspectives. While this journey wreaks havoc among members of the family, As I Lay Dying serves as a dark reminder that life is to be lived and that happiness is within reach.

By focusing on the figure of Caddy, Bleikasten’s essay works to understand the ambiguous nature of modern literature, Faulkner’s personal interest in Caddy, and the role she plays as a fictional character in relation to both her fictional brothers and her actual readers. To Bleikasten, Caddy seems to function on multiple levels: as a desired creation; as a fulfillment of what was lacking in Faulkner’s life; and/or as a thematic, dichotomous absence/presence.