There Once Was a Novel by Faulkner...

In reading The Sound and the Fury thus far, the only thing that I am sure of is that it is a very confusing book. Either William Faulkner was an absolute genius or absolutely insane. It’s not to say that I haven’t been enjoying the book. I especially look forward to those “ah-ha!” moments when something in the story begins to make sense. Faulkner is especially astute at revealing the actions, thoughts, and feelings of his characters, beyond those of the narrator, through the consciousnesses of Benjy and Quentin.
In the first part of the novel, Faulkner divulges Caddy’s fate through Benjy’s memories. From early on in the novel, we can tell that Caddy, a character who is central to Benjy’s earlier memories, has disappeared at some point during Benjy’s adolescence. She is no longer present in the current action, but is referenced on several occasions, though not right out. The novel itself opens with Benjy staring through the “curling flower spaces” out on to a golf course (1). We later discover that the fence is where he used to stand to wait for Caddy to come home from school. For example, in one of Benjy’s earlier memories, Benjy is standing, holding on to the “ahun” (iron) gate, watching for Caddy. When she finally arrives, she says, “Did you come to meet me….Did you come to meet Caddy” (6). We are first able to determine that Caddy has disappeared from Benjy’s life, and that he is upset by it, when the golfers’ calling their “caddies” causes Benjy to cry and moan. We later discover that Caddy did not leave on good terms with the family because, as Roskus points out, “they aint no luck going be on no place where one of they own chillen's name aint never spoke” (?). Because of his lowered mental state, Benjy does not completely understand Caddy’s disappearance and fate; however, we are able to deduce what has happened to Caddy through the clues in Benjy’s memories. Faulkner’s genius lies in his ability to reveal details slowly.
Perhaps the defining scene is Quentin’s section is when he and Caddy are sitting at the branch. This scene is chock-full of sexual innuendoes reflecting Quentin’s association of sex with death, as sex has destroyed his sister’s and his lives by forcing her to marry. However, this part of the novel is as revealing of Caddy as it is of Quentin. It is in this scene when we learn of Caddy’s true feelings towards the man to whom she has lost her virginity. She says she does not love him; however, her heart begins to pound when she speaks of him. She repeatedly says, “Poor Quentin,” revealing the pity she feels toward her brother that stems from the fact that she does not love him as he loves her. Additionally, when Quentin proposes that they commit suicide, Caddy agrees, but will not aid in her own killing. She clearly wants Quentin to be the one to make the decision over her life, revealing the sense of futility that Caddy feels. This sentiment is also demonstrated when she says that she wants to become sick.
In both Benjy’s and Quentin’s sections of the novel, Faulkner reveals other characters’ actions, thoughts and feelings, especially those of Caddy, through the consciousnesses of Benjy and Quentin. (544 words)

And now, I’ve decided to write limericks about some of the characters in the novel:

There once was a boy named Benjy
His caretakers’ numbers were many
A three year old mind
But thirty-three to our eyes
He waited for his sister endlessly.

There once was a girl named Caddy,
Benjy certainly needed her badly
Against the Compson name
She played a promiscuous game
Now her daughter has no mommy or daddy

There once was a boy named Quentin
Smart and proper, not to mention,
Was in love with his sis
Now he’s in a fix
From the Charles he sent himself to heaven.

The once was a mother named Caroline
She worried her son was never fine
Attention-seeking and nagging
Her spirits were sagging
When husband and son went off and died.

There once were three servant men
There job never seemed to end
To watch over a man,
Whose speech they couldn’t understand,
Versh, T.J. and Luster must tend.