Great Books: THE SOUND AND THE FURY Part 4

April 7, 1928

On the day before Easter, 1928, a teenaged “Negro” boy named Luster is watching after Benjy, the mentally challenged youngest son of the declining aristocratic Compson family of mythical Jefferson, Mississippi. It is Benjy’s 33rd birthday, and Dilsey, the Compsons’ cook and Luster’s grandmother, has baked him a cake. Luster and Benjy are looking for Luster’s quarter that Benjy has lost.

Luster leads Benjy to a nearby golf course, once a part of the Compson plantation, hoping to earn back his lost quarter. When Benjy hears one of the golfers summoning his caddie, he moans because the sound of the word “caddie” reminds him of his sister Caddy who Benjy loves, but has run away.

Luster and Benjy climb over a fence and Benjy tears his clothes on a nail. This reminds Benjy of a time when Caddy helped Benjy free himself from that same nail 26 years before. Benjy remembered that his mom and his Uncle Maury are arguing. No one pays any attention to Benjy because of his state of mind. Uncle Maury lives with Benjy’s parents. Uncle Maury uses young Benjy and Caddy as messengers to deliver his love letters to his next door neighbor Mrs. Patterson. Mrs. Compson, Benjy’s mom, worries that Benjy will get sick because it might ruin her Christmas party. These memories of Caddy make Benjy wimper, which again bothers Luster.

Returning to 1928, Benjy and Luster walk past the carriage house on the Compson property, and Benjy remembers a time in 1912 or 1913 when Benjy and his mother are riding in the Compsons’ carriage to visit the graveyard where Quentin and Mr. Compson were buried. Benjy cries again.

Luster leads Benjy through the Compsons’ barn. The barn causes Benjy’s to remember a time in 1902 when he was delivering one of the love letters by himself. Mr. Patterson notices Benjy delivering the letter and learns about the affair.

Back in the present, Benjy and Luster walk down toward a stream that causes Benjy to recall the day his grandmother was buried in 1898. Benjy was only three years old at the time and, in this memory, Quentin, Caddy, Jason, and Benjy are all playing together in the stream. The children’s African-American baby sitter, Versh, tells Caddy she will be whipped for getting her dress wet, so she takes the dress off. Nonetheless, Caddy gets mud on her underclothes. Walking back to the house, Caddy and Quentin worry that Jason will get Caddy in trouble with their parents. Now, quickly Benjy remembersCaddy’s wedding in 1910.

In this memory, Benjy and T.P., one of the Compsons’ black servants have obtained some champagne from the wedding, though T.P. thinks the beverage is merely “sassprilluh.” The two boys are drunk and keep falling down as they watch some cows cross the yard. T.P. and Quentin get into a fight because T.P. has been teasing Quentin about Caddy. The fighting and the alcohol causes Benjy to cry. Versh carries Benjy up the hill to the wedding party.

This causes Benjy to remember that Jason did tattle on Caddy. Mr. Compson does nothing but makes the messy children eat quietly in the kitchen because he has company over for lunch. Dilsey serves the children their meal, and as they eat, Benjy starts crying again. So does Jason. They both remember Damuddy is sick and they can no longer sleep in Damuddy’s bed. The children walk down to Versh’s house.

Benjy returns briefly to the present, 1928. Luster has found a golf ball and Benjy wants to play with it. This returns Benjy to a series of memories about death. First is the memory of Damuddy’s death. Caddy spies on the adults through the parlor window. She climbs a tree and all three of her brothers catch a glimpse of her dirty underwear from below. When Benjy sees Caddy’s soiled clothes he begins to cry again.

Benjy’s memory briefly skips back to his drunken episode with T.P. at Caddy’s wedding in 1910. He then thinks of a scene from 1905 when he became upset at the smell of Caddy’s perfume. Any memory of Caddy causes Benjy to cry–because he loves Caddy and she is no longer around.

Back in the present, Luster is still standing with Benjy as he plays in the stream. Luster tells Benjy not to approach the nearby swing because Miss Quentin is there with her boyfriend, the man with the red tie. Benjy interrupts Miss Quentin and the man with the red tie kissing on the swing. Miss Quentin gets upset with Luster for letting Benjy approach, and she runs back up to the house.

This remind Benjy of a day in 1910, when he scared some girl who were walking by the same gate. Wanting to tell the girls how much he misses Caddy, he startles the girl and she screams in terror. Mr. Compson and Jason decide to have Benjy castrated as a precaution.

The narrative returns to 1928. Luster tries to sell his golf ball to one of the golfers, but the golfer takes the ball away from Luster and when the golfer calls for his caddie, Benjy starts moaning again.

Luster and Benjy finally reach the Compson house. Benjy sits down in front of the fire, which briefly reminds him of a time when he and Caddy sat near the fire just after his parents changed his name from Maury to Benjy. Benjy burns his hand, and irritates Mrs. Compson.

Back in the present, while at dinner, Quentin complains that she does not like living in the Compson house. Jason rebukes her and the argument between Jason and Quentin escalates, and Dilsey tries unsuccessfully to mediate.

Benjy’s memory returns a final time to the night in 1898 when Damuddy died and Caddy soiled her underwear. In this memory, Dilsey is putting Benjy and the other Compson children to bed. Caddy’s rear end is still muddy, but Dilsey does not have time to bathe her before bed. Caddy holds Benjy as he falls asleep.

Discussion Questions

A. What would be a good title for this section?

B. The whole issue of mental retardation is an important one. Mrs. Compton, more than once, speaks of Benjy as a “judgement on me.” What are the ramifications of a parents speaking despairingly of their children? What does the Bible have to say about this?

C. One critic wrote, “Faulkner’s fundamental image [is] life as a perpetual breaking down. In Benjy’s mind, the bottom-most layer and residue of Compson family history with which the novel opens, the world is all phenomenon, things-are-just happening.” Develop the theme of “family decay” in this opening section.

D. Why does Faulkner begin his narrative by having the reader struggle through Benjy’s stream of consciousness?

E. What is the setting and why is it important?

Answers: Tomorrow!

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