Fragmentation Of Time In William Faulkner's The Sound And The Fury

William Faulkner 's fourth novel, The Sound and the Fury, published in 1929, is undoubtedly a literary testimonial to his narrative skills. The novel is famous for the use of a special narrative technique known as the stream of consciousness, but what makes it especially challenging and thought-provoking is his daedal fragmentation of time through different narrative styles divided into four sections. Through the novel, he touches upon quite a few different topics such as tradition, aristocratic values, importance of time etc. However, these topics are not straightforwardly tackled. Rather, they are fragmented and it is on reader to put the pieces together to grasp the story in its entirety. As we have four different narrators – three brothers

While Benjy’s memories are triggered by some events, Quentin, on the other hand, voluntarily remembers the events and allows them to paralyse his present. Furthermore, his father gave him a watch, reminding him that he received it “...not that [he] may remember time, but that [he] might forget it now and then for a moment and not spend all [his] breath trying to conquer it.” (Faulkner, 74) Quite ironically, he spent all his life trying to conquer time which led him to his suicide since he never managed to let go of the past. As Messerli explains it “...the past, for someone like Quentin, exists in the present. [...] Faulkner’s characters are not determined by their past; they are the past.” (Messerli, 21) This is additionally emphasised by Quentin’s broken watch that is still running, and his statement that “...a man is the sum of his misfortunes. [...] but then time is your misfortune Father said.” (Faulkner, 103). By constantly remembering the events that would stain the reputation of the Compson family, he paralysed himself and continued to live in the past, leaving suicide his only escape route. The reader can actually sense his growing despair as the sentences become much longer by the end of his section, which means that his mind had been progressively getting burdened by more and more

Compared to the first two sections, the section that Jason narrates is for the most part straightforward. His primary battle with time is in surpassing the physical perception of it in order to gain more wealth. However, there is another character that shows us another way out in the never ending battle with the clock. That character is Dilsey, the black servant in the Compson family. As Messerli explains, “Nowhere in the later novels, except perhaps in A Fable, does a character transcend time and space in the way in which Dilsey does.” (Messerli, 34) She appears to be the only unshakable pillar of the family. Her perception of time strongly differs from the rest of the family because she is capable of finding refuge from the invading past through her faith. “At one extreme there are Compsons whose vision of time somehow makes their lives seem suicidally determined; they are, at the very least, radically paralysed physically from childhood on. At the other extreme there is Dilsey who is temporarily free and capable of enduring.” (Messerli, 35) Although she is incapable of preventing the family’s downfall, her character reveals what the Compson family lacks – love and compassion. By saying, “I seed de beginnin, en now I sees de endin.” (Faulkner, 295), it becomes clear that she is the only one capable of transcending time. She never indulges in her memories, because she found her peace and tranquillity in religion and faith. Whereas for Quentin the only way out was the