The Sound And The Fury Identity Essay

The Sound and the Fury, an extraordinary novel by William Faulkner, demonstrates just how powerful and brash the themes of identity and community are in a typical southern town during this time. The Compson children, forgotten by their mother and ignored by their father, are forced to fend for themselves under the watchful eye of their servant, Dilsey. Caddy, Jason, and Quentin struggle to find their identity throughout the novel. Benji and Quentin focus on the past, but Jason sees that his family has lost its prestige and place in the community and does nothing about it. The Compson name was a strong Southern name. The Compson grandfather had been a Civil War general. There was a lot of family prestige, but this all changes. Caddy becomes pregnant out of wedlock; Quentin, so distraught over what this means to the family’s identity in the South, commits suicide while at Harvard furthering the family’s downfall; Benji is mentally retarded and is ridiculed by the community for his place in it; and Jason, works at a farm and supply store and steals money from his niece and mother.

Additionally, Mr. Compson suffers from extreme alcoholism, and Jason never really forgives him for this. For example Jason says, “I reckon the reason all the Compson gave out before it got to me like Mother says, is that he drank it up. At least I never heard of him offering to sell anything to send me to Harvard” (197). Benji is the one thing that could bring the family back together and restore order, but he is simply ignored by everyone but Dilsey and Caddy. After the Civil War, the American South lost its sense of touch with reality. The family no longer loves or knows how to love. Dilsey is the only compassionate member of the family, and she shows this when at the end of the novel she refers to Benji as Ben, symbolizing Dilsey’s respect and love for all of God’s