In Faulkner's novel The Sound and the Fury[1], time and the past appear as crucial but complex themes. Being a novel built around past events that occurred before the time of the narrative, the past seems to be very much alive in the narrative of the three Compson brothers. However, beneath the surface there is a conflicting sense of the futility of this connection to the past, along with the idea that time waits for no one, leaving behind those trapped in the past. Faulkner's use of a stream-of-consciousness narrative style allows the passage of time to be expressed differently in the novel's four sections, suggesting that while physical time may wait for no man, perhaps there is another kind of time which is experienced differently for each individual. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay On the surface, The Sound and the Fury seems to revolve around the very idea that the past is neither dead nor past, as is the plot entirely driven by events that happened years before. For the most part, the present exists solely as a product of a past that the characters cannot or will not leave behind. John-Paul Sartre outlines this notion in his essay “On The Sound and The Fury. Time in Faulkner's work”. In it, he suggests that within Faulkner's novel, “The present, nameless and fleeting, is powerless in the face of [the past]. It is full of gaps, and through these gaps, things from the past, fixed, immobile and silent like judges or glances, come to invade it”[2]. Certainly, the impotence that Sartre speaks of seems to define the narratives of all three Compson boys, as each is haunted by the past in different ways. One brother is obsessed with denying it, another is obsessed with holding it back, and the third seems completely incapable of even understanding the concept of temporal divisions. As for the "gaps"[3] of the present that are "invaded[d]"[4] by the past, the entire novel is set in three days, but through the constant use of flashbacks the entire story is retraced of the Compson family. is recalled. The reader spends much more time looking at the past than the present, supporting Sartre's suggestion that the present is “full of gaps”[5], as the narrative of present time is interspersed with the constant reemergence of the past. Surely one could argue that, if the past were truly dead, it could not appear so apparently and repeatedly in the present of the narrative. At the center of this feeling that the past is not the past lies the character of Caddy Compson. Although he flees long before the moment of narration, his presence saturates the entire novel. It is one of the "things of the past"[6] that Sartre talks about, and it certainly seems to "invade"[7] the present. She exists for us only through the memories of her three brothers, but these memories are so prevalent that Catherine Morley sees fit to refer to Caddy as "the absent heart at the center of The Sound and the Fury"[8]. In fact, Faulkner himself actually called Caddy Compson his “heart's darling” and the original image and inspiration for The Sound and the Fury. The very fact that Faulkner builds an entire novel around a girl whose image exists only in the past embodies the overflow of the past into the present, as the entire text seems dedicated to keeping the past alive. Caddy represents the embodiment of the past and represents the influence it continues to have on the present. Each of the Compson brothers is obsessed with Caddy and her perceived fall from grace, to the point that their present seems to be structured around things that arealready happened. Morley argues that “the imprint left by Caddy Compson on each of the Compson brothers is indelible”[9], reflecting the way in which the past can be seen to irrevocably stain the present, bleeding through the barriers between different points in time to blur together the constructs of a chronological timeline. The section of the narrative that most clearly places emphasis on the past over the present is Benjy Compson's. Of course, the things Benjy sees and hears in the present cause his stream of consciousness to seamlessly transition between events in the past and events in the present. This is evident when Benjy hears today's golfers asking for their golf caddy, which immediately brings Benjy back to memories of his sister as the word brings to mind the name "Caddy". Furthermore, he stands at her gate in the present, waiting for Caddy to return home as she did before disappearing eighteen years ago, outlining his lack of understanding that she has become part of his past. Peter Conn highlights Benjy's apparent inability to leave memories behind, suggesting that "the present is reduced to the vanishing point, serving as little more than a transparent theatrical curtain through which the past can always be perceived"[10] . Benjy's castration symbolizes his inability to separate his future from his past, as he is rendered physically incapable of reproducing. He is trapped in a state of timelessness, unable to move forward, and the creation of a new life presents the possibility of change and transition from a child figure to that of a father. The fact that his disability hinders this possibility can be seen as part of what prevents him from freeing himself from this psychological timelessness. According to James L. Roberts “For Benjy, all time merges into one sensual experience. It makes no distinction between an event that happened just a few hours ago and one that happened years ago”[11]. Indeed, Roberts' vision relies on the way Benjy's stream of consciousness transitions between different time periods without implicitly informing the reader of these time jumps. Thomas L. McHaney supports and expands this notion by suggesting that "The person reading The Sound and the Fury for the first time therefore initially has difficulty distinguishing the past from the present"[12]. Indeed, Benjy's mental condition renders him incapable of understanding the passage of time and, through his use as a narrator, allows Faulkner to draw the reader into Benjy's own timeless perspective. On the surface, it may seem like the past is everything. a little alive in Quentin's narrative as he seems to be in Benjy's. Like Benjy, Quentin's experiences in the present often trigger memories of the past, sending his mind back in time. For example, the little Italian girl he meets reminds him so much of his sister Caddy that he even calls her "sister". In fact, Quentin seems to see all women as "sister" figures, underscoring his concern for Caddy and his desperation to right her wrongs through imprinting on a surrogate sister. Quentin is haunted by his sister's past actions, as he is unable to accept her sexual "sin" or lost virginity, and carries this burden with him into the present. Throughout his narration, he constantly recalls the words of his father, who philosophized that time cures all ills, including Caddy's painful memories. He becomes desperate to stop the progression of time so that he never has to forget his past with Caddy and the emotions she evoked in him. The idea that the past is not necessarily the past is reinforced in Quentin's narration as he remembers more of his father's words. He complains about how “Dad said that heClocks kill time. He said that time is dead as long as it is sprung by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life” (71). For Quentin, this opens up the possibility of reclaiming his past by destroying the divisions of a chronological timeline. In contrast to Quentin and his struggle to hold on to the past, Jason Compson's character initially seems intent on denying its existence. . He appears to live exclusively in the present, with his motivation and attention to detail rooted in his ploys to deceive others for his own short-term gain. However, contrary to his desire to ignore his history, it actually manages to color the person he is in the present. He is, just like his two brothers, obsessed with Caddy, only the obsession is of a different kind. Unlike Benjy, who longs for his sister to return to him, and Quentin, who desperately wants to save Caddy from her moral and sexual downfall, Jason blames Caddy for all of his and his family's misfortunes, bringing his bitterness with him for the past. in the present. In his eyes, Caddy's sexual and moral discrepancies in the past have caused him to lose a job at Herbert Head's bank, leaving him with no ambitions for the future and with nothing but resentment for his past and those in it. Furthermore, Quentin seems unable to stop himself from seeing past incarnations in the present. This is especially evident as Caddy's daughter Miss Quentin becomes a target for Jason's cruelty as she appears to embody the same sexuality as her mother, leading Jason to associate her with his past. Gene D. Phillips highlights the redirection of his anger from Caddy to his daughter as he states that "Over the next few years Jason cruelly transferred his contempt and hostility for his sister to the motherless and fatherless girl abandoned by Caddy"[13] . Even as he tries to put the past behind him, he attempts to control his sister's sexuality by controlling the product of Caddy's illegitimate relationship. Given the importance of the past to the central characters, it is certainly tempting to argue that the past in Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury is far from dead. Alternatively, however, one might believe that the past is dead and that what survives is the family's psychological inability to accept this fact. Michael Cotsell supports this notion as he argues that “In Faulkner's contemporary novels, there is the repeated sense of the persistence of the past and yet it is effectively irrelevant”[14]. Indeed, this is particularly evident in Quentin's narrative. As previously suggested, Quentin certainly seems to be trapped by his past, allowing it to consume his present. However, it could also be argued that he is actually a character who actively fights to keep the past alive, only to suffer inevitable defeat in the end. This defeat is symbolized by his attempt to destroy his watch. He rips the hands off the clock face in an ultimately futile attempt to enter a state of timelessness, only to find himself constantly haunted by the phantom sound of time passing. This indicates the uninterrupted flow of time, as it moves to leave the past in the past, and embodies the helplessness of every man who attempts to keep the past alive. This supports Cotsell's idea that the past is ultimately irrelevant, as no matter how much Quentin sinks into memories of his past, he will never be able to go back. His attempts to stop time are perhaps as futile as he and Benjy's insistence on desperately clinging to the past, as the past is reduced to merely a cast shadowabout the present. His suicide is his final attempt to repress the passage of time, for only by distancing himself from reality can he stifle the ticking of the clock, both literally and figuratively. His declaration that he cannot live in both “Massachusetts and Mississippi” (147) signifies the realization that, if he wants to avoid losing his connection to the past, his only option is to die. His decision to take his own life is an action that, ironically, solidifies his position as part of the past while distancing himself from both the present and the future. Caddy may be the heart of the story, but it's important to note that she is the only main character who isn't given a chance to narrate. If Caddy represents the embodiment of the past, this implies that the past is actually dead in any physical or physical aspect.self-sufficient manner. His memory is kept alive through the memories and stories of his three brothers. Caddy's vision varies greatly between narrative sections, as we see her through the different lenses of each of her brother's streams of consciousness. The Caddy played by Benjy is an idealized image and the object of his desire, which is a stark contrast to the antagonistic Caddy described by Jason. Indeed, we never get an entirely unbiased view of Caddy, or the Compson family's past in general. This seems to contradict Sartre's notion that the present is “powerless”[15] in the face of the past as the past is manipulated and reworked based on the attitude of the present narrator. In this sense Caddy represents the death of the past as her memory is kept alive only in the minds of her brothers. In addition to existing as a symbol of the Compson family's past, the character of Caddy has a broader meaning as she can also be seen as representing the decline of the American South. Her loss of nonmarital virginity is symbolic of the corruption of Southern values, and her inability to reconcile with her family suggests that these outdated Southern values ​​have no place in a modern world. Perhaps for Faulkner, the past of the American South is as dead as the glorious past of the Compson family. Faulkner's use of an omniscient, impartial narrator in the final section effectively removes the reader from the Compson boys' streams of consciousness and restores existence. of chronological time. This is emphasized through the character of Dilsey, who serves as a sort of anchor to time, and on which the final section is largely focused. Terrell L. Tebbetts claims that “Dilsey knows what time it is. How different she is from Quentin and his deplored belief that, since no clock can tell the time correctly, there is no time”[16]. Indeed, the action of telling time and the appearance of clocks appear as a common motif in Quentin and Dilsey's narratives, but it appears in two very different ways. As mentioned above, Quentin seems to fight against the time indicated by the clock, constantly trying to intervene or escape its relentless passage. In contrast, Dilsey is the only character who measures time using her physical, chronological timeline. The omniscient narrator draws attention to the clock in the kitchen and notes the fact that when the clock strikes, Dilsey is indisputably aware that it is 8. She readily accepts this to be true, without attempting to fight time itself. It is not only the passage of time that Dilsey can see clearly, but also the passage of the Compson family's history. She is not blinded by a desire to correct course, by her insistence on denying her own history, or by an inability to recognize the division between past and present, and this allows her to function as a mediator between external time andinside the family he has. he has been dating long before the narrative point of the novel begins. He recognizes the chronology and understands that the Compson family name is fading further into a bygone time. This is evident as she is seen remarking "I have sown the first and the last... I have sown the beginning, and now I see the end" (253). His distinction between the beginning and end of these events outlines his ability to separate the past, present, and future and to accept the temporality of all things. Just like Caddy, and then Quentin, the remaining family members will inevitably fade into the past. Perhaps then, Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury portrays the past as if it were alive and dead at the same time, dividing the passage of time into two different types. First, there is the external flow of time, which includes the physical reality around us and its chronological order. In this timeline, the past is the past. Time constantly flows forward, never stopping to allow the past to catch up regardless of attempts at human intervention. On the other hand, there is the internal flow of time, which exists in the minds and thoughts of individual characters. This timeline is completely different from the previous one, with the past and present becoming less clearly defined. Stephanie K. Evers highlights the distinction between the internal and external passage of time within Benjy's narrative as she argues that “Of course, natural time passes; that is, Benjy gets older and the world around him changes. However, Benjy does not recognize the divisions of this time"[17]. Benjy, in many ways, achieves that internal timelessness Quentin so desperately sought. Quentin is unable to forget the passing of time while Benjy is unable to recognize him due to his mental disability. Therefore, it is through his state of mind that Benjy seems to "defeat" time in a way that Quentin, who has a healthier state of mind, could not. This highlights the importance of internal time and how it flows differently for each individual person without any dependence on external time. The natural time that Evers refers to passes the same for all narrators, it is the way in which they psychologically experience this time that varies. Indeed, Evers argues for a separation between physical time and psychological time as he notes that, in the final section of the novel, “the narrative advances chronologically. The main reason he can do this is because, unlike Benjy, Quentin and Jason, the final narrative does not include anyone's memories or feelings”[18]. In other words, without the interplay of internal time in the final section of the novel, Faulkner manages to juxtapose a panoramic, dispassionate view of the passing of time and the history of the Compson family with the intricate pattern of past and present presented in the first three sections. Mr. Compson emphasizes the importance of internal versus external time as he tells Quentin "you will use it to get the absurd reducto of all human experience that can suit your individual needs no better than it suited his father's " (63). In other words, time can be measured in more ways than by the clock, since internal time is adapted to the individual, passing differently from person to person. In conclusion, the past in The Sound and the Fury appears to be both alive and dead, as time itself seems to pass in two separate but coexisting ways. The external, physical time of the real world passes chronologically, leaving past events behind to make way for the present. This external time is central to the final section of the novel, as the omniscient narrator is unaffected by his own sense of time, allowing us to have an impartial view of the physical passage of time in relation”, 86.