Book Review: The Sound and the Fury

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Most reviews of books begin with a brief discussion of the plot. This proves difficult for The Sound and the Fury because it doesn't really have a plot. Yes, there is a story that is going on within the pages of this novel, but the interesting thing here is that the story is happening in the background. The major plot points don't actually happen within the pages of these chapters. These events are mentioned and hinted at through the four different points of view, but are not what we, as the reader, are primarily concerned with.

What then, you ask, are we supposed to be concerned with? And I believe that Faulkner wants us to consider point of view and how limiting it is. Each chapter of The Sound and the Fury is an exploration of a different point of view and as we read this novel we experience this world through four very different sets of eyes. Each chapter the reader has to spend time reacquainting themselves with the world and getting settled in. Each chapter we learn something different about human nature and how we look at the world around us.

This is why this novel is heralded as a masterpiece. Faulkner is playing with the convention of story to show us something about ourselves. It certainly is a radical idea and one that probably turns a lot of readers off to this novel. But the struggle is worth it, people. This book has endured for a reason and totally worth your time. I absolutely loved it and it rekindled my love for Faulkner and desire to read more of this master.

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The Sound and the Fury: Helpful Tips

The Sound and the Fury, by William Faulkner, is a very difficult book. But don't let that detract you. It is worth the effort to read and study. In my own study of this novel, I found the following to be quite helpful...

Family Trees for the Compson and Gibson Families

This family tree goes back several generations in the Compson family.

This one I added primarily so you can see the Gibson family tree as Dilsey's family is important as well.

Chronology of the Novel
One of the things that makes The Sound and the Fury difficult is the fact that the story is not presented linearly. Faulkner is once again playing with time. So, it really helps to understand the timeline of the book, in chronological order...

Chapter 2 happens first. This chapter happens 18 years prior to the other three chapters--June 2nd, 1910. 

Chapter 3 happens next. This chapter takes place on April 6th, 1928.

Chapter 1 happens next. This chapter takes place on April 7th, 1928.

And finally, chapter 4 happens next. This chapter takes place on April 8th, 1928.

Viewpoints in each Chapter
Faulkner is at it again in this novel. Similarly to As I Lay Dying, The Sound and the Fury has different viewpoint characters in each chapter. This can also be confusing because Faulkner doesn't spend time explaining who is speaking in each instance, you kinda just have to figure it out for yourself.

Chapter 1 is narrated by Benjy Compson the mentally handicapped son. The thing that is confusing about Benjy's chapter is the fact that Benjy doesn't experience the world like we do. Time is fluid for Benjy as well. He cannot distinguish between what is happening in the present and what is happening in his memory. Which makes for some incredibly difficult reading. Not to mention the fact that many of the Compsons are named after parents or grandparents and Benjy doesn't help us distinguish between these characters.

Chapter 2 is narrated by Quentin Compson (the boy) on one of his last days in college. Quentin's chapter is difficult because, while he isn't mentally handicapped, he is about to commit suicide and that is affecting his mind. He, once again, frequently jumps in time to events that happened previously and then right back to what is happening right now without any transitions.

Chapter 3 is narrated by Jason Compson. The chapter is more linear in its story, but Jason is a total jerk. It is difficult to be inside his head because of how despicable a person he is.

Chapter 4 is narrated by Dilsey Gibson. This is the breath of fresh air that we have been waiting for. We get those beautiful Faulkner sentences that have been missing for most of the novel and we get into the head of the Compson's servant. This chapter is very linear as well, which is nice. The only difficult thing about Dilsey's chapter is her dialect. Faulkner writes her and her son's lines phonetically so you read it with a southern accent, but sometimes it is really difficult to know what word Faulkner wants.

More First Lines from Classic Novels

I really enjoyed analyzing those first lines last time, so I decided to do it again. Perhaps we will make it a regular thing. Maybe we will look at first lines from books that are terrible. Who knows.

Things Fall Apart
by Chinua Achebe

"Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond."

This is not my favorite first line. It establishes the main character of Okonkwo and shows the reader how important he is, but that is pretty much it. It isn't flashy; it gets the job done. But that was how I felt about the whole of Things Fall Apart. It was simply okay, an average novel. There are some interesting things to discuss, but we aren't going to spend a lot of time looking at Achebe's writing. I wouldn't be able to find a good place in that novel to conduct a close reading exercise. Ultimately forgettable as a first line. 

Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Bronte

"There was not the possibility of taking a walk that day."

I love Jane Eyre and I love teaching Jane Eyre to my AP Lit student, but this first line isn't terribly interesting either. It is better than Things Fall Apart, but just a bit. The language is different here. The phrasing and the use of the word "possibility" show us that this writer is from a different time period, different country, and different caste than your normal joe writer these days. There is an elegance to the phrasing "There was not the possibility..." They could have easily have said that it was raining out, or the weather was bad. But Bronte doesn't do that.

The Road
by Cormac McCarthy

"When he woke in the woods in the dark and the cold of the night he'd reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him."

Ah, good old Cormac. Getting us back on track. Now, this is a first line. Lots of details in this sentence. "In the woods," "in the dark and the cold," "of the night." He could have added in those details later or in a different way, but McCarthy has that famous style. He likes to say a lot in one sentence. 

As I Lay Dying
by William Faulkner

"Jewel and I come up from the field, following the path in single file."

No fair, you can't do another Faulkner novel! I certainly can! Whose blog is this anyway? And this is a good one. From this first line, we get our first taste of the dialect. Daryl is speaking and the reader can already tell the region of the country that we are dealing with; the type of people we are dealing with. The other thing that I think is really special in this line is the second half of it, "following the path in single file." That part is interesting because it is curious. The reader begins to wonder and then, you can see, Faulkner already has you hooked. People don't normally walk in single file unless you have been instructed to. The fact that they are walking this way actually becomes very important in the next sentence or two. This establishes Daryl and Jewel's relationship, which isn't the best. But Faulkner does that all without telling us. This is pure showing and it is marvelous.

First Impressions are so Important

in life as well as in literature. An author has only so much space to really grab a reader's attention and those first lines are prime real estate. In today's blog I wanted to spend some time discussing the first lines from notable classical novels. Many of these I teach in my AP Lit class and have taught for years--true classics.

The Sound and the Fury 
by William Faulkner

"Through the fence, between the curling flower spaces, I could see them hitting."

So, we'll start off with a novel that I don't actually teach, but this is what inspired me to do this particular blog post.  As far as first lines go this one is pretty good. Faulkner is a master with these sorts of things. We can see in this line one of his traits as an author, the lack of names. He starts us off with the pronoun "I" and then leaves us to figure out who that "I" is later on in the first chapter. In this case, it is answered pretty quickly, but sometimes author's can leave us hanging for quite a while. I'm looking at your Octavia Butler!

The Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald

"In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind every since."

I have to be honest with this one, I am not the biggest fan of the opening line of Gatsby. I think the first little bit of this book is pretty rough too. It isn't until we get to the part about Gatsby being alright in the end that I feel that this novel really starts to be interesting. The opening of this novel is all Nick's reflection and doesn't really make sense to the reader until after they have finished with the book. I doubt many readers go back and re-read that section when they finish The Great Gatsby either.

Heart of Darkness
by Joseph Conrad

"The Nellie, a cruising yawl, swung to her anchor without a flutter of the sails, and was a rest."

My students complain about Heart of Darkness every single year and I can see where they are coming from. It is an extremely difficult text and Conrad's prose is dense. You really have to concentrate on what he is saying in those long, drawn out sentences. But if you look at Conrad from a structure point of view, his prose is near perfection. The dude knows his stuff. Even though this is not the longest first sentence we will be discussing, there is a lot going on. We have the appositive phrase, "a cruising yawl," helping the reader to understand what the Nellie is. The yawl then swings her anchor; the action of swinging is interesting because it isn't a human that is performing the action, it is as if the boat itself is doing it. And Conrad doesn't call the boat in it either, he uses the proper pronoun "her" to identify the ship. All boats are girls, don't you know. 

Reminds me of As I Lay Dying

Not exactly similar, but Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison, reminds me of As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner. There are certainly the similarities of writing styles, but today I wanted to focus on a different aspect. Side-note: I found a wonderful article about Morrison and Faulkner on Oprah's website. You can access it here. I want to focus on the story today, and how each novel features a family that is completely messed-up. Here is a passage from Song of Solomon--

"The good-night kiss was itself a masterpiece of slow-wittedness on her part and discomfort on his. At sixteen, she still insisted on having him come to her at night, sit on her bed, exchange a few pleasantries, and plant a kiss on her lips. Perhaps it was the loud silence of his dead wife, perhaps it was Ruth's disturbing resemblance to her mother. More probably it was the ecstasy that always seemed to be shining in Ruth's face when he bent to kiss her--an ecstasy he felt inappropriate to the occasion."

And this doesn't even scratch the surface of all the messed up stuff that is happening in the novel. It reminds me of A Rose for Emily too, also by Faulkner. But we have a mother, who seems to have some major daddy issues, that is demanding that her father kiss her good-night every night well into her teen years. That same woman then goes on to breast-feed her boy far longer than a woman should. You have cousins having sex with each other. A father that beats his wife and is very demanding of his children. All of this reminds me of As I Lay Dying where you have another family with a bunch of inter-personal, social, and sexual problems. So, why all of the darkness? Why do we have two authors that are both writing about these abnormal families.

I believe that it is because this is actually very close to the norm. People are stranger than we think and sometimes I feel that we put on these rose-colored glasses and think the world is great. It is not. There are a lot of weirdos and sickos out there. It is unfortunate, but true. And they existed in Faulkner's time and certainly existed in Morrison's time. These authors are showing us the world; holding up a mirror so we can truly see what is happening on our planet. 

Many times my students ask me, why classical literature is so dark and depressing. I usually try to pass the questions off and get them focused back on some feature of the text--"Let's do a close reading from chapter three!" I do this because the real reason is far more depressing than the actual literature is. Classical literature is dark and depressing because the world is darker and more depressing. Human beings are awful and they treat each other horribly. Author's just express in their books what they see in the world.