The Sound and the Fury, July 2021 Buddy Read, Patrick is lead

[Kristel]

Review thread: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Patrick]

Welcome to this month's Buddy Read, featuring one of the great literary productions of the 20th century, The Sound and the Fury, by William Faulkner.

Below you will find some initial questions about this novel. Once I have finished reading it (give me about a week), I will post additional questions for discussion.

[Patrick]

Discussion questions - Part I

1. Prior to this novel, have you read any other works from William Faulkner? If so, how did you appreciate them? What are/were your expectations for this novel?

2- The novel, as well as several of Faulkner's works, has been categorized as belonging to the Southern (American) Gothic genre. What are the characteristics of this genre? Which elements of this novel correspond to these characteristics?

3- The novel is divided into four parts, labelled with dates in non-chronological order. What was Faulkner's intent in using that structure? Are there other narrative reasons to further justify this choice?

4- The title of the novel is borrowed from Macbeth's soliloquy in Shakespeare's eponymous masterpiece. For those who have read Macbeth (alas, I am not one of them), how does the novel relate to this work, both from the perspective of its title as well as its plot and story?

[Gail]

Thank you Patrick.
I have read Go Down, Moses and Light in August, both of which were haunting and like Zeejane, I read As I Lay Dying in high school but I still very clearly remember the section about Dewey Dell and picking cotton and how the rhythm of the language combined with the thinking about free will and "sex" (because after all I was a teenager).
I just looked it up again and here it is:
"We picked on down the row, the woods getting closer and closer and the secret shade, picking on into the secret shade with my sack and Lafe's sack. Because I said will I or wont I when the sack was half full because I said if the sack is full when we get to the woods it wont be me. I said if it dont mean for me to do it the sack will not be full and I will turn up the next row but if the sack is full, I cannot help it. It will be that I had to do it all the time and I cannot help it. And we picked on toward the secret shade and our eyes would drown together touching on his hands and my hands and I didn't say anything. I said "What are you doing?" and he said "I am picking into your sack." And so it was full when we came to the end of the row and I could not help it."
I am looking forward to reading the Sound and the Fury.

[Patrick]

Discussion questions - Part II

5. The back cover of the edition I have read states the novel "explores intense, passionate family relationships where there is no love, only self-centredness." Does this characterization apply to all the novel's characters?

6. Apart from self-centredness and the lack of love, what are some of the other themes explored by Faulkner in the novel?

7. Why do Caddy's brothers each have a narrative voice, but Caddy has none?

8. Has Quentin really committed incest on his sister or not? Why would Caddy name her daughter Quentin?

9. On a few occasions in the fourth part, Dilsey says: "I seed de first en de last." What does she mean?

[MaryAnn (EmilyD1037)]

Discussion questions - Part I

1. Prior to this novel, have you read any other works from William Faulkner? If so, how did you appreciate them? What are/were your expectations for this novel?
This is my first Faulkner
My expectations are high because of the reviews

2- The novel, as well as several of Faulkner's works, has been categorized as belonging to the Southern (American) Gothic genre. What are the characteristics of this genre? Which elements of this novel correspond to these characteristics?

Wikipedia's def: Southern Gothic is a subgenre of Gothic fiction in American literature that takes place in the American South. Common themes in Southern Gothic literature include deeply flawed, disturbing or eccentric characters who may be involved in hoodoo, decayed or derelict settings, grotesque situations, and other sinister events relating to or stemming from poverty, alienation, crime, or violence.

3- The novel is divided into four parts, labelled with dates in non-chronological order. What was Faulkner's intent in using that structure? Are there other narrative reasons to further justify this choice?

4- The title of the novel is borrowed from Macbeth's soliloquy in Shakespeare's eponymous masterpiece. For those who have read Macbeth (alas, I am not one of them), how does the novel relate to this work, both from the perspective of its title as well as its plot and story?

I have not read MacBeth yet

Discussion questions - Part II

5. The back cover of the edition I have read states the novel "explores intense, passionate family relationships where there is no love, only self-centeredness." Does this characterization apply to all the novel's characters?

6. Apart from self-centeredness and the lack of love, what are some of the other themes explored by Faulkner in the novel?

7. Why do Caddy's brothers each have a narrative voice, but Caddy has none?

8. Has Quentin really committed incest on his sister or not? Why would Caddy name her daughter Quentin?

9. On a few occasions in the fourth part, Dilsey says: "I seed de first en de last." What does she mean?

[Gail]

Discussion questions - Part I

1.
Answered above

2- The novel, as well as several of Faulkner's works, has been categorized as belonging to the Southern (American) Gothic genre. What are the characteristics of this genre? Which elements of this novel correspond to these characteristics?

Generally speaking, I think of Gothic as "haunting" in both a physical setting and in psychological or even supernatural elements and American Gothic as a particular layer on top of that which investigates those aspects of America that speak to our "sins" such as the destruction of the frontier, racism and the horrors of slavery, and the current destruction of large groups of people due to opioid addiction.
The primary theme of The Sound and the Fury is the corruption that comes from believing in a false sense of purity and honor while surrounded by nothing but one's own decay and rot and meaningless actions.


3- The novel is divided into four parts, labelled with dates in non-chronological order. What was Faulkner's intent in using that structure? Are there other narrative reasons to further justify this choice?

I found that Faulkner's structure led me to see this world through Maury/Benjamin's mind as being "out of time" and reduced to inarticulate moans and groans and yet I was still able to piece together some of the chronological plot line and some of his caring about Caddy, begin to pick up on the rot and selfishness of everyone in the Compson family, and even begin to piece together Dilsey's family. Then to be introduced to a mind that was completely obsessed with time and the story patchwork begins to come together. Evidently, Faulkner did not believe that he had actually accomplished what he set out to do with the three voices and the one narration that centered on Dilsey but nevertheless I found it quite puzzling in a powerful way. I think if Faulkner had simply told the story in a straight chronology it would not have been half so compelling.

4- The title of the novel is borrowed from Macbeth's soliloquy in Shakespeare's eponymous masterpiece. For those who have read Macbeth (alas, I am not one of them), how does the novel relate to this work, both from the perspective of its title as well as its plot and story?

Unfortunately I have only read the soliloquy and not the play.

[Gail]

Discussion questions - Part II

5. The back cover of the edition I have read states the novel "explores intense, passionate family relationships where there is no love, only self-centeredness." Does this characterization apply to all the novel's characters?

Dilsey manages to demonstrate caring and love throughout the book even as she understands that she is supporting a family that is not worthy of her support. All the Compson's are selfish and self-centered but to various degrees. The mother and father are completely self-centered and manage only to convey to their children a sense of their own importance in the world because they are from their old southern families. Caddy loves Benjy and her brother Quentin but is unable to free herself from her own self destructive tendencies for them. Quentin believes he loves Caddy but really he only loves what she represents to him and he is destroyed when she can no longer claim to be a vessel of purity and honor or perhaps he is destroyed by his own inability to fight for her purity and honor (he faints when it comes to that). Jason loves only himself but cares obliquely about his mother. Caddy appears to love her daughter Quentin but can not save her either.

6. Apart from self-centeredness and the lack of love, what are some of the other themes explored by Faulkner in the novel?

Time is a central motif in the book; both Benjy's lack of understanding time and Quentin's obsessions about time. Sexual interactions and what they represent to the society and to the individual (Benjy is a gelding, Jason is impotent, Quentin is Shreve's "wife" and both Caddy and her daughter are "whores"). Christianity plays a part in the book with most of the secondary characters demonstrating a stronger moral basis then any of the Compsons . The whole book is an investigation of the Southern values of "honor" and the whole book is an investigation of the intertwined relationship between the highfaluting whites and the morally superior black people.

7. Why do Caddy's brothers each have a narrative voice, but Caddy has none?

I believe that Faulkner needed to not give us Caddy's voice or we would have understood too well her desperate need to be loved and I think he wished to keep that vague so that the whole family was largely unsympathetic.

8. Has Quentin really committed incest on his sister or not? Why would Caddy name her daughter Quentin?

Quentin wished to remove Caddy's stain by taking the sin upon himself (Christ?) by telling his father that the sin was his and not Caddy's but his father easily saw through that and dismissed the notion as only a word. Caddy loved Quentin and believes that he was best of them and probably wished to honor him after his death. Plus, two Quentins causes confusion with the reader in the beginning. I struggled with a she pronoun and a he pronoun for Quentin and I believe that this was one of the ways that Faulkner engaged the reader in this puzzle of a book.

9. On a few occasions in the fourth part, Dilsey says: "I seed de first en de last." What does she mean?

She knew the grandfather and the last of the line of Compson's. More importantly, she saw the first rising up of their moral self centered superiority and their being brought down by that same self centeredness. And lastly, it reflects the decay of the whole set of southern values and the destruction of what was always a faux superiority.

[Patrick]

1. Prior to this novel, have you read any other works from William Faulkner? If so, how did you appreciate them? What are/were your expectations for this novel?

I read The Hamlet previously, and it left me a bit nonplussed considering Faulkner's reputation. My expectations were higher for this classic though.

2- The novel, as well as several of Faulkner's works, has been categorized as belonging to the Southern (American) Gothic genre. What are the characteristics of this genre? Which elements of this novel correspond to these characteristics?

A strong place for religious fervor mingled with superstitious beliefs; lots of decay, whether we look at things, families, individuals or society; obviously, it takes place in the southeastern corner of the USA, in areas still struggling with the realities of slave emancipation. All of these are present in the novel.

3- The novel is divided into four parts, labelled with dates in non-chronological order. What was Faulkner's intent in using that structure? Are there other narrative reasons to further justify this choice?

The novel is divided into four parts which sequentially and gradually reveal a clearer full version of the story. Each part is told from a different point of view and with a different literary style; the first, that I will call the “present”, is seen through the eyes and muddled mind of the idiot Ben; the second, that I will call the “flashback”, is told by Quentin on the day of his suicide, 18 years before, and provides an explanation for the two-gendered Quentin in the first part; the third, that I will call the “eve”, focuses on Jason, who focuses on himself; the last part, which is the “aftermath”, is seen through the eyes of Dilsey, probably the most level-headed character in the book. As Gail said, I don’t think the novel would have worked had it been told in a chronological order.

4- The title of the novel is borrowed from Macbeth's soliloquy in Shakespeare's eponymous masterpiece. For those who have read Macbeth (alas, I am not one of them), how does the novel relate to this work, both from the perspective of its title as well as its plot and story?

I can’t really comment, apart from the fact that a story is told by an idiot in the soliloquy; there is a parallel with the first part of Faulkner’s novel.

[Patrick]

5. The back cover of the edition I have read states the novel "explores intense, passionate family relationships where there is no love, only self-centredness." Does this characterization apply to all the novel's characters?

This clearly applies to all the members of the Compson family: they only care about their own motives and desires, even Benjamin, as his condition would prevent him to be other than self-centred (even though he has a particular attachment to Caddy). The only person who seems to be capable of love and selflessness is Dilsey.

6. Apart from self-centredness and the lack of love, what are some of the other themes explored by Faulkner in the novel?

I can't really add anything on top of Gail's answer.

7. Why do Caddy's brothers each have a narrative voice, but Caddy has none?

Even though she is not given a narrative voice, Caddy remains present throughout the novel. However, the strength of her presence is gradually waning through the parts: omnipresent in Ben’s mind; recurrent in Quentin’s ruminations; intermittent in Jason’s machinations; evanescent in Dilsey’s recollections.

8. Has Quentin really committed incest on his sister or not? Why would Caddy name her daughter Quentin?

Even though it appears that Quentin had not committed the sin and apparently used it to lie to his father, I am not entirely convinced that it was a lie. I feel that, in his confession to his father, Quentin had to choose between two sins (his latent homosexuality, his possible incest with Caddy) and picked the lesser one in his opinion to save Caddy and to some extent himself. Further, in his ruminations, there are several moments where it appears that he accidently has sex with Caddy. But I might be completely wrong on both points; I will need to re-read this to confirm. The fact that Caddy names her daughter Quentin is a testimony of her affection towards her brother but might also hint that he is actually the father.

9. On a few occasions in the fourth part, Dilsey says: "I seed de first en de last." What does she mean?

I agree with Gail.