A Never-ending Novel Essay Example

A Never-ending Novel Essay This is Benjamin’s narrative.   Not being able to understand fully what chronology or cause and effect means, what he understands is that Caddy (his sister, the second child) and Dilsey (his caretaker) are the only ‘family’ for him, and that there are mainly three things that he loves: first is the pasture that was sold for Candace’s wedding and Quentin’s studying at Harvard; second is his sister, Caddy, whom he remembers as based on the past; and third is firelight with â€Å"the same bright shape of sleep† (Faulkner 19).[2]   As his thoughts jump from one scene to another—a challenging air that besets on the reader—yet the way he sees things reveals the true nature of Caddy, Dilsey, and the rest of the family.Mrs. Caroline Compson is sick and worrying over trials and financial problems, as well as those concerning Benjy.   Proper behavior for her is very important, as seen on how Versh and Quentin believed she would whip Caddy for getting her dress wet in a creek (Faulkner 37), and on how Caddy’s name was never to be mentioned again right after she gave disgrace to the family by getting pregnant at an early age.   She always has this ‘imaginary illnesses’ that leads her to lying down most often.   Uncle Maury, on the other hand, assists his sister, Caroline, and shares an affair with their neighbor, Mrs. Patterson, which leads him to having injuries from Mr. Patterson.   Caddy, however, is caring and smells like leaves and trees (Faulkner 26);[3] is reckless and has a free spirit that led to her to being pregnant.   As for Dilsey, she is a steady influence to the Compson family, as seen in the lines:â€Å"You know just as well as me that Roskus got the rheumatism too bad to do more than he have to, Miss Cahline.†Ã‚   Dilsey said.   â€Å"You come on and get in, now.   T.P. can drive you just as good as Roskus.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"I’m afraid to.† Mother s aid.   â€Å"With the baby.†Dilsey went up the steps.   â€Å"You calling that thing a baby,† she said.   She took Mother’s arm.   â€Å"A man big as T.P.   Come on, now, if you going.†(Faulkner 29)In this scene, Dilsey knows the exact thing to do, how to handle Ms. Caroline Compson and Benjy, as well as her son, T.P, and her husband.   On the other hand, in the scene when Caddy wets her dress in a creek and then takes it off—which is one sign of her future sexual promiscuity—it becomes apparent that Quentin has purer virtues than Caddy, and that the former is protective of her younger sister.   He is intelligent, can identify when something is going wrong (like when Damuddy died and their mother was crying), and can make strategies like when he was in the cellar with Benjy and T.P. (Faulkner 41).   For this, it is obvious that their father, Mr. Compson, loves Quentin above all, for it was he whom their Father asked first whe n they went out to the cellar.   When it comes to Jason, however, he is always anxious, as indicated by the way he always puts his hands in his pockets (Faulkner 55).   Later on, he lives in isolation and finds fault with everyone, and then believes himself to be the only one with an acceptable behavior and virtue.Section 2: June 2, 1910This is Quentin’s narrative.   Being passionate and anxious over events that plague his family and his life, he tries to protect, as much as possible, the honor of his family’s name by protecting his sister’s reputation that, in the end, also led to her being separated from the family.   From his point of view, there are differences in the characters when compared to the innocent and unbiased view of his brother, Benjamin.Here, Jason Compson III, the father of the Compsons, appears to have a leading role, especially in Quentin’s decision to commit suicide.   The same as how Benjy viewed it in section 1, it was ap parent how their father played a major role in Quentin’s life ever since he was a child, and how his father was so proud of him for being his Harvard boy: â€Å"Harvard my Harvard boy Harvard Harvard† (Faulkner 111).   Even when Quentin admitted to his father that he committed incest with Caddy, his father’s reply was:That’s sad too, people cannot do anything that dreadful they cannot do anything very dreadful at all they cannot even remember tomorrow what seemed dreadful today and I said, You can shirk all things and he said, Ah can you †¦ It’s not when you realize that nothing can help you—religion, pride, anything—it’s when you realize that you don’t need any aid.   (Faulkner 99)It was his father, too, that taught him that women are not caring (unlike in Benjy’s version) but that they are evil: â€Å"Woman are like that they don’t acquire knowledge of people we are for that they are just born w ith a practical fertility of suspicion that makes a crop every so often and usually right they have an affinity for evil for supplying whatever the evil lacks in itself†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Faulkner 115).   He said, â€Å"time is your misfortune† (Faulkner 123), and by that life has no meaning, especially with Caddy already married to Herbert Head.Caddy does not appear to be caring here, unlike in the version of Benjamin.   She wouldn’t just give everything that she has except through love, but she knows how to defend her family and her brother, like when Quentin and Dalton Ames had a fistfight at the bridge and Caddy went after Quentin (Faulkner 181).   She also has a mind of her own like when she decides to marry Herbert Head after learning that she was carrying the child of Dalton Ames.   Unlike Benjy’s version, Quentin believed that the loss of Caddy’s virginity was his fault for not being able to protect her.   As for Mrs. Caroline Compson (and t he rest of the women), she is shown here as a being with ‘practical fertility’ and an ‘affinity for evil’; a reckless being that thinks not whether a thing is immoral or with virtue: â€Å"[Y]ou are confusing sin and morality women don’t do that your Mother is thinking of morality whether it be sin or not has not occurred to her† (Faulkner 121).   And yet, Quentin also thinks of her mother’s side—that having a son like Benjy and a husband like Jason III is actually a punishment for her sins.As for Uncle Maury, Quentin, like his father, mocks his uncle for having an affair with Mrs. Petterson (Faulkner 120).   Quentin sees Jason as a good treasurer (when he made kites with the Patterson boy), but there is bitterness on the side of Quentin, since her mother has only acknowledged Jason as her true and only child: â€Å"I cannot stand it let me have Jason and you keep the others they’re not my flesh and blood like he is s trangers nothing of mine and I am afraid of them I can take Jason and go where we are not known†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Faulkner 123).   Benjy, lastly, is seen as a stupid idiot who would just do what other people tell him to do.Section 3: April 6, 1928This is Jason IV’s narrative.   Being logical, rational, and contained, he does not think on religion, reputation, or pride as the basis of his reasoning and judgment.   He is single-minded and has special interest in material wealth, which makes him appear rude and uncouth to his sisters and brothers, yet made him become the pillar of his family’s economic wealth.   For a thirty-year-old bachelor, he is very open-minded, advanced, and progressive.   There are only two people in this world that he fears: Dilsey and the police.   This is because Dilsey here can be seen as a very frank, straightforward, and rational woman whom he cannot compete with.   This is very different from the way Benjy sees her (as a steady in fluence in the family), or from Quentin, who almost does not see her.   Even Jason—after his elder brother had died—cannot force Dilsey to leave, especially that Roskus has already died, too.However, Jason’s desire to take pleasure in material wealth, freedom, and the world makes him seem insolent and cynical toward his mother, Dilsey, Caddy, Miss Quentin, and especially his brother, Benjy.   It appears that his projection of what people are is that they are merely stupid beings that do not know how to live and how to get what they want.He sees his father as a passionate but reckless human being who did not even afford to save the family’s wealth and belongings, or to stand up to reality: â€Å"I never had time to go to Harvard like Quentin or drink myself into the ground like Father.   I had to work† (Faulkner 199).   The same thing with Caddy, whom he sees as very passionate but stupid being because, just like her daughter, her pursuit of what she wants leads her to getting lost in strife and mischief.   Just like the belief of Quentin and their father, Jason, too, believes that all women are born to be a bitch: â€Å"Once a bitch always a bitch† (Faulkner 198), and that includes his mother, a big influence on Jason’s personality, whom he also sees as reckless and stupid:â€Å"But to have the school authorities think that I have no control over her, that I can’t†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Well,† I says, â€Å"You can’t can you?   You never have tried to do anything with her,† I says, â€Å"How do you expect to begin this late, when she’s seventeen years old?†Ã‚   (Faulkner 198)As for his Uncle Maury, Jason’s views are not like Quentin or Mr. Compson, who mocks him for his affair with Mrs. Patterson.   Instead, Jason’s views of his uncle has similarity with that of his mother—that Uncle Maury is a big help to the family, especially to their mother.à ‚   As for Benjy, Jason sees him as a plague to the family—hard to contain, like a bear hanging on the gate (Faulkner 269); and very noisy like he was when Jason makes a story that Dilsey has leprosy (Faulkner 224).   Yet during trouble times and mischief—such as when Miss Quentin was missing and Jason decides to leave work in order to search for his niece—it becomes apparent that Jason is, nevertheless, a family-oriented man.Section 4: April 8, 1928This is the narrator’s narrative on Dilsey.   On an Easter Sunday, she takes Benjy and Luster to the church, thinking that she has witnessed the ending of the Compson family just like Christ’s life was ended at the age of 33.   However, she is determined to carry on with her life, and this strong character of hers makes her different from the rest of the characters.Mrs. Compson is seen here as somebody who trusts Dilsey and the other servants: â€Å"I have to humour them,† Mrs. Compson said .   â€Å"I have to depend on them so completely.   It’s not as it I were strong.   I wish I were.   I wish I could do all the housework myself.   I could at least take that much off your shoulders† (Faulkner 295).   As for Mr. Compson, Quentin, and Uncle Maury, it appears that Dilsey is not very mindful of them, and that she would rather mind people whom she is about to serve for the day (e.g., Mrs. Compson, Benjy, Jason).   As for Benjy, he is still very fragile, though, especially that—apart from Caddy’s disappearance and his favorite pasture—there were many more changes that took place in his family, such as the death of Mr. Compson, Quentin, and Roskus†¦ the old house that was transformed into an apartment†¦ and his castration and his being sent to the state.   However, the story ended in a chaos when Jason scolded Luster for taking the wrong turn home that drove Benjy into a hysteric, then Jason steers the carriage b ack to its usual route and order: â€Å"post and tree, window and doorway, and signboard, each in its ordered place† (Faulkner 336).   This makes it obvious that, although the Compsons falls into destruction, yet Jason will never leave his family alone, as proven by how Dilsey makes a remark that Jason only has a â€Å"one-day-in-a-week sleep in the morning† (Faulkner 287)†¦ this despite Miss Quentin’s running away with a carnival employee and taking away Jason’s and Uncle Maury’s money.   This makes Caddy a center of mischief for bringing along a daughter that robs her uncle so as to run away.This fourth section is like an ending to the story of the Compson family, yet it cannot be, for when compared to the three other views, the four sections do not entail a single thought or notion at all.   The story starts where the climax—the time when the Compsons were very rich and renowned—has already gone; and when the story ends, the story is not yet ending, for Jason is there to care about his family, and Dilsey is there to care for them as well.ConclusionIn the novel, each of these four views reflect a never-ending sequence that both supports and counters their preceding ones.   At Benjamin’s narrative, their mother is a sick and worrying old woman because of the trials and problems that arise.   Quentin and their father sees her (and all women) as the source of evil and a reckless being, which is different from Jason’ view of her being reckless and stupid (but not evil).   For Dilsey, however, she is somebody who desperately needs her services and her strength.Caddy, for Benjy, is a caring friend who, for Quentin, is upright, beautiful, and passionate, which again, for Jason, is also passionate but very stupid.   Dilsey sees her as a mischief, yet is not in the position to do anything bad to her or her daughter.Quentin, on the other hand, is intelligent and protects the reputation o f his family and his sister, Caddy.   For Jason, he is somebody very lucky to have been given a chance to go to Harvard; yet stupid, too, for having been wasted it†¦ which Dilsey is not very attentive about.Jason is seen as an anxious brother who lives in isolation and finds fault with everyone.   For Quentin, however, he is seen as a good treasurer, their mom’s favorite, which for the narrator and Dilsey, is an economic foundation and would not leave his family alone.Benjy sees his father as somebody who loves Quentin above all who, for Jason, is a passionate and reckless human being who did not even afford to save the family’s wealth and belongings, or to stand up to reality, which for Dilsey is not something she should care about.Benjy is seen by Quentin as a stupid idiot who would just do what other people tell him to do.   For Jason, Benjy is a plague to the family, which is very different from Dilsey’s image of Benjy as a very fragile and hyster ical poor boy.Dilsey, on the other hand, is a steady influence and a pillar to the family.   Quentin does not see her, but for Jason, she is somebody frank, straightforward, and rational whom he cannot compete with.   Lastly, as of Uncle Maury, Benjy and Jason see him as a great help to their mother, but for Quentin and their father, he was just somebody to mock about.The four views do not entail a single thought or notion at all, as it reflects a never-ending sequence that both supports and counters their preceding ones.   Benjy’s point of view is different in a way from Quentin’s point of view, which is different in a way from Jason’s and from the narrator’s.   This is no different with the argument set by Donald Kartiganer (1988) who said that, in William Faulkner’s (1929) ‘The Sound and the Fury’, â€Å"None of the four tales speaks to another, each imagined order cancels out the one that precedes it.   Truth is the mean ingless sum of four items that seem to have no business being added† (23).   As the story starts in the middle and ends in the middle (Kartiganer 23), it appears that there is no start and no ending, as it goes round and intersects without one specific trail to follow.