April 8, 1928

Dilsey's Chapter

When concluding this book, I was more captivated than I have been by many of the other books we read this past year.  Furthermore, I found this chapter to be perhaps my favorite of the four, though Benjy's comes close.  I may have been drawn to this chapter for its clarity and finality.

The scene that opens "Dilsey's section" brings images of death as Disley wears odd colors for an Easter morning.  The kitchen is related to have a clock that is both "solemn and profound". This connects to Faulkner's statements that time is not a friend of those living in the past.  The day is also cold, setting a dark climate on what should be a happy day.  The date is significant, as the setting ironically brings a dark contrast to Easter joy giving weight to Dilsey's predications of doom.  The blindness that occurs on this day's light shows a real profound loss and doom, more so than another day would.  The hopelessness and sin are more striking.

The sins of this day are connected to Quentin and Jason, as Quentin steals and runs off, while Jason holds profound hatred and hopes to harm Quentin.  Even Luster is crueler than normal to Benjy when he mocks him about Caddy.  As the characters' sins occur on the day of redemption, they becomes deeper and less reversible. The family is doomed.  And hopeless.  The lack of hope is described by "Ben", who to many, has seen another name change.  He is associated with honeysuckles, that were said to be a sad smell, and he shows hopelessness.

However, what was more striking than the foreshadowing and creation of their doom and darkness on the brightest day of the year, is the completion of the crescendo.  The final page of the book was so capturing.  The statue of the Confederate soldier sets a tone that connects to tradition.  Directly after this connection Benjy losses it, in horror, and takes more action than he has ever before.  He makes a last stand and is struck.  His flower breaks as he does.  The work concludes with "The broken flower drooped over Ben's fist and his eyes were empty and blue and serene again as cornice and facade flowed smoothly once more from the left to the right, post and tree, window and doorway and signpost each in its ordered place."  This scene and line conclude and reveal so much.  Benjy's flower is broken, with the Old South, in front of the Confederate soldier.  Benjy, and the South, hide in a facade.  Everything is crushed and wrong, but looks perfect.

They are in a dead denial.

Thinking Back

The Chapters

Falkner's work progressively becomes easier to understand.  This shows a coming together of everything, and a progression to the final end.  Everything starts to makes sense with Jason.  Jason is a failed tradition THAT MAKES SENSE.  He shows us that tradition will die, and that it is found in progressive simplicity.

The narration style begins us with an unbiased reflection that focuses on the innocences of past values.  Nothing has gone horribly wrong in Benjy's chapter, though it leads to everything.  We face confusion as we try to clear up what is coming.  Then we get everything and nothing with Quentin.  He gives us a mess.  This mess is that of an obsession with a lost past, and it convinces us that nothing can go back to the way it was.  I mean, Quentin is dead.  There cannot be happy past anymore.  Jason is refreshing, and we focus on him as he shows us failure.  His chapter is focused to show us that the past is gone.  He has failed at his job, and is cruel.  He can't stand successfully with the old ideals but tries to.  He even harms their representation, Benjy.

Only now are we prepared for as normal as Faulkner can get- the traditional 3rd person narrator.  This narrator is a little apart from the events and can therefore best explain death, doom and the end.

What It All Means

When considering the work as a whole, we need to look at its essence and most complete representation: the title.

The title of the work comes from Shakespeare's Macbeth, after Macbeth learns that his mother is dead.  He exclaims:

"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."

Now, I find that this quote optimizes the story's meaning at its fullest.  It sums up everything.  First it shows that tomorrow is creeping up.  This is change: the change seen in Caddy and Quentin.  This is the change that occurred when tradition died in the Benjy's last struggle.  This is the result of Jason's failures, and what was promised by Disley early on.  All there is now is the "way to dusty death", and an end to tradition.  Life is meaningless, and cannot be connected to.  This is seen in the broken stem, Quentin's suicide, and the impotency of so many of the characters: Quentin, Mrs. Compson, a drunk Uncle Maury, Jason and Benjy.  The only thing remaining is a story "told by an idiot".  Faulkner is saying that the only remnant of the past is a story, and an incomprehensible one at that.  It is all wind and anger, with no action.

This is why Benjy opens the book.  He show impotency.  Quentin is incomprehensible, and Jason can do nothing, but hates so much.  Finally an "outsider" finishes.  It takes four tries to tell the story, which illustrates the magnitude of emptiness, which is all "sound a fury".  No initiative.  It is a complex nothingness.  The narrators have no power.  Yet, having four narrators also shows progression and direction.  Many are involved, and the story of nothing moves and continues.

Faulkner is relating an end, informing readers that the only hope is in the characters we love, who, not coincidentally, are the future.  The past is all just "sound a fury", to be set aside.