Benjy's Chapter; April 7th, 1928:
The first chapter of William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury is narrated by one of the Compson children Benjy, who was known before as Maury. The most noticeable aspect of Benjy's narration is that he is infatuated with Caddy who is very soft-spoken and seems like the only one who can comfort Benjy. Throughout the reading, we can see that various events cause him to remember various periods in the past. Benjy also seems to cry and moan when reminded of Caddy. The first example of this is when they are playing golf and they call for the "caddie". When he gets caught by the fence he recalls a period in his youth with Caddy.An interesting concept that I had discovered during this section of the novel is that Benjy oddly likes certain smells such as Versh's house and the smell of T.P on the bed. The most prominent one is when he actually gets comforted by Caddy's scent and repeatedly notes her "tree smell". Their relationship is really interesting. She is really caring for Benjy and in a way he looks after her as well. We see this in a few flashbacks. One being when Caddy loses her virginity and she cannot go to Benjy due to guilt. Another was her wedding day.
Benjy is not treated very well in the family or any of the three caretakers in the memories and the present. One of the caretakers, T.P, even gets Benjy drunk and is entertained by it. Luster continually is annoyed by Benjy's "slobbering and moaning". His mother even changes his name to Benjy in one memory. Even though they think that he is still a baby in his body, he still knows and recognizes his surroundings and how they affect him.
I like your a acute observations in this post. Everything you said was certainly true, that the family does not treat Benjy well and that he is often focused on the scents of things. Great Job.
ReplyDeleteYour discussion of Benjy's chapter is good. I liked reading it. Something I liked that you talked about is Benjy's keen interest in smells. I also noticed this occurrence and think it is important to understanding who Benjy is.
ReplyDeleteI think the fact you mentioned about his name being changed is interesting, since it seems to affect the other characters in the book more than it does Benjy. I also agree that Benjy and Caddy's relationship is very interesting, and I would add that it's very different from each of their perspectives.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you included Benjy and Caddy's relationship, which not only helps us understand Benjy, but also establishes Caddy as a prominent character, probably the most prominent in the story if you ask me.
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