Faulkner and Time Fragmented Time

Faulkner and Time Fragmented Time and the Modern Era The plot of the Sound and the Fury is simple, if one considers the actions that take place in the present time. However, it can be difficult to follow, as Faulkner continually interjects memories into the present timeline. Flashbacks can be a powerful tool that can add depth to characterization, but they can be confusing and difficult to keep up with as well. Faulkner uses the concept of time to suggest that time is not a constant that continually moves forward.

His revolutionary use of Benjy to explore human perceptions of time is one of the key elements that mark the novel as a modern work. This research will explore the hypothesis that Faulkner's use of time is a more accurate representation of human thought and that in Faulkner's view, linear time is only an illusion. About The Sound and the Fury The Sound and the Fury is a classic work of the modernist period.

Unlike the works of Victorian writers, the work does not have a single, central character and conflict. It centers on four separate characters, the Compson children. The story examines the corrupt nature of Southern values, using time as the lens through which to view these values. Faulkner continually switches viewpoint between the different characters, providing the reader the ability to see the events through more than one perspective. The children act as narrators, as does Faulkner himself at times.

Faulkner uses stream of consciousness style, but he does so through the eyes of the various characters. First, we are introduced to the inner world of the characters. Through their inner thoughts, we begin to envision the world outside of them. Faulkner artfully switches tone with each changing narrator. The story takes place in Jefferson, Mississippi and at Harvard University at Cambridge, Massachusetts, depending on which narrator is speaking. In terms of setting, the events of the story take place in both the past and the present.

At times, it is up to the reader to decide which is which. Three of the chapters take place over Easter Weekend in 1928. Quentin's section takes place in June of 1910. The memories of the narrators take place anywhere from 1898 to 1928. It is often difficult to determine the exact time frame from contextual clues. Faulkner must purposefully inform the reader where they are in order to make the events coherent. Faulkner continually switches tenses to provide the reader with clues.

The major conflict in the story is the fall of the Compson family's fall from power in the old South. The conflict is presented against the backdrop of the power structure of the aristocracy and the expectations and morals imposed by the old social system. Conflict arises from the moral dilemmas of the characters, such as Caddy's promiscuity and resulting hurried wedding, Quentin's suicide, Benjy's castration, and the death of Mr. Compson by way of alcoholism. These actions are not those that are expected of a Southern Aristocratic family.

The immoral underpinnings of the family are revealed through the eyes of the children, rather than through the family members who commit the acts. Faulkner uses many symbols to convey the motif and themes of the story. The key themes of the story are time, order, chaos, and the shadows that lurk behind the material world. Time is the most obvious theme in the work. Time is represented through two contrasting symbolisms. Water represents the flow of time.

Quentin's watch also represents the passage of time, only in a more ordered fashion than water. Water represents free-flowing time with a more random pattern. This imagery conveys a sense of chaos, juxtaposed against the more familiar, orderly sense of time with which the readers are more comfortable. Faulkner uses several images to foreshadow Caddy's downfall. For instance, Caddy's muddy underclothes and Caddy's perfume suggest her future pregnancy and forced marriage. The use of foreshadowing adds the element of the future and continual march of time in the novel.

Faulkner generously intertwined the past, present, and future using his imagery. Comparative Views of Time Faulkner used his characters to compare and contrast their perceptions of time. The Sound and the Fury represents a stylistic invention of the modernist movement called "stream of consciousness." This same style can be found in the works of other modernist writers, such as James Joyce and Jean Toomer. This style of writing attempts to mimic the natural flow of human thought.

It explores the inner concepts that make us human and separates our psychological lives from our material lives. Through the use of stream of consciousness and a comparison of the concept of time in his characters, Faulkner proposes that our psychological concept of time is different from a material concept of time. Faulkner proposes that time is not constant, or that it occurs in an orderly fashion. The character of Benjy is used to represent the non-linear, abstract concept of time.

Benjy does not have a concept of time and is unable to distinguish between the present and what happened in the past. However, this ability gives him a perspective and the ability to draw connections between the past and the present that are not obvious to others. Benjy's concept of time contrasts with Quentin's concept of time Quentin is trapped by the linearity of time. He is trapped by his memories of the past and is unable to let go and live in the present.

Quentin breaks his watch as a symbol of stopping the march of time. The clock's ticking seems like a prison sentence, marching forward one-step at a time. Faulkner uses the characters of Benjy and Quentin as a symbol of the various ways in which time can be perceived. Faulkner juxtaposes his characters' concept of time to illustrate various facets of the concept of time. For instance, Quentin's brother Jason, uses time only for personal gain. Jason is obsessed with the wasting of time.

Quentin has spent much of his life wasting time and living in the past. Jason lives very much in the present. Dilsey is at peace with time, unlike the Compsons who feel the need to use time to their advantage at every opportunity. Dilsey sees her life in the bigger perspective of the universe. The Compsons, Jason, and Quentin cannot see beyond their own lives. They have a very narrow view of themselves and of their lives. Faulkner's presentation of time coincides with his concept of order and chaos.

Humans use many devices to provide a sense of order to the concept of time. We use watches and calendars to help us organize time. These tools give the illusion that time is linear. As humans watch the measured march of time, it reminds them of many things, such as their mortality. Dilsey is the only character who has come to terms with this concept of time. Benjy uses a series of memories to organize new information. When the pattern does not fit, he becomes upset.

The Compsons and other characters use time for their personal gain and to help them become more attached to the material possessions. Faulkner uses this group of characters to stress the concept that time has both material and ethereal aspects. Each character attempts to use time to create order from chaos in their own fashion. The most profound example of time is when Quentin breaks his watch. The march of time continues, even after he leaves the broken watch behind in his room. One cannot escape the march of time.

The watch is symbolic of the past, as it once belonged to Mr. Compson and symbolizes the past glory of the family. It also symbolizes the future and the passage of time. The watch did not stop ticking, reminding Quentin of his inability to stop time. This scene is one of the most profound examples that illustrates Faulkner's concept to time and his connection with the eternal nature of time. Unlike Victorian writer, Faulkner does not assume that time is linear.

Faulkner uses his characters as a tool for comparing and contrasting various ways of looking at time. Time frees some characters and imprisons others. Time never changes, only the reactions of the characters change in relation to time. Time is a constant force regardless of how the characters perceive time. Time is a force that acts upon the characters. It has a different affect on each of them, but it is not time that changes in every circumstance but the reactions of the characters.

In this way, time becomes a character. Time is an unseen actor in the play. Time is both a friend and a foe. Time is a hero and a villain. Each character has a different concept of time, but this concept is only a creation of their own perceptions and experiences. They also have perceptions of the other characters in the novel. Time is no different from any other character in the story from this perspective.

Reading The Sound and the Fury can be frustrating for the reader, particularly the reader who is used to the linear march of time and the orderly unfolding of the events. Classic chronology provides a sense of order and a sense of time for the reader. They can easily relate to their own experience and concept of the passage of time. Faulkner steps into an uncomfortable area for many readers, making his work difficult to follow in terms of linearity.

It appears as if he is randomly leaping off in different directions with no sense of purpose or direction at time. However, if we look at the way in which time acts as a character one can glean a different perspective of time and gain a glimpse into the eternal nature of time. Jean-Paul Sartre explains that, "A fictional technique always relates back to the novelist's metaphysics" (Sartre). Such is the case with Faulkner's concept of time.

Time as a Binding Force It is not the concept of time that presents a problem in Faulkner's work, it is the concept of chronology. The ordering of time is a human concept, a measurement that is imposed on the past, present, and future. However, it one considers our reality and our relationships with others, time is only a convenience that allows us to come to terms with the passage of time and our own mortality. To demonstrate this point, let us explore the world of Benjy.

This is the character that embodies the idea of timelessness the most. Benjy organizes his world differently, using contextual, rather than chronological clues. Benjy has set of memories, unrelated to the chronological order in which they occurred. He uses this set of memories to organize his world. One example of this is how he uses Caddy's scent of trees and leaves to compare how he feels about her to his pleasant memories of his mother.

When Caddy begins to distance herself from him, he no longer uses this imagery to represent his feelings for her. Benjy's concept of time is not linear, but is spatial. He places each new experience that he encounters into its proper conceptual space. When his perceptions change, the perceptual space into which it is placed changes as well. This is not possible with a linear representation of time.

Benjy's perception of time can be compared to Quentin, who has no other means to order time other than the ticking of the clock. Quentin cannot change the march of time. He cannot change his perceptions of an event. Quentin's perception of time is objective and concrete, as opposed to Benjy's which is subjective and ethereal.

By comparing these two characters and their perception of time, Faulkner forces the reader to step outside of the modern, linear perception of time and to consider that another way of viewing it may exist. This is one of he key points that he makes between the perception of time in the characters of Benjy and Quentin. Time binds these characters together, as it does with all of the characters in the book. Time is constant, only the character's perception of it changes.

A key moment in time for Benjy was when they changed his name from Maury to Benjy. Mrs. Compson thought that changing his name would change his luck. She carefully chose a name from the Bible. "His name's Benjy now, Caddy said. How come it is, Dilsey said. He aint wore out the name he was born with yet, is he. Benjamin came out of the bible, Caddy said. It's a better name for him than Maury was. How come it is, Dilsey said. Mother says it is, Caddy said.

Huh, Dilsey said. Name aint going to help him. Hurt him, neither. Folks don't have no luck, changing names. My name been Dilsey since fore I could remember and it be Dilsey when they's long forgot me. How will they know it's Dilsey, when it's long forgot, Dilsey, Caddy said. It'll be in the Book, honey, Dilsey said. Writ out. Can you read it, Caddy said. Won't have to, Dilsey said. They'll read it for me. All I got to do is say Ise here.

Your name is Benjy, Caddy said. Do you hear. Benjy. Benjy. Don't tell him that, Mother said. Bring him here. Caddy lifted me under the arms. Get up, MauN I mean Benjy, she said." (Failkner, p. 58) This short passage gives the reader many clues as to how the various characters view time. Although this scene centers around Benjy, it reveals much more about Mrs. Compson.

It demonstrates that she is concerned about the future of the family and wishes to take action to change it, even it changing Benjy's name would seem a bit superstitious. Dilsey shows common sense in this scene and also references the past and future. Many times throughout the novel Dilsey demonstrates her realization of her place in time eternal. Mrs. Compson starts to calls Benjy by his old name, an illusion to her inability to forget the past and to move on.

This subtle clue indicates that she is still living in the past. Twice more, other characters see Maury's name change to Benjy as a bad omen for the future of the Compson family. "They ain't no luck on this place.' Roskus said. 'I seen it at first but when they changed his name I knowed it.'" (Faulkner, p. 29). This reaction demonstrates that the community sees the downfall of the Compsons as well.

"They aint no luck going be on no place where one of they own chillen's name aint never spoke.'" (Faulkner, p. 31). The repetition of this theme solidifies the eventual downfall of the Compson family. These quotes allude to the level of family strife that is present in the Compson family. It also alludes to their hand in their own downfall, through their lack of ability to show love to one another.

Literary Technique Faulkner employs the use of "cognitive maps" creating a "land" against which the voices of his characters are juxtaposed (Baldwin, p. 2). In The Sound and the Fury, Faulkner creates an imagined county in Mississippi. The county of Yoknapatawpha never actually exists in life, nor does real map exist of it. Yet, Faulkner is able to provide clues that allow the reader to gain a sense of place and time.

Faulkner's use of time suggests that there is no past and no present, because the events of the past have a direct impact on the events of the present (Baldwin, p. 3). Time is a part of the human geography of which Faulkner suggests. Time is simply another layer imposed on the mental geography constructed by Faulkner. Faulkner does not specifically divide time into past, present, and future. His use of time suggests that what happened in the past continues to exist by the way of memories.

These memories are real and have an impact on the way the world is interpreted in the present. The character that most exemplifies this concept is Benjy. In Benjy's world, his memories form a solid framework for interpreting the present. Benjy integrates his perceptions into a framework that is built on the memories of the past. However, Benjy has no concept of the future. He can only perceive what he has experienced in the past and what is happening in the present.

For the rest of the characters, memories of the past influence the present, but they use them to try to interpret what will happen in the future. The future is an unknown. Only the past and the present are knowns. Benjy differs in that he ha no concept of the unknowns and can only relate to life with his set of knowns.

If one considers how the past influences the present and our expectations of the future, Faulkner's presentation of time as an entity without a past, present, or future is easier to understand. Faulkner's tendency to jump between the past and present without warning and in what seems to be a disjointed fashion makes more sense to the reader if they understand that chronology is not what is important, but the connection between the past, present and future.

Faulkner's concept of time transcends chronology and considers relationships and how they affect the characters. The dates, times, and sequences of events in the novel are not important, it is how the actions and relationships formed in the past affect the present and future actions of the characters in the future. Each character has their own set of relationships and past experiences that will have an impact on their actions in the future. They all have a connection to the past and the future that exists within their present circumstances.

Dilsey is one of the more interesting characters in terms of time construction. She is a black person living in the dying remnants of the old South. Her world is one of the competing ideologies that existed at the time that were based on race (Fowler, p. 135). Dilsey is the product of not only her own past, but she symbolizes the entire history of the South. She is closely tied to the past, present, and future of the old Southern aristocracy.

The fall of the old Southern ideology will leave room for the advancement of her people, even though she realizes that she will never see it in her time. She is at peace with where she stands in relation to the past, present, and future. Dilsey's spirituality and faith in eternity separates her from her connection to time.

While sitting in church, she utters a profound statement, "I've seed de first en de last...I seed de beginnin, en now I sees de endin" (Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury, p. 207). The reader assumes that she is talking about the beginning and end of the Compsons and their wealth. However, taken within the concept of Faulkner's ideal of time, it could also be referring to the beginning and the end of the ideals that permeated the Old South.

It could also be a reference to God and the eternal. Dilsey's statement could be referring to any one of these, or all three at the same time. This statement summarizes Dilsey's knowledge and concept of time, and her internal peace with her own life and events that have occurred in the story. She accepts all of them from a place of peace and spirituality. The Compsons are a wealthy family, but show very little outward love for each other. They are rather cold, as the family quietly crumbles.

They do have an overwhelming feeling of nostalgia towards the past. The Compsons long for the happiness that they experienced in the past (Hui-hua and Hui-Ling, p. 54). The Compson's nostalgia is another use of time and its power to influence the present through memories. The need for calm and order permeates the consciousness of all the characters, the disjointed timeline reminds the reader how far they are from ordered time (Hui-hua and Hui-Ling, p. 55).

Meeting the Characters through Time The first chapter of the novel is narrated by Benjy, who is mentally handicapped, and has no sense of time. This is the most difficult section of the text for many readers. It jumps back and forth in time, only signaling reader of these changes by a changes in typeface. One has few contextual clues to help them keep chronological track of the action. Faulkner did provide the readers with some clues.

One can keep track of Benjy's timeline by who is taking care of him at the time. Benjy had three different servants to take care of him (Cape and Smith). Versh took care of him when he was a small child. T.P took care of him until he was 15 years old. Luster is the current caregiver when Benjy is 33. Faulkner does not abandon his readers with not clues to keep the story coherent, he only does so subtly and the reader has to work to find them.

Quentin's narrative reveals a little more about the family's past and their current situation. Like Benjy, Quentin also has flashbacks, only they are often short, revealing more as the chapter continues. Quentin is away from the family at Harvard. Quentin's key conflict is that he has a sense of the honor of the old South and feels that his sister's actions are against those traditions. He cannot stop her maturation and cannot control the events that will take place. Quentin's narrative is about the theme of trying to escape time.

He tries to do this by first smashing the watch, and then unable to hold back time, he drowns himself in order to halt time once and for all. Through Quentin's experience with the watch, we find the Quentin's father did not view time the same and his son. The father sees the watch so that Quentin could forget time and live for the moment once in a while.

"I give it [watch] to you not that you may remember time, but that you might forget it now and then for a moment and not spend all your breath trying to conquer it. Because no battle is ever won he said. They are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools." (Faulkner 76). However, Quentin cannot forget time, as his father instructs, but rather the watch is a symbol of the unconquerable force of time.

The watch serves as a reminder of time, not a way to forget it. Faulkner uses the watch as a symbol of two different characters and their viewpoints on life. Faulkner uses this reference to demonstrate how a simple object can have different meaning for different characters. The third narrative introduced was that of Quentin's brother, Jason. This narrative is much more focused on the present than those of Benjy and Quentin. Jason is self-serving, uninterested in family honor or nostalgia. Jason also has flashbacks, often about Caddy.

Jason is portrayed as greedy and consciousless, stealing Caddy's money from her mother (Cape and Smith). The fourth narrative also focuses on the present. Faulkner created balance by focusing the first two chapters on the past and the final two chapters on the present. Jason is focused on recovering what he claims is stolen money. Dilsey sees the downfall of the family due to their own greed and uncaring attitudes. The novel ends with a reflection to Benjy's sense of order and his memories.

Time is a central theme in The Sound and the Fury. It would at first appear that Faulkner is trying to compare the difference between chaos and order, between chronological time and ethereal time, and between the past and the present. However, when one examines these themes, it becomes apparent that the story is about things coming full circle. The connections that Faulkner makes with the past are only important in light of the present and the future. The Compson family is symbolic of the ways of the Old South.

They rose to power, basked in their power, misused their power to suppress others, and then fell from grace due to their actions. In a sense, they got what they deserved for their greedy, selfish ways. This is the message that stands out in Faulkner's representation of time in all of its various forms. Throughout Faulkner's work echoes the shades of the Old South with all of its timeless culture and tradition.

For those who grew up in the South during it's rise to power, it seemed as if these values were there to stay. However, Faulkner suggests that their time had passed. This is suggested by Dilsey and her sense that the Compsons' time of power is coming to an end. Time references in The Sound and the Fury remind the reader that everything has a time and that to some point this time will pass, as will they and everything that they stood for in life.

Faulkner's presentation of the Old South suggests both the finite and infinite properties of time. Time will go on, even after an era has passed from existence. In the end, the only thing that remains of that time is the memories. This theme is found throughout the work in the individual characters, in the Compson family, and in the values of the Old South itself. The imagery of Dilsey in the end drives home how many years have passed since the glory days.

We see Dilsey as a symbol of time passing. "She had been a big woman once but now her skeleton rose, draped loosely in unpadded skin that tightened again upon a paunch almost dropsical, as though muscle and tissue had been courage or fortitude which the days or the years had consumed until only the indomitable skeleton was left rising like a ruin or a landmark above the somnolent and impervious guts." (Faulkner, pp. 265-256).

Dilsey continues to serve the family with strength and courage, even though her body is frail. She sees time as eternal and the body as temporary. This perspective gives her strength. She realizes that all must come to pass, as reality that the rest of the Compsons try to escape. Experience is Time Time never dies in The Sound and the Fury. The past is the present and the present is the past.

Faulkner keeps the past alive through imagery, such as mentioning the landmarks of the past, as with the brick courthouse with stone arches (Sartre). The Confederate soldier that upsets Benjy is a reminder the Luster of the Civil War, as he is from the "wrong side." This reference is elusive to those not familiar with Faulkner's other works. This reference stands alone as a connection to the Old South and the past. Luster is black, therefore, would not have supported the Confederacy.

However, this reference to the Confederate soldier also serves another function. The Bayards are important characters in the history of Faulkner's fictional county. The Bayards are fictional, but Faulkner paints them as one of the glorious Old families who built the South. In Faulkner's fictional world they build a railroad and did many important feats. The Confederate soldier is a reference to the Bayard family, which serves as a reminder of the past (Gelashvili). It also draws on the death of the Old South.

The statue of the Confederate is described as marble, with hollow eyes. The marble statue represents timelessness, as it stands firm in wind and weather. However, it also contains imagery of hard, cold, lifeless stone. This single image of the statue of the Confederate soldier embodies many themes that are repeated throughout the entirety of the work. The statue of the Confederate soldier stands at the entrance to a graveyard, symbolizing both the death of the Compton family fortune and of the death of the ideals of the Old South.

The solder represents the finite image of death and the image of the eternal, as it will stand long after the ideals that it represents have faded, along with the people who held them. These elements remind the reader of the past and recount the distant past of the family, but they also serve as a literary device to transform linear time into circular time, as the memories of the past influence the actions of the present (Gelashvilli).

One of the characteristics of Faulkner's work is that it uses imagery to convey meaning on many levels. He seldom composes imagery that has a single, simple meaning. The imagery of Benjy and his broken flower with a mended stem represents time past. The flower is long past its glory. This others, that were more beautiful were already taken. The glory of the narcissus is past and all that is left is only sole survivor, broken though it may be.

This imagery continues to echo the glory of the past as suggest that the remnants that remain in the present are only a shadow of their past. This symbolism is suggestive of both the Compson family and of the Old South. Faulkner uses imagery throughout the Sound and the Fury that have double meanings and that represent multiple concepts at the same time. Faulkner ends the novel much as it began, with Benjy putting everything into its proper ordered place.

For the rest of the Compson family life has changed dramatically. However, Benjy has the timeless ability to put everything in its place and to continue with his life as it always has been. Benjy is the only character whose life has undergone very little change, even though those around him have changed dramatically from the beginning to the end. Once again, Faulkner takes us back in a circle of time that connects the past and the present.

Faulkner considers the past and the present to be internal to the person. The future is considered to be external, as the person cannot understand it by their memories and mental processes (Skirry, p. 150). Faulkner has been criticized for creating characters that have a past, but not a future. Quentin and Jason have come to confuse their concept of time with money. For them the only future that is foreseeable revolves around their ability to acquire money (Skirry, p. 15).

However, Faulkner's characters do have a future, although it is not the one that they had imagined for themselves. Their focus on the past severely limits their actions and will play a key role in shaping their future. The remainder of the Compson family will remain tied to their past, therefore, Faulkner alludes to the end of the days of Glory. Skirry points out that time only has the meaning that we convey to it. The hand of the clock will move from 5 to 6 without any action from us.

However, it is humans that give time meaning (Skirry, p. 15). Six O'Clock may be suppertime, but that is only became humans arbitrarily assign it this trait. Suppertime could just as easily be 5:30 or 7:00. The clock and the passage of time do not have any meaning on their own, only what we assign to them. The present only has meaning in retrospect. As the present becomes a memory, it achieves the ability to have its own meaning. The future will have no meaning until it too becomes the past.

The battle in which Faulkner engages in The Sound and the Fury has been called an attempt to escape the cultural sphere of the Old South in which he was raised (Sykes, p. 513). The book is as much about Faulkner's connection to the Old South as it is the death of Old Southern ideals in his characters. Faulkner's fathers still ruled form the grave through their values and the social system that they left behind (Sikes, p. 513).

Faulkner is best known for his ability to manipulate time and to present time in its many forms. However, it has been suggested that Faulkner's view of time and his presentation of it is not exactly of his own invention. Some have suggested that his ideas were first introduced by the French philosopher, Bergson (Padgett, p. 681). Faulkner was frustrated with the inadequacy of language to explain abstract ideas, such as time, leading to his multi-layered approach in his use of imagery (Padgett, p. 681).

This suggests that Faulkner purposefully constructed his imagery to envelope multiple ideals and concepts. These were a mixture of the abstract and the concrete. Just as with the statue, they embodied his abstract, rather than ordered concept of time. Faulkner used images, conveyed through words, rather than the words themselves to represent his unique concept of the.