What is the purpose of the blog?
This blog was created to assist you in your "free choice" book discussions, but it can develop into a forum to answer questions, exchange ideas, and extend classroom discussions.
An interesting point that I just realized was that Benjy is so upset by the golfers on his pasture, partially because they constantly repeat the word "Caddy". His obliviousness to the passage of time means that he is always hoping that she will come home, and that to me is one of the most tragic aspects of the book.
An interesting point that I just realized was that Benjy is so upset by the golfers on his pasture, partially because they constantly repeat the word "Caddy". His obliviousness to the passage of time means that he is always hoping that she will come home, and that to me is one of the most tragic aspects of the book.
One of questions for discussion posted on Shmoop was whether Faulkner fully developed Benjy as a character, or just used him as a device to tell the story. I think that maybe both are true. Benjy had clear personality traits, he like the familiar and knew to fear death. At the same time, his lack of understanding made him almost a less biased narrator. He stated things, about the affair between Mrs. Patterson and Maury, for example, without explaining or clarifying anything with his own opinions, but instead he just gives the reader details, as if it were something they themselves had noticed, and had to figure out the significance of.
Apparentally Faulkner created a fictional Southern county as the setting for this book. I think that the almost generic setting relates to the "sense of place, sense of self", in a way, because the characters are bound by their own history and surroundings, but at the same time, there is a universal sense to where they live. It seems like Faulkner did this in the same way that some authors leave their characters nameless. It seemed to point a finger at certain attitudes of the time, by using a setting that many people can relate to.
The Macbeth speech that the title is based on: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
I think I most noticed the allusions to this speech in the Quentin chapter. He's obsessed with not walking his shadow, and in a way, he inhabits his own life as a shadow, always almost wishing that he had done something else, or been someone else. He is tortured by "yesterdays", and thinking about the times when he thinks that he has failed to protect Caddy. On page 112 in my book, he talked about why he had lied and claimed he had committed incest, and he said "it was to isolate her out of the loud world..and then the sound of it would be as though it had never been" That quote I think describes Quentin's sense of self. He wants to flee his world, and take Caddy with him to keep her safe.
I had couple of questions about Benjy, after I finished the novel. Why is he comforted by the slipper, the flower, and the cushion? Is there anything symbolic about them? It seems like they are all innocent items, which can't harm anyone, but I wonder if there is any particular significance beyond that. Also, why did his mother change his name from Maury to Benjy? Was that a way of trying to act out her own pride in her family?
I think it's kind of weird and interesting how this novel is mainly about Caddy, a woman, and is told mostly from the point of view of men. The female character that is most present, and active, rather then just being an idea that everybody obsesses over, is Dilsey. Faulkner seems to be denouncing racism in the way he treats the characters of his novels, making the black characters complex and believable, even if Jason, the character who is supposed to be respectable and traditional, doesn't realize that.
An interesting point that I just realized was that Benjy is so upset by the golfers on his pasture, partially because they constantly repeat the word "Caddy". His obliviousness to the passage of time means that he is always hoping that she will come home, and that to me is one of the most tragic aspects of the book.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting point that I just realized was that Benjy is so upset by the golfers on his pasture, partially because they constantly repeat the word "Caddy". His obliviousness to the passage of time means that he is always hoping that she will come home, and that to me is one of the most tragic aspects of the book.
ReplyDeleteNote:the Nicole comment was me, but I can't figure out how to delete the double post.
ReplyDeleteOne of questions for discussion posted on Shmoop was whether Faulkner fully developed Benjy as a character, or just used him as a device to tell the story. I think that maybe both are true. Benjy had clear personality traits, he like the familiar and knew to fear death. At the same time, his lack of understanding made him almost a less biased narrator. He stated things, about the affair between Mrs. Patterson and Maury, for example, without explaining or clarifying anything with his own opinions, but instead he just gives the reader details, as if it were something they themselves had noticed, and had to figure out the significance of.
ReplyDeleteApparentally Faulkner created a fictional Southern county as the setting for this book. I think that the almost generic setting relates to the "sense of place, sense of self", in a way, because the characters are bound by their own history and surroundings, but at the same time, there is a universal sense to where they live. It seems like Faulkner did this in the same way that some authors leave their characters nameless. It seemed to point a finger at certain attitudes of the time, by using a setting that many people can relate to.
ReplyDeleteThe Macbeth speech that the title is based on:To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
ReplyDeleteCreeps 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
I think I most noticed the allusions to this speech in the Quentin chapter. He's obsessed with not walking his shadow, and in a way, he inhabits his own life as a shadow, always almost wishing that he had done something else, or been someone else. He is tortured by "yesterdays", and thinking about the times when he thinks that he has failed to protect Caddy. On page 112 in my book, he talked about why he had lied and claimed he had committed incest, and he said "it was to isolate her out of the loud world..and then the sound of it would be as though it had never been"
That quote I think describes Quentin's sense of self. He wants to flee his world, and take Caddy with him to keep her safe.
I had couple of questions about Benjy, after I finished the novel. Why is he comforted by the slipper, the flower, and the cushion? Is there anything symbolic about them? It seems like they are all innocent items, which can't harm anyone, but I wonder if there is any particular significance beyond that.
ReplyDeleteAlso, why did his mother change his name from Maury to Benjy? Was that a way of trying to act out her own pride in her family?
I think it's kind of weird and interesting how this novel is mainly about Caddy, a woman, and is told mostly from the point of view of men. The female character that is most present, and active, rather then just being an idea that everybody obsesses over, is Dilsey. Faulkner seems to be denouncing racism in the way he treats the characters of his novels, making the black characters complex and believable, even if Jason, the character who is supposed to be respectable and traditional, doesn't realize that.
ReplyDelete