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William Faulkner

The Sound and the Fury

April 7, 1928

Through the fence, through the gaps in the thick curls, I could see them hitting. They go to the flag, and I went along the fence. Luster is looking in the grass under a tree in bloom. They pulled out the flag and beat it. We put the flag back, went smooth, one hit, and the other hit. Let's move on and I'll go. Luster came up from the tree, and we walked along the fence, they stood, and so did we, and I looked through the fence, and Luster was looking in the grass.

- Hand me the clubs, caddy1! - Hit. Leave us through the meadow. I hold on to the fence and watch them leave.

“He snarked again,” says Luster. - A good baby, thirty-three years old. And I also trudged into town for you to buy a cake. Stop howling. Better help me look for the coin, otherwise I’ll go see the artists in the evening.

They walk through the meadow, striking infrequently. I follow the fence to where the flag is. He flutters among the bright grass and trees.

“Let’s go,” Luster says. “We’ve already looked there.” They won't come anymore now. Let's go look by the stream before the washerwomen wake up.

It is red and flutters in the middle of the meadow. A bird flew up obliquely and landed on him. Luster threw. The flag flaps on the bright grass and trees. I'm holding on to the fence.

“Stop making noise,” Luster says. “I can’t bring the players back once they’ve left.” Shut up, otherwise mammy won’t give you a name day. Shut up, otherwise you know what I'll do? I'll eat the whole cake. And I'll eat the candles. All thirty-three candles. Let's go down to the stream. We need to find this coin. Maybe we can pick up some balls. Look where they are. Over there, far, far away. - He walked up to the fence and pointed with his hand: - Do you see? They won't come here anymore. Let's go.

We walk along the fence and approach the vegetable garden. There are our shadows on the garden fence. Mine is higher than Luster's. We are climbing into the gap.

“Stop,” Luster says. – Again you got caught on this nail. There’s no way you can avoid getting caught.

The caddy unhooked me and we climbed through. “Uncle Mori ordered us to walk so that no one could see us. Let’s get down,” Caddy said. - Get down, Benji. That’s it, understand?” We bent down and walked through the garden, with flowers. They rustle and rustle about us. The ground is hard. We climbed over the fence where the pigs were grunting and panting. “The pigs probably feel sorry for the one that was slaughtered this morning,” said Caddy. The earth is hard, in lumps and holes.

“Put your hands in your pockets,” Caddy said. “Any more fingers, you’ll freeze.” Benji is smart, he doesn't want to get frostbite at Christmas."

“It’s cold outside,” Versh said. - There is no need for you to go there.

“What is it,” said my mother.

“He’s asking to go for a walk,” said Versh.

“And God bless you,” said Uncle Mori.

“It’s too cold,” Mom said. - It’s better to stay at home. Stop it, Benjamin.

“Nothing will happen to him,” said Uncle Mori.

“Benjamin,” Mom said. “If you’re bad, I’ll send you to the kitchen.”

“Mammy didn’t tell me to take him into the kitchen today,” Versh said. “She says she can’t handle all this cooking anyway.”

“Let him take a walk,” said Uncle Mori. “If it upsets you, you’ll go to bed again, Caroline.”

“I know,” said mom. “God punished me as a child.” And why is a mystery to me.

“It’s a mystery, a mystery,” said Uncle Mori. – You need to maintain your strength. I'll make you some punch.

“Punch will only upset me more,” said Mom. - You know.

“Punch will strengthen you,” said Uncle Mori. “Wrap him up well, brother, and take a walk for a while.”

Uncle Mori left. Versh left.

“Shut up,” said my mother. “They’ll dress you, and now we’ll send you away.” I don't want you to catch a cold.

Versh put on my boots and coat, we took a hat and went. In the dining room, Uncle Maury puts a bottle on the sideboard.

“Walk with him for half an hour, brother,” said Uncle Mori. - Just don’t let him out of the yard.

We went out into the yard. The sun is cold and bright.

- Where are you going? - says Versh. - What a cunning fellow - is he going to the city or something? - We walk, rustling through the leaves. The gate is cold. “Hide your hands in your pockets,” says Versh. – They’ll freeze to the iron, then what will you do? As if you can't wait in the house. – He puts my hands in his pockets. He rustles through the leaves. I smell the cold. The gate is cold.

- This is better than nuts. Wow, I jumped into a tree. Look, Benji, a squirrel!

Your hands can’t hear the gate at all, but it smells brightly cold.

“It’s better to put your hands back in your pockets.”

The caddy is coming. She ran. The bag dangles and hits behind.

“Hello, Benji,” Caddy says. She opened the gate, walked in, and bent down. The caddy smells like leaves. – You came out to meet me, right? - she says. – Meet Caddy? Why are his hands so cold, Versh?

“I told him: hide it in your pockets,” says Versh. – He grabbed onto the gate, into the iron.

– You went out to meet Caddy, right? - Caddy says and rubs my hands. - Well? What do you want to tell me? “Caddy smells like trees and like when she says we’ve woken up.”

“Why are you howling,” says Luster. “They will be visible again from the stream.” On the. Here's some dope for you." Gave me a flower. We went behind the fence, to the barn.

- Well, what? - says Caddy. – What do you want to tell Caddy? They sent him away from home - right, Versh?

“You can’t hold him back,” says Versh. “He screamed until they let him out, and went straight to the gate: look at the road.

- Well? - says Caddy. “Did you think I would come home from school and it would be Christmas right away?” Thought so? And Christmas is the day after tomorrow. With gifts, Benji, with gifts. Come on, let's run home to warm up. “She takes my hand, and we run, rustling through the bright leaves. And up the steps, from the bright cold to the dark. Uncle Maury puts the bottle in the cupboard. He called, “Caddy.” Caddy said:

“Lead him to the fire, Versh.” Go with Versh,” Caddy said. - I'm here now.

We went to the fire. Mom said:

– Is he cold, Versh?

“No, ma’am,” Versh said.

“Take off his coat and boots,” said mom. - How many times were you told to take off your boots first and then enter?

“Yes, ma’am,” Versh said. - Stand still.

He took off my boots and unbuttoned my coat. Caddy said:

- Wait, Versh. Mom, can Benji go for a walk again? I'll take it with me.

“You shouldn’t take it,” said Uncle Mori. – He’s already had a walk today.

“Don’t both of you go anywhere,” mom said. “Dilsey says it’s getting even colder outside.”

“Oh, Mom,” said Caddy.

“It’s nothing,” said Uncle Mori. “She’s been sitting at school all day, she needs to breathe.” fresh air. Go for a walk, Candacey.

“Let him be with me, Mom,” said Caddy. - Oh please. Otherwise he will cry.

- Why did you mention the party in front of him? - Mom said. “Why did you have to come in here?” To give him a reason to torment me again? You've been outdoors enough today. Better sit here with him and play.

“Let them take a walk, Caroline,” said Uncle Maury. - The frost won't hurt them. Don't forget that you need to conserve your strength.

“I know,” said mom. “No one can understand how scary the holidays are to me.” No one. These troubles are beyond my strength. How I wish I was in better health - for Jason's sake and for the sake of the children.

“Try not to let them worry you,” said Uncle Mori. - Both of you go, guys. Just for a little while, so that mom doesn’t worry.

“Yes, sir,” Caddy said. - Let's go, Benji. Let's go for a walk! “She buttoned my coat, and we went to the door.

“So you’re taking the baby into the yard without boots,” said the mother. - The house is full of guests, and you want to catch a cold.

“I forgot,” Caddy said. “I thought he was in bots.”

We have returned.

“You have to think about what you’re doing,” said mom. Yes, stand still, Wersh said. He put on my boots. “If I’m gone, then you’ll have to take care of him.” – Now stomp, Wersh said. “Come and kiss your mother, Benjamin.”

Caddy led me to my mother's chair, my mother cupped my face in her hands and pulled me close.

“My poor little one,” she said. I let go. “You and Versh keep a good eye on him, honey.”

“Yes, ma'am,” Caddy said. We went out. Caddy said, “You don’t have to come with us, Versh.” I'll take him for a walk myself.

“Okay,” said Versh. “It’s not very interesting to go out in such cold weather.” “He went, and we stood in the front.” Caddy sat down, hugged me, pressed her bright and cold face to mine. She smelled of trees.

“You’re not a poor little thing.” Really, not poor? You have a Caddy. You have your Caddy.

“I got wet and slobbered,” says Luster. And you are not ashamed to raise such a roar." We pass the barn where the charabanc is. It has a new wheel.

“Sit down and sit quietly, wait for mom,” said Dilsey. She pushed me into the charabanc. Tee-Pee has the reins in his hands. “I don’t understand why Jason doesn’t buy a new one,” Dilsey said. - Wait until this one falls to pieces under you. The wheels alone are worth it.

Mom came out and lowered her veil. Holds flowers.

-Where is Roskus? - Mom said.

“Roskus was broken today, he couldn’t lift his arms,” said Dilsey. “Tee-Pee rules well too.”

“I’m afraid,” said my mother. “God knows, I ask little from you: once a week I need a coachman, and I can’t even ask for this little.”

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William Faulkner is a reclusive writer who has avoided fame and glory all his life, a man about whom not much is known, especially those facts that relate to his personal and family life However, his closed lifestyle did not prevent him from becoming one of the most significant writers in America; a creator who deeply empathized with the fate of humanity and his native land, in particular, and skillfully expressed the ideas that excited him into words recognized to become golden forever.

Fate played cruel joke with the writer, because unlike most of his compatriots of his time, Faulkner did not manage to achieve great success during his lifetime, long years he was not recognized not only in his homeland, but also in bohemian Europe, so the writer had to lead a rather poor and limited lifestyle. For a better understanding of the whole picture early novel“The Sound and the Fury” was published in 1929 and within the first 15 years it sold no more than 3 thousand copies. And only after delivery Nobel Prize in 1949, his work was recognized as a classic in his homeland, while in Europe and France in particular, many literary figures We managed to fully appreciate the talent of this American writer.

As has already been mentioned in passing, Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury did not bring its creator success or popularity among readers in the first years after publication. There are probably several explanations for this. First of all, this novel was rated higher by critics than by ordinary readers, perhaps for the reason that the text was extremely difficult to understand, so many simply refused to bother delving into what was written. When publishing his novel, Faulkner approached the publisher with the desire to highlight different colors the corresponding time layers in the text, but from a technical point of view this was a difficult task, so only in our time a similar edition was published. The difficulty of perception lies in the fact that in the first two chapters (there are four in total) the author sets out a stream of thoughts in which the time frame has no boundaries at all, and it is extremely difficult for the reader for the first time to attribute this or that event to a specific time. In addition, the narrator in the first chapter is a person with mental retardation, whose thoughts do not have a clear cause-and-effect relationship, thereby further complicating the understanding of the work.

The title "The Sound and the Fury" was borrowed by the writer from Shakespeare's "Macbeth" from a monologue about the difficulty of self-determination. In some ways, The Sound and the Fury is most suitable as a title for the first part of the novel, which, as mentioned above, is narrated from the perspective of a weak-minded man named Benjamin Compson. In this part, there are three time lines that are closely intertwined and do not have a clear transition. Benji is the youngest of the Compson family's four children; the writer also introduces the reader to his brothers Quentin and Jason and sister Caddy. In this part of the book, you can observe some of Benji's passions: golf and his sister Caddy. Some time earlier the Compsons were forced to sell part of their land plot for a future golf club to pay for the education of his eldest son Quentin. In the story, we see that Benji spends a lot of time near this golf course, watching the players, and as soon as he heard a voice that said the word “caddie” (an assistant player who brings him clubs), a real avalanche of images begin to emerge in his memory. remembering from childhood and youth, especially memories of his sister Caddy, who, in fact, was the only one in the family who had warm feelings towards the unhealthy child, while the rest of the relatives avoided Benjamin or even blamed him for all the troubles. The only temporary indicator in this stream of incoherent thoughts (for me personally) were the servant boys, in different time servants in the house: Versh refers to Benji's childhood, Tee Pea - to adolescence, Luster - to the present time. To summarize this part, we can say that we see Benji as a kind of blissful, detached from many family problems: the death of Quentin's father and brother, Caddy's plight, etc., he is not able to fully understand the situation within the family, he only acts as an outside spectator. Faulkner was extremely successful in creating this part, in which he presents information in a very realistic manner from the point of view of a feeble-minded person, thereby immersing the reader in the mind of this character. It would probably be appropriate to mention the fact that a certain symbolism can be seen in relation to Benji's age, because he is turning 33 years old!

In the second part of the novel, the narrator is the eldest son, Quentin. In all respects, he is the opposite nature to Benjamin. Benji saw the reality around him, but could not give it any qualitative assessment due to his mental retardation. Quentin, on the contrary, is running away from reality, he is trying to build his own own world, without bothering to interpret the surrounding circumstances. This part looks a little more structured than the first, however, the displacement of two time layers and certain psychological characteristics Quentin's character also creates certain obstacles to a holistic perception of the content. Like Benji, Quentin is also obsessed with his sister Caddy. However, his obsession is of a completely different nature. Since Caddy was dishonored by one of her suitors, her fate has essentially gone downhill. Quentin experiences these events very jealously, rather painfully. Moreover, it is painful in direct meaning words! His obsession develops into real insanity, he tries to take the blame for his sister’s dissolute behavior. The degree of obsession even reaches the point that illegitimate daughter He calls Caddy his own and tries in every possible way to take upon himself all the sins of his sister. Faulkner in this part sometimes resorts to ignoring punctuation marks, to the chaotic and incoherent thoughts of Quentin, thereby conveying the difficult state of mind young men. The result of Quentin’s torment was his suicide.

Many consider the third part of the novel to be the most consistent and straightforward. This is not surprising, because it is told on behalf of Jason, the third son of the Compsons. This is the most down-to-earth character of all who appear in the book; he is characterized by a sober way of thinking and cold calculation in all matters. Of course, he is interested in money much more than family bonds; He puts the material side at the head of all relationships. At the same time, he experiences his own obsession with his sister. Since she left home, Jason has taken her child away from her, discredited her name in every possible way, and robbed her. Quentina, Caddy's daughter, under the strict supervision of Jason, in many ways repeats the fate of her mother: she early plunges into adult life, also exists in conditions of deprivation and harsh treatment. In Jason, Faulkner paints the most disgusting character: he is a vile, low, greedy man in the street who is always trying to hide his own inadequacy behind feigned importance. In my opinion, Jason personifies the entire decline of the Compson family, both morally and materially.

The last part, unlike the previous ones, is told from a third person, and the maid Dilsey is at the center of the story. In this part, we have the opportunity to become much more closely acquainted with the life that reigned in the Compson house, as well as to take a look, unclouded by personal prejudices, at what Jason and his mother were essentially like, and what depths the moral disorder within the fallen members of the family reached.

After his first and still “young” attempts at writing, Faulkner devoted the rest of his life to man’s struggle with the world around him and, first of all, with himself. He realized that the best thing for him was to write about motherland and about the people he knew so well. This is what makes Faulkner remarkable; without a doubt he can be considered one of the founders American culture, because such a young nation, which is America, essentially does not have a deep history, as well as epic creations that would stand at the basis of the entire literary heritage. Faulkner took this honorable place, firmly rooted in people's minds as truly people's writer, and his novel “The Sound and the Fury” is the clearest confirmation of this!

Composition

QUENTIN (eng. Quentin) is the hero of W. Faulkner’s novel “The Sound and the Fury” (in other translations “The Scream and the Fury”, “The Sound and the Fury”; 1929). The hero's fate is placed in the space of one day - June 2, 1910. K.'s thoughts are turned to the past. He remembers his sister Kaddy, whom he loves very much. Caddy was seduced by one Dalton Ames. Upon learning of this, K. threatens to kill him, but Ames beats him himself. In order to save the honor of his sister and family, K. tries to convince his father that incest occurred and he himself is to blame. However, his father does not believe him. Caddy runs away from home, and from that moment the slow destruction of the Compeon family begins. For K., everything that happened to his sister is tantamount to the collapse of the world. Evil and injustice enter the world. In order to send K. to study at Harvard University, sell the lawn on which his idiot likes to play younger brother Benji. And K. himself, who met a poor emigrant girl and bought her bread, candy and ice cream, is taken to the police station, accused of indecent assault and forced to pay a fine. Nobility, selflessness, love are alien and incomprehensible to this world, the absurdity of which K. painfully experiences. During a walk, K., in a rage, smashes the clock and breaks its hands, trying to stop the passage of time. Thus, the hero strives to return the world to its former, bright state. The hero associates the passage of time with evil. For K. there is neither the present nor the future; he is all turned to the past. But the broken clock continues to tick, although it shows inaccurate time, illustrating the merciless truth: time cannot be stopped, the world cannot be corrected.

The title of the novel "The Sound and the Fury" was taken by Faulkner from the famous monologue of Shakespeare's Macbeth - a monologue about the meaninglessness of existence. Shakespeare says the following words verbatim: “Life is a story told by an idiot, filled with sound and fury and meaning nothing” (Macbeth, Act V, Scene 5).
I read it unprepared and tried throughout the book to look at the reviews and read the author’s opinion about the book he had written. The book was equipped with a certain afterword, which is not at all part of this book, and there is also a series of programs relishing the details in the chapters. Numerous works have been written about Faulkner's leaps in time, which are especially noticeable in The Sound and the Fury. Only with such an arsenal can one understand the whole the beauty of a masterpiece of world and American literature. Faithful participant numerous lists and ratings - “The Sound and the Fury”.
The literary device, of course, is quite curious and interesting - it allows you not just to “listen to the story” or “see the story in the scenery”, but throws the reader into the story itself, right inside the events, without explaining or chewing on anything. Throw it away - and then figure out for yourself what, why and why.
I sometimes enjoyed making my way through the stream of consciousness of the characters (not the entire book is written in this way, just over half), jumping from one event to another, from the past to the present, from one person to another.
But the bottom line is not clear to me in the end. This is one of those books in which you can safely flip through a few paragraphs and not lose anything in the plot.
Do not come to any conclusion, morality, resolution...
The open ending of the novel left a lot of questions and persistent bewilderment - what, after all, was going on in this family all this time?!
1. Benji
The first part of the novel is narrated from the perspective of Benjamin “Benji” Compson, who is a disgrace to the family due to mental retardation.
Oddly enough, I liked it the most. When the children grew up all together, their attitude towards each other. If you return to this chapter after reading the novel, then the clues literally catch your eye, and reading the most awkward chapter in its construction turns out to be very interesting. Benji only records tiny fragments of the Compsons’ life, jumping from one time period to another and to a third, returning again to the present. Additionally, the character looking after Benji changes, pointing to certain periods time: Luster is associated with the present period, Tee Pee with adolescence, and Versh with childhood.
But due to the impressionistic style of the story, caused by Benji's autism, and due to the frequent time jumps, it was not clear to me that Benji's castration was carried out after he attacked the girl, which the author refers to in a nutshell, noting that Benji came out behind the gate, left unattended. Probably, for a more complete understanding of this part of the novel, you should read it last))
2. Naively believing that the second part would be from the other brother's point of view, I was mistaken, but was still drawn into this train of thought. Faulkner completely ignores any semblance of grammar, spelling and punctuation, instead using a chaotic collection of words, phrases and sentences, with no indication of where one begins and the other ends. This chaos is meant to highlight Quentin's depression and deteriorating state of mind.
Quentin, the most intelligent and suffering child of the Compson family, is best example Faulkner’s narrative technique in the novel, as I understand it. But it’s impossible to understand the situation without annotations to the novel.
Personally, I thought after reading that the child was really born from Quentin.....and hence his suffering about integrity and further suicide....
3. This part of the book gives a clearer idea of the inner life of the Compson family. The third part is told on behalf of Jason, Caroline's third and favorite son. Of the three parts narrated by the brothers, Jason's part is the most straightforward, and reflects his simple-minded desire to achieve material well-being. I like this The character impresses the most, despite the fact that he is called a negative hero. He goes quite far in blackmailing Caddy, and also, being the only guardian of her daughter. But how else can he survive in this stupid family, the crown of which is an infantile mother. The apogee of me I would say. She will still survive Benji with his whining, washing and complaints.
4. Focuses on Dilsey, the full-fledged mistress of a black family of servants. Along with caring for her grandson Luster, she also takes care of Benjy, as she takes him to church, thereby trying to save his soul. The sermon makes her cry for the Compson family, whose decline she sees.
After church, Dilsey allows Luster to get on the wagon and take Benjy for a walk. Luster doesn't care that Benjy is so set in his ways that even the slightest change in routine makes him furious. Luster drives around the monument on the wrong side, causing Benjy to experience a strong outburst of rage, which could only be stopped by Jason, who was nearby and knew his brother’s habits. Jumping up, he hit Luster and turned the cart around, after which Benji fell silent. Luster looked back at Benjy and saw that he had dropped his flower. Benji's eyes were "...empty and bright again."
I almost briefly retold the novel, which I usually don’t do in reviews. But here the inquisitive mind of the reader will either guess or look for clues, wandering around in a fog throughout the entire story.
Despite everything, I am very impressed by its main storyline - the withering of the families of the American South, its way of life, the rise and collapse of the South since the displacement of the Indians, the formation of the planter society and its inherent chivalric code honor and up to the tragedy of slavery and the replacement of former values modern values mercantile, acquisitive North.
I really like this time period enclosed in the narratives of various authors.

- Hand me the clubs, caddy! - Hit. Leave us through the meadow. I hold on to the fence and watch them leave.