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Part 3: April 6, 1928
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The third section is narrated by Jason, the third child and his mother Caroline's favorite. Ironically, he is the only child who does not want, need, or return her love. It takes place the day before Benjy's section, on Good Friday. Of the three brothers' sections, Jason's is the most straightforward, reflecting his single-minded desire for material wealth. This desire is made evident by his (bad) investments in the cotton market, which symbolize the financial decline of the South.
By 1928, Jason is the economic foundation of the family after his father's death. He supports his mother, Benjy, and Miss Quentin (daughter of Caddy, the second child), as well as the family's servants. His role makes him bitter and cynical, with little of the passionate sensitivity that we see in his older brother and sister. He goes so far as to blackmail Caddy into making him Miss Quentin's sole guardian, then uses that role to steal the support payments that Caddy sends for her daughter, amounting to tens of thousands of dollars over 15 years (to maintain a mistress in Memphis and play the stock market).
Part 4: April 8, 1928
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April 8, 1928, is Easter Sunday. This section, the only one without a single first-person narrator, focuses on Dilsey, the powerful matriarch of the black family servants. She, in contrast to the declining Compsons, draws a great deal of strength from her faith, standing as a proud figure amid a dying family. On this Easter Sunday, Dilsey takes her family and Benjy to the "colored" church. Through her we sense the consequences of the decadence and depravity in which the Compsons have lived for decades. Dilsey is mistreated and abused, but nevertheless remains loyal. She, with the help of her grandson Luster, cares for Benjy, as she takes him to church and tries to bring him to salvation. The preacher's sermon inspires her to weep for the Compson family, reminding her that she's seen the family through its destruction, which she is now witnessing. Meanwhile, the tension between Jason and Miss Quentin reaches its inevitable conclusion. The family discovers that Miss Quentin has run away in the middle of the night with a carnival worker, having found the strongbox in which Jason had a hidden collection of cash and taken both her money and her money-obsessed uncle's life savings. Jason calls the police and tells them that his money has been stolen, but since it would mean admitting embezzling Quentin's money he doesn't press the issue. He therefore sets off once again to find her on his own, but loses her trail in nearby Mottson, and gives her up as gone for good.
However, the central climax of the novel is by far the most dramatic and fulfilling. It is Miss Quentin's escape from the Compson household and Jason's comeuppance.
The Sound and the Fury ends with the symbolic completion of the Compsons' downfall, but also hints at the possibility of resurrection or renewal. Importantly, this last chapter takes place on Easter Sunday, the day of Christ's resurrection and thus a powerful symbol of redemption and hope.
As you might know, from a literal standpoint, The Sound and the Fury is a tale about the demise of the Compson family. It spends a lot of time unpacking the relationships between Caddy Compson and her siblings along with the clashing values between the Compson children and their parents. It takes place over a period of only two days in the present but recounts various events from the Compson family’s past.
The characters in the novel experience time as nonlinear, even circular. The narration often jumps years into the past before emerging back into the present without warning or clear transitions. In the first chapter, for example, Benjy, the youngest Compson sibling, has no sense of time. His interactions with others as an adult in the present launch him years into the past to relive related memories and with no visual indication of shifts in time.
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly where and when his narration is taking place. However, his chapter became oddly satisfying to read. It’s a puzzle to solve that requires you to pick out various context clues to determine what he’s talking about. For example, when Benjy walks around with Luster, the son of their family servant, he’s in the present. Nevertheless, when he is watching the fire with his sister, he is a child again.
In addition, Benjy has a mental disability, which translates interestingly into reliability as a narrator. He recalls and relives events with a child’s naivety, which renders his narration free from emotional biases. Benjy’s objectivity is contrasted to the subjectivity of the next narrator, Quentin Compson, who is unashamedly my favorite chapter and character in the book.
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