Curated set · answers marked
The Sound and the Fury is structured into four parts, each told from a unique viewpoint. Who is the narrator of the first section, which takes place on April 7, 1928?
Rationale
The first section features Benjy Compson as the narrator, who is the youngest brother in the Compson family and has intellectual disabilities. His stream-of-consciousness style jumps around in time, illustrating his struggle to tell what happened in the past from what’s happening now.
What narrative technique is primarily used by William Faulkner in the first section of The Sound and the Fury, narrated by Benjy Compson?
Rationale
The novel's first section is narrated by Benjy, a man with cognitive disabilities, using a stream of consciousness style. His narration moves back and forth in time, reflecting his difficulty in separating the past from the present. This fragmented, non-linear approach is one of Faulkner's most acclaimed and complex narrative techniques in the work.
Which of the following accurately identifies the four sections of The Sound and the Fury along with their narrators or perspectives?
Rationale
The novel is divided into four sections, narrated as follows—Section 1: Benjy Compson (April 7, 1928, Holy Saturday); Section 2: Quentin Compson (June 2, 1910, the day he took his life); Section 3: Jason Compson (April 6, 1928, Good Friday); Section 4: A third-person omniscient narrator centered on the servant Dilsey (April 8, 1928, Easter Sunday). Faulkner intentionally presents these sections out of chronological order, which echoes the novel's themes of fragmented time and memory.