Flashcards for The Sound and the Fury

Benjy Compson

Benjy Compson is the thirty-three-year-old youngest son of the Compson family, who has an intellectual disability and serves as the narrator of the novel's opening section, set on April 7, 1928.

character

Caddy Compson

Caddy Compson is the emotional and moral core of William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, yet she never tells her own story—her character is shaped entirely by the memories, fixations, and grievances of the men in her life.

character

Caroline Compson

Caroline Compson is the self-pitying, hypochondriac matriarch of the Compson family in William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, and she plays a central role in the family's psychological decline.

character

Dilsey Gibson

Dilsey Gibson is the Black matriarch and cook of the Compson household, serving as the moral and emotional core of William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury.

character

Herbert Head

Herbert Head is a minor yet crucial character in The Sound and the Fury, whose fleeting presence triggers disastrous events for the Compson family.

character

Jason Compson III (Mr. Compson)

Jason Compson III, often referred to as Mr. Compson, is the head of the fading Compson family in William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury.

character

Jason Compson IV

Jason Compson IV serves as the third-person narrator in the novel's third section (April 6, 1928) and acts as the family's main antagonist.

character

Luster

Luster is Dilsey's teenage grandson and Benjy Compson's main caretaker in the present-day sections of the novel, set in 1928.

character

Miss Quentin (Quentin Compson II)

Miss Quentin—named after her ill-fated uncle—is Caddy Compson's illegitimate daughter, growing up in the crumbling Compson household under conditions that almost ensure her rebellion.

character

Quentin Compson

Quentin Compson is the oldest son in the Compson family and serves as the narrator for the novel's second section, which is set on June 2, 1910 — the day he takes his own life by drowning in the Charles River near Harvard.

character

“Nondum orta luce. Before the light came.”

This Latin phrase — "Nondum orta luce.

Narrator (third-person, focalized through Dilsey) · Section IV (April 8, 1928 — Easter Sunday)

“He was trying to say, and I went on and it was like I was looking at him through a piece of colored glass.”

This line comes from Quentin Compson in the second section of William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury (1929), narrated on the day he takes his own life, June 2, 1910.

Quentin Compson · Section 2 – June 2, 1910 (Quentin's section)

“The dungeon was Mother herself...and Father upstairs with his health and his whiskey.”

This haunting line is voiced internally by Quentin Compson in William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury (1929), specifically in the second section of the novel, which unfolds entirely through Quentin's stream-of-consciousness on the day of his suicide, June 2, 1910.

Quentin Compson · June Second, 1910 (Section II)

“Caddy smelled like trees.”

This line is from the first section of William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury (1929), narrated by Benjy Compson, the youngest brother in the Compson family who has an intellectual disability.

Benjy Compson · Section One: April 7, 1928 (Benjy's Section)

“I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire...I give it 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.”

This haunting passage is spoken by Mr. Compson to his son Quentin when he gives him his grandfather's watch, a moment that appears in the Quentin section (June 2, 1910) — the novel's second chapter.

Mr. Compson · June 2, 1910 (Quentin's Section)

“The last note sounded. At last it stopped vibrating and the darkness was still again.”

This closing line comes at the very end of William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury (1929), specifically in the fourth section titled "April Eighth, 1928."

Narrator (third-person) · April Eighth, 1928 (Section IV)

“I don't know too many things I know what I know.”

This line is spoken by Dilsey Gibson, the Compson family's devoted Black cook and housekeeper, in William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury (1929).

Dilsey Gibson · April Eighth, 1928 (Section IV)

“Once a bitch always a bitch, what I say.”

This harsh, disdainful remark comes from Jason Compson IV, the third Compson brother and the narrator of the novel's third section (April 6, 1928).

Jason Compson IV · Part III – April Sixth, 1928

“They're Compsons. They're not Gibsons.”

This line is delivered by Dilsey Gibson, the loyal Black cook for the Compson family and matriarch of her own family, in the novel's fourth and final section ("April Eighth, 1928" — Easter Sunday), by William Faulkner.

Dilsey Gibson · April Eighth, 1928 (Section IV)

“I seed de beginnin, en now I sees de endin.”

This line is spoken by Dilsey Gibson, the Black matriarch and cook of the Compson household, near the end of William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury (1929).

Dilsey Gibson · April 8, 1928 (The Dilsey Section, Part IV)

Caddy's Muddy Drawers

In William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, Caddy Compson's muddy drawers symbolize the loss of innocence, the decline of the Compson family's honor, and the struggle for purity in a flawed world.

Fire

In William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, fire symbolizes temporary warmth, a psychological safe space, and the false comfort of a fading way of life.

Honeysuckle

In William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, honeysuckle symbolizes memory, desire, and the inescapable pull of the past.

The Pasture

In William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, the pasture symbolizes lost innocence, the decline of the Compson family legacy, and the relentless flow of time.

The Swing

In William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, the swing in the Compson yard symbolizes lost innocence, moral decline, and the disintegration of the Southern aristocracy.

The Watch

In William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, the watch that Quentin Compson receives from his father represents the oppressive nature of time, the decline of the Southern aristocracy, and the struggle to break free from the past.

Motif

Several motifs weave the novel's four sections together.

Irony

Irony works on both structural and local levels throughout the novel.

Symbolism

Faulkner fills the novel with symbols that gain significance throughout the story.

Allusion

The title references Macbeth Act V: "It is a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing."

Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition acts as both a local rhetorical device and the overall structure of the novel.

Extended Metaphor

Quentin's section explores the idea of time as both a tyrant and a prison through an extended metaphor.

Dramatic Monologue

Each of the novel's first three sections acts like a dramatic monologue in a broad sense: one consciousness speaks directly to the reader without a conversation partner, revealing character through perception rather than through the author's descriptions.

Pathetic Fallacy

Faulkner uses the natural world to reflect and amplify characters' inner emotions.

Free Verse

While the novel is primarily prose, Quentin's section stands out for its moments of free-verse rhythm, thanks to Faulkner's careful use of line-like syntax and white space in the original layout.

Repetition

Repetition is a key tool for Faulkner in expressing Benjy's consciousness and shaping the novel's emotional landscape.

Narrative Poem

The novel's most radical choice is breaking the narrative into four separate, conflicting accounts of the same family history.

stream-of-consciousness

A narrative technique that presents a character's thoughts, memories, and feelings in a continuous, unfiltered flow, jumping between times and ideas without clear transitions.

noun · Chapter 1

mausoleum

A large, grand tomb or monument built to house the dead; here used figuratively to mean something that preserves what is already dead or lost.

noun · Chapter 2

reducto absurdum

A Latin phrase meaning the reduction of something to its most absurd or extreme conclusion, used here to suggest that human experience collapses into meaninglessness.

phrase · Chapter 2

excruciating

Intensely painful or agonizing, either physically or emotionally; here used to describe how perfectly and painfully fitting something is.

adjective · Chapter 2

apt

Exactly right or fitting for a particular situation; here meaning that something is grimly appropriate in a way that stings.

adjective · Chapter 2

fatalistic

Believing that all events are fixed in advance and that humans are powerless to change them, leading to a resigned or hopeless attitude toward life.

adjective · Chapter 2

trampling

Stepping heavily and repeatedly on something, crushing it underfoot; here used to evoke the act of walking through shadows as though physically pressing them down.

verb · Chapter 2

honeysuckle

A climbing vine with sweet-smelling tubular flowers, common in the American South; in this novel it is a recurring scent linked to Caddy and to lost innocence.

noun · Chapter 2

virgin

A person who has never had sexual intercourse; here used as a marker of honor and purity whose loss drives Quentin's obsession with his sister's reputation.

noun · Chapter 2

bitch

A contemptuous term for a woman considered immoral or untrustworthy; Jason uses it as a blanket insult for women he resents, especially Caddy and her daughter.

noun · Chapter 3

intercepts

Stops and seizes something — here money orders — before it reaches its intended recipient, secretly diverting it for one's own use.

verb · Chapter 3

money orders

Prepaid paper documents used to send a fixed sum of money to someone, functioning like a check but purchased in advance; Caddy sends them north to support her daughter.

noun · Chapter 3

illegitimate

Born to parents who were not married to each other at the time of birth; a term carrying strong social stigma in the early twentieth-century American South.

adjective · Chapter 3

petty

Small-minded and mean in a way that is beneath a person's dignity; concerned with trivial grievances rather than anything of real importance.

adjective · Chapter 3

serene

Calm, peaceful, and undisturbed; here describing Benjy's expression when the familiar order of his world is restored after a moment of panic.

adjective · Chapter 4

cornice

A decorative horizontal molding that runs along the top edge of a building's exterior wall, just below the roofline.

noun · Chapter 4

facade

The front face of a building, especially one that is ornamental; here it is part of the passing streetscape that Benjy watches from the moving carriage.

noun · Chapter 4

endured

Suffered through hardship and kept going without giving up; Faulkner uses this single word to sum up Dilsey's lifelong strength in the face of the family's ruin.

verb · Chapter 4

matriarch

A woman who holds authority and acts as the central, stabilizing figure of a household or community, often through age, strength, or moral force.

noun · Chapter 4

stoking

Adding fuel to a fire and tending it so it burns strongly; here part of Dilsey's early-morning routine of keeping the household running.

verb · Chapter 4

seed

Dialect past tense of 'saw,' meaning 'I saw' or 'I have seen'; used in Dilsey's speech to reflect the vernacular of Black Southerners in early twentieth-century Mississippi.

verb · Chapter 4

de

Dialect spelling of 'the,' used throughout Dilsey's dialogue to represent the pronunciation patterns of her Southern Black vernacular speech.

Chapter 4

en

Dialect spelling of 'and,' used in Dilsey's speech to capture the sound of her Southern vernacular pronunciation.

Chapter 4

quarter

A twenty-five-cent American coin; Luster's frantic search for one he has lost drives much of the action in Benjy's section, since he needs it to attend a show.

noun · Chapter 1

estate

A large piece of land with a grand house on it, belonging to a wealthy family; here it refers to the Compson property, which is gradually being sold off as the family declines.

noun · Chapter 1