“Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury.”
	William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury is a Southern Gothic novel recounting the downfall of a prominent southern family, the Compsons. The novel is divided into four sections, each narrated by a different person, giving us a different perspective of the same events. Faulkner employs a stream of consciousness writing style, in which most of the novel is written through the thought processes of the narrator. At a glance the novel revolves around Candace(referred to throughout the novel as Caddie), and her three brother's obsession over her, though, the novel gives insight in to much more regarding changes in the honorable Compson family, as well as the traditional South. According to literary critic Irving Howe, “The Sound and the Fury is a book recording the fall of a family and the dead of a world... It exudes the smell of death, the death of the traditional South but of much more as well.”.
	The first section of novel is narrated by Benjy, the son of Jason and Caroline Compson. At the beginning of the book, Benjy is a 33 year old man, severely mentally challenged. At this point in the novel it is Benjy's 33rd birthday. Due to Benjy's mental disability, his narrative is incredibly challenging to comprehend, with the stream of consciousness technique employed quite frequently. Benjy's handicap renders him unable to experience time as ordinary people do, and rely on. Benjy lives in a constant present, when confronted with a situation reminding him of a past memory, his narration is reverted to that time; though to Benjy all events, memories or not, occur in the present. Time is an important motif in the novel, brought up again in the narrative of Jason IV, Benjy's brother. Faulkner shows us how it would be to live without the backbone of time through Benjy's narrative. Benjy's fragile emotional state consists only of order and disorder. One of the earliest events (in chronological order) that Benjy recalls is the death of Damuddy, his grandmother. Benjy recalls this event, which Faulkner puts in italics to show a time shift(this is only done occasionally, and most often not), “When Dilsey moaned ... then I began to cry and Blue howled under the kitchen steps.”(21). This demonstrates  Benjy's aptness to become distraught at any sign of disorder. Damuddy's death was of great significance, being the last member of the older generation of the Compsons. Damuddy was a representation of not only an older generation, but of the traditional South as well. Prior to this, in the novel (but not chronologically), Benjy recounts Roskus' foreshadowing of the downfall of the Compsons, “Taint no luck in this place” Roskus informs his wife Dilsey, the Compson's black servant and main caretaker of the children and household. Dilsey is of great importance to the novel, the fourth section revolves loosely around her. Dilsey is the only source of stability within the Compson household, even when confronted with the death of her husband. Benjy's recollection of these events show begin to show us the . Even the Compson family carriage serves as a symbol of the gradual decay of the Compson family,”This thing going to fall to pieces under you all some day” remarks Dilsey(6). An important event in the novel is the affair of Uncle Maury, and the neighbor Mrs. Patterson. This marks a clear degradation of character in the Compson family, and through Maury's exploitation of Caddie an important foreshadowing of her future corruption.
	June Second, 1910, is the present day of the second section, narrated by the Compson's intelligent but distressed son, Quentin. Quentin has had an unusual fondness for Caddie his entire life. June Second, 1910 is the day of Quentin's suicide, brought about by his disappointment and grief over Caddie's corruption of the Compson family name. Caddie has sex and is impregnated by a man at a very young age, and out of wedlock. This is in direct contrast of the ideals of the traditional South, and brings shame to the Compson name. Though Quentin is horrified at the events and at the shame Caddie brings the family, he still tries to protect her. “I said I have committed incest, Father I said. Roses. Cunning and serene.”(49), Quentin tries to tell his (biological) father that he is the father of Caddie's child, though his father refuses to believe him. At the beginning of the second narrative Faulkner immediately brings back the motif of time. Quentin has an obsession with time, he notices the bell tolls, the clock chiming, and most of all the ticking of the watch of his grandfather. “It was propped against the collar box and I lay listening to it”(49) he muses, he goes on to explain with considerable detail his behavior and reaction to the incessant ticking. Quentin has an obsession not only of retaining the good name of the family, but of the respect for the Southern ways of life in general. Quentin is horrified at the disregard Caddie holds for these ethics and unwritten blue laws of the South. Quentin devises a suicide pact with Caddie, offering to cut her throat and then his, “I held the point of the knife at her throat”(96). Caddie refuses, he then offers to let her do it herself, “all right you can do yous by yourself”. Caddie rejects Quentin's means of escape and refuses to go along with it. This is showing us the death of the character of Quentin long before his actual suicide, the situation with Caddie has driven him insane. The indifference shown by Jason, their father, is troubling to Quentin. Ever the cynic, Mr. Compson explains that virginity is meaningless, and a concept brought about by men. Quentin is driven further away from the world by these events, he is the only one who seems concerned with the corruption and shame brought to their family by the actions of Caddie.
	April Sixth, 1928 is the Good Friday, and the present of the third section of the novel, narrated by the embittered son Jason.