April Eighth 1928

I never like ending a book not completely understanding what happened, but unfortunately that is what happened with this chapter.  The last line led me to believe that Jason killed Quentin because it says, "his eyes were empty and blue and serene again".  By saying again, it's like he's at peace once again, like before the whole mess with Caddy happened.  Now I am admitting this is a bit of a stretch, but that is me trying to make sense of what happened.  

I felt a bit uncomfortable with Caroline's unconditional loyalty to Jason in this chapter, it was almost as if she worshipped him.  She makes such a big deal about letting Jason sleep in, then she was all worried he would be angry if his breakfast wasn't made.  Then again when Jason is leaving to go find Quentin and she says, "It's his right to require us to respect his wishes"(173).

"Neither of them had had entity or individuality for him for ten years: together they merely symbolized the job in the bank in which he had been deprived before he ever got it"(190).----this line was very clarifying to me.  It shows how he practically groups Caddy and Quentin as the same person, and is an easy scapegoat to all of his problems.  He is so deprived, nothing in life is ever good blah blah blah.  

May I also add, what did the closing date mean? I thought they lived in the South, not New York? Is this a signature of William Faulkner?

Jason's chapter: April sixth, 1928

One thing you have to realize in this chapter is that just because Jason's grammar and chronological writing is well done, does not mean he is intelligent.  He is simply a racist, sexist, bigot.  I'm with everyone else, I take no liking to this character, but I think the way he behaves is deeply rooted in his obsession with family image.  This is very obvious in his interactions with Quentin because she refuses to act like a "lady" acts, just like her mother. Jason says, "I've got a position in this town, and I'm not going to have any member of my family going on like a nigger wench"(119).  Jason thinks his family is ruining his image, when really he's just ruining himself, trying to hold onto the "old south".

I'm not quite sure if I'm getting this right, but Jason has been giving fake checks to his mother to burn to save her pride, but then cashing them in, then putting them in cotton stock.  His mother says, "Let me never see the day when my children will have to accept that, the wages of sin"(138), showing once again how holding on to the "old south" will do nothing but hinder them.  He screams idiotic when he explains how New York as a whole is so greedy, he doesn't even understand the process of buying stock.  Jason's never up to date on the points, then blames others when he forgets to check up on his stock frequently.

One line I found hysterical was when Jason explains, "If there's one thing gets under my skin, it's a dam hypocrite."(143).  Jason himself is a hypocrite in more than one way, making him even more utterly stupid.

Quentin chapter: June second, 1910

From the beginning, I can tell Quentin is going crazy, and has been for a while now (title is 18 years before Benji's).  I can also get a sense for how much Quentin looks up to his Father, which seems to be a sort of poison.  I was very confused and slightly disturbed by the repeated phrase "I have committed incest I said".  I later put the pieces together and figured out it was triggered by his Father.  I don't think his Father's intention was to make him crazy with telling him about time and virginity, but it definitely unhinged him.  For example, Quentin narrates, "He said it was men invented virginity not women.  Father said it's like death: only a state in which the others are left and I said, But to believe it doesn't matter and he said, That's what's so sad about anything"(50).  This so obviously leads Quentin to telling his father he committed incest (referring to Caddy) so she doesn't lose her virginity to Dalton Ames and marry him.  

From an outsider's perspective looking in…what the heck is going on? What kind of deprivation is this kid going through to says such disturbing things just so his family can be together? Quentin seems to be more crazy to me than Benji, at least Benji doesn't understand his state of mental illness.  I'm interested in the reasons behind the triggers, other than those of the clock and blood.

I didn't think this chapter was going to be as difficult as the previous to read, but as the chapter progressed, his punctuation lessened, as so did my ability to understand from who's perspective he was speaking.  When he spoke of the past, he often used something another character had said, farther confusing me… sometimes I caught it from memory, but really Faulkner! Who can remember every line of every character without constantly flipping through! Ugh I hope it gets easier.

Chapter: April Seventh, 1928

My oh my, this was a hard chapter to read.  I suspect Faulkner decided to introduce the book through Benji's perspective to give a raw, unbiased view of the family.  After getting used to the constant time changes, I started to understand the general dynamic of the household.  Caddy is the motherly figure that Benjy's mom refuses to be. The Mother constantly tries to make Benji grow up somehow, but he is physically incapable of doing so.  Eventually she changes his name to Benji (originally Maury, after her brother) because "in old time [his] granpaw changed nigger's name, and he turn preacher, and when they look at him, he blue gum too"(44).  Basically, he doesn't deserve the prestige title, because he's a loony.
  
The Father, who we learn dies, was very supportive of Benji and Caddy's motherly nature.  I was confused by the passage, "I got undressed and I looked at myself, and began to cry. Hush, Luster said. Looking for them aint going to do no good. They're gone"(47).  I'm think they're talking about scars, but that also raises the question, how did Benji get them? Who gave them to him?  The mere title of the chapter "April seventh, 1928" raises suspicion being the day before Easter, and his age being 33, the age Christ was when he was crucified.  Perhaps we'll get an idea of this purpose as the book continues, what do you think it means? 

Benji's need for consistency show how the family itself is not consistent, resulting in his constant crying spells.  It also says how the South as a whole treats people such as Benji as just plain stupid, not as if he is handicapped.  If I could guess what Benji is a symbol of at this point in the book, I'd say he symbolizes struggles within families.

Faulk-tastic

Interestingly enough, before the years of his Nobel prize, William Faulkner was turned down by many publicists, mostly because his experimental writing techniques.  Similar to the publicists of today, who turned down J.K. Rowling, I'm sure they're full of regret. In his adolescent years, he did notably horrible in highschool and eventually dropped out of his university. His foot print in America literature made up for his small stature and height of only 5'6.  Faulkner overcame these barriers and became a successful writer–an occupation neither common or admired by the South.