April Eighth, 1928
We have reached the end! While reading The Sound and the Fury, we are introduced to four different perspectives: Benjy's, Quentin's, Jason's, and Dilsey's. In Benjy's perspective we learn of his mental illness and his love and affection for his sister Caddy. In his point of view, he is centered in the time he lives in. His section constantly goes from past and present because of something he sees that may trigger a memory to make him believe that he is living in the present of the memory he recalls. Then we reach Quentin's section. In this we learn of the close brother and sister relationship he and Caddy have and his obsession of trying to protect her. Quentin also reflects from past to present but not in the way Benjy does, he is stuck believing in old traditional views and his life takes a turn when feelings are brought up within him when Caddy has an unexpected pregnancy. Then the third section revolves around Jason. Unlike his brothers, Jason does not reflect on the past at all, his main focus solely revolves around the present. Another difference we see in him is he despises Caddy, he doesn't care for her like his other two brothers, he blames her for everything that goes wrong in his life. Then we finally meet Dilsey's point of  view. Dilsey was the second mother to all the Compson children. In her section she teaches a sudden epiphany about the doom of the Compson family, "I've seed de first en de last... I seed de beginnin, and now I sees de endin." Then towards the very end, there are two narrative lines of Benjy and Jason that produce an ending.
I think Faulkner wrote in this order because he wanted to draw the reader in (which he did), and to show the reader how much the book  revolves around Caddy and how the traditional old southern views take place in this novel. Benjy loves his sister because she is the only person that cares for him, but his view is old south. Because of his mental illness he is stuck in the past. Quentin loves his sister as well and all he wants to do is protect her but his view is also old south! I think even more old south than Benjy's view because he is stuck on traditional values for women. When he learns of her unexpected pregnancy he knew the family would shut her out and disown her and that's why he tried to take the blame and said he committed incest with her because in his mind women don't want sex. Next there's Jason who is also old south. With these three brothers believing in the traditonal views of the old south Faulker inserts through Dilsey's section that Caddy is the representation of the new south. She hates the traditional views of the old south even when she was younger, thus expains her rebelliousness.
Overall this novel is centered around Caddy and her representation in the book. She's the new south, while her family is stuck in the past and still believing in the old south views. I think the Compson's view of the old south is their downfall because they are so stuck on tradition and old southern views, while Caddy is surviving the downfall because she never believed in those traditonal views anyways. That being said, this novel is about the Compsons family downfall and how it affected each character in different ways. The telling of the story four times signifies this and how the old southern views affected each character in a different way and tore the family apart. Their lives went downhill.

April Sixth, 1928
Lots of families tend to have a rebellious troublesome child, for the Compsons, Jason is that child. When we first meet Jason Compson, we see him in Benjy's chapter sabotaging the paper dolls she and Benjy made. Caddy believed that he was being spiteful and did it out of pure meanness while Jason denied he didn't do it to be mean. Faulkner makes it clear from the beginning that Jason would be a troublesome child. Jason seems like the type of  person that likes to be in control and to hold the upper hand. As a child he was always a tattletale, "If you've already told... There's nothing else you can tell now"  Caddy points this out in  Benjy's chapter. Jason's way of "telling" on  the others was his way of power over them. As he gets older we see that Jason is becoming greedy with power and money. He's been scamming both his mother and his niece with money. The money Caddy sent to her daughter, Jason's been stealing without Quentin's knowledge while Jason's mother thinks he's making good money at his job. Even with all the stealing he's done and the lies he's told, Jason is still unhappy, bitter even. He's an ungrateful man that only looks out for himself, thinking that he's better than everyone around him. He thinks his mother is an "old fool", that Caddy and Quentin are nothing but a disgrace, and the people that work for his family are nothing but filthy low class "n-words". He'd rather send his whole family to Jackson where the crazy mental asylum is. This shows how much of a terrible man he is. I couldn't believe how hateful of a character he is, but then you could have predicted it by the way he treated Caddy and Benjy when they were younger. He is a man that cheats, scams, and lies, he only looks out for himself and when things go down hill, he blames anyone but himself.

June Second, 1910
Just as I thought I was getting a better understanding of the book and being able to keep up and process the different changes of time in Benjy's point of view, I was thrown for a loop when the view changed to Quentin Compsons. He doesn't really have a clear sense of the "I" in his view because he is always contemplating time and his past. His section of the story was almost eighteen years prior to the present  day of Benjy's section, but instead of focusing on flashbacks of his earlier childhood like Benjy, he thinks back to Caddy's sexuality. He is so shocked and horrified about Caddy and her virginity. Quentin has strong views of honor, so the idea of womanhood and virginity, Quentin cannot accept his sister's "growing sexuality" or his fathers view that "virginity is merely an invention by men". Most of his flashbacks go back to his sister and his involvement in her sexual life, I find it quite strange that Quentin was so involved. It was also strange that he anounced to his father that he was the one that impregnated Caddy and they committed incest. So let's be clear: There was no sex between Quentin and Caddy, Quentin was actually a virgin and thought of all women as sisters and that no man should desire their sister. But by saying he's committed invest with Caddy, he thinks he's helping her, but Caddy doesn't want his help, in reality Quentin is the one that may need help.

Quentin's narration of the story may be confusing to the reader because his thoughts are sporadic and his thoughts are constantly jumping to one thought to the next. Also his perception of time occured on almost every page which may suggest that he is obsessed with it, he is also trying to "escape" from it. This suggests that his mental state is unstable.

April Seventh, 1928
Faulkner starts his novel with such a disorienting chapter because he has his main character, Benjy Compson, the mentally retarded son of the Compson family, narrate everything in his point of view. In Benjy's point of view he has a voice of a child, he is aware and observant to everything that is going on around him, but can tell the story in a disorienting tone with the ongoing change of time periods. Maybe that was Faulkner's point so that he can relate those different periods of time and Benjy's experience through those times, to see how they affect actual human experiences in every day life. When we tell a story that has happened in the past we reflect through our point of view, which is what Faulkner is having Benjy do to relate to human experience. So Faulkner starts off the chapter in Benjy's disorienting point of view so that the reader can tell what is going throughout the chapter, like what time period they are in and what Benjy remembers from then because he is constantly thinking of the past. He has no perception of the time period he is actually in, he just sees something from the present and it immediately triggers something from the past that makes him relive that memory that has him thinking he is actually in that time period he is thinking of.
Benjy's status in the Compson family is pretty low. He is the runt of the litter, he is seen as a mistake that cannot fend for himself and the Compson family is just stuck with him. Benjy is basically raised by the Gibsons because his mother cannot stand to care for him for fear of her status and appearance. The Gibsons try their best to be patient with him, but think he is a blubbering idiot that can't do anything without their help. Benjy is also seen as lower than the Gibson's even because here is a grown white man that comes from a high and proper family, that cannot even take care of himself because he has the mind set of a three year old. Even though Benjy cannot really do anything for himself, he can still understand somewhat of what is going on in his family. His role with the Compson family is being observant to what is going on and to sense things that will happen in the future. He plays a very innocent role in his not so innocent family. His unique perspective about his family tells us that Uncle Maury is an alcoholic, his mother is too proud and way too concerned about appearances, and Caddy smells like trees and doesn't care about what anyone thinks about her. His family is very cautious about Benjy and they don't want anyone to see the way he is because they care too much about their status.
Benjy is dependent on the consistency of family and past memories because he cannot rely on himself  since everyone else takes care of him. He goes back to the memories of when he was younger because in the present, the things that are occuring may bring stress to Benjy which causes him to retreat back to those old memories. Because now his family is even more ashamed of him since he is grown and mentally retarded. This says that his family is full of pride and caught up in appearances more in the present than they were in the past. Maybe Faulkner is saying the South can be very judgemental?
Is Benjy a symbol? I would think he is a symbol of everything that is wrong in the Compson family because he tells the story in his point of view of all the wrong his family has done which worsens over time. The same goes with Benjy, because over time his mental illness worsens. He is a three year old stuck in a thirty three year old mans body.

While looking at various articles about William Faulkner, I learned a significant amount of information through my research about him. He was born on September 25, 1897 in New Albany, Mississippi. I learned that he is a winner of the Nobel Prize and he is known throughout the world as one of the twentieth century's greatest writers. His novel, "The Sound and the Fury" was considered a great artistic achievement and with that Faulkner had accomplished more than most writers could accomplish in a life time! What was also interesting was that he published a great number of literary works during the time of financial ruin and the Great Depression. For a young writer that didn't graduate high school or receive a college degree, he was still successful throughout his writing career.