The Sound and the Fury: Benjy

The first chapter of The Sound and the Fury is narrated by Benjy, a thirty-three-year-old mentally handicapped man living in a rural town in the deep South. Benjy often flashes back to previous memories in various times of his life without giving the reader much warning, which makes for a very disorienting chapter. Faulkner probably does this partly to introduce the characters. When the actions of the characters are described by Benjy, they show the true nature of these characters in how they treat Benjy. One of the major topics in the book is about Caddy, who is not one of the narrators, and Benjy's characterization of her gives an insightful introduction into who she was, a courageous, loving, and independent woman. His perspective, though very confusing because of the time period switches, gives fairly straightforward insight into the Compson family. He tells things as they happen, which makes him a surprisingly reliable narrator in that way. In the Compson household, Benjy is a nuisance and an embarrassment to his parents. There always needs to be someone taking care of him, and that person is surprisingly never his parents, rather Caddy or one of their black servants. Yet, Benjy brings the family together because everyone has to deal with him and look after him, even if some family members are nicer to him than others. Benjy needs consistency and is constantly thinking about past events. He gets very upset and cries if something is not the same as it usually is, which shows that consistency is important in a family, and though change is necessary at times, it is important to have some consistent things that keep the family together. This also symbolizes the South's struggle at this point to change their views on race, despite the changing society in other areas of the country. The South continually thinks about the past and believes that their culture needs to stay the same.