Let’s
start in at the beginning with Benjy, Faulkner’s “idiot.” Well, actually, that’s a bad idea if you are
a reader of The Sound and the Fury. For someone reading that novel, starting in Benjy’s
world is a nightmare. He’s a nice guy, unlike
some other characters in this novel, but he’s not the easiest guy to follow. Faulkner begins the novel with Benjy because
of his innocence. He is 33 years old in
1928. As Luster jokes, however, “it’s like he’s
been three for thirty years” (Faulkner 1). Benjy’s birthday is the day before Easter, and
he’s 33, the age of Christ upon crucifixion. This shows Benjy’s parallel to
Christ, as he suffers just as Christ did, but to no avail. He is mentally handicapped and unable to talk.
Every now and then, somebody pays attention
to Benjy. Luster, for instance, whispers
Caddy’s name just to get him upset. When
Benjy gets upset, he bellows.
Because Benjy’s mentally
handicapped, Faulkner resorts to an intense description of the senses in order to
describe Benjy’s world. The reader doesn’t read about Benjy eating oatmeal, but
rather, how the oatmeal disappears from the bowl. Benjy describes this scene as, “It got down below the mark. Then the bowl was empty. It went away. ‘He's hungry tonight.’ Caddy
said. The bowl came back. I couldn't see the spot. Then I could. ‘He's starved, tonight.’ Caddy said. ‘Look how much he's eaten" (Faulkner 17).
Faulkner’s avoids specific tone
while inside Benjy’s mind, since Benjy doesn’t have a developed personality
which proclaims itself in the world. Rather,
he perceives things, and things happen to
him.
Benjy seems to live mostly in
the past. It’s not too hard to
understand why he would, as nobody would want to live with the other members of
the Compson family. As Benjy flashes
between his childhood and sad life in the present, he time shifts, which is one
of the most difficult aspects of his chapter. Time shifting tells us a lot about his
character. It shows time is pretty
irrelevant to him, and important things are always present. Caddy and trees and flowers fill his
thoughts. Time shifting is one way to
make them always part of his experience.
Benjy is fascinated by the
fire, he loves his slipper and his flower, and he loves Caddy. He is comfortable with order, largely because
it’s hard for him to come to conclusions on his own. Benjy hasn’t learned deductive and inductive
reasoning yet, and he’s 33. When Caddy
was around, Benjy had someone to help him make sense of the world. At one point Caddy says, “’It's froze. Look.’ She broke the top of the water and
held a piece of it against my face. ‘Ice. That means how cold it is’” (Faulkner
8). Without Caddy, Benjy just notices
bright cold shapes; no ice or recognition of the fact that it’s cold outside. He only notices the impression of a person,
thing, or sensation which shows the reader his own personal world, and allows
us to relate to his personally.
Benjy
likes when things stay the same because it’s difficult for him to communicate
his opinions of change. Benjy can only “say”
something when Caddy’s around. For example,
he gets Caddy to realize that he doesn’t like her perfume by bellowing. He doesn’t like her perfume because it “covers
up her smell of trees” (Faulker 25). On
the other hand, Benjy is unable to talk to the girls outside his gate without
scaring the heck out of them. He’s
actually pretty scared about his gate being left open, and this scene shows Benjy’s
inability to communicate what he wants to say. His ability to perceive the world is also
faulted in this scene as, “I opened
the gate and they stopped, turning. I
was trying to say, and I caught her, trying to say, and she screamed and I was
trying to say and trying arid the bright shapes began to stop and I tried to
get out. I tried to get it off of my
face, but the bright shapes were going again” (Faulkner 43). As
Benjy tries harder and harder to connect to fellow humans, his world melts into
spinning forms. Benjy’s perceptions get trapped
due to his lack of language, and the whole thing goes down bad. It really doesn’t get any better for Benjy as
time goes on. For example, in this scene,
his inability to say anything leads the teenagers at the gate to conclude that
he attacked them. He is deprived of all power as a result.
Ever
since Caddy left, Benjy wanders the grounds of the Compson house all alone. When the family sells a piece of their land,
it becomes a golf course. This is cruel
as there are caddies on golf courses, and every time Benjy hears the word
"Caddy," he lets out a moan of despair. It’s a habitual response, and the one way he
speaks. No one seems to care whether
Benjy speaks or not. Luster uses Caddy’s
name as a way to get a quick rise out of Benjy. Quentin and Jason only ponder ways to get
Benjy out of the way. Oh, and then
there’s his mother, the queen of all jerks.
Mother is always concerned with herself, and declares Benjy a “judgment”
and “curse” (Faulkner 2). What a lovely
thing to say about one of your kids, isn’t it?
Ironically, compared to the
other characters in The Sound and the Fury,
Benjy actually has quite a lot figured out. He desires things, such as Caddy, and he
ponders about how to make those desires reality. Benjy’s section to some is
considered disturbing. If you are one of
these people, watch out, because Faulkner’s other characters are probably
equally disturbing. Unlike Benjy,
Faulkner’s other characters are much less able to think about the cause of
their unhappiness, depression, misery and despair.
Picture source: http://www.flash-screen.com/
