Benjy Compson, Golf Courses, and Strange Obsessions

            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.


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