Caddy Compson

Caddy, whose formal name is Candace, is the daughter of Jason Compson III and Caroline Compson, formerly Caroline Bascomb. According to the Compson Appendix, Caddy was “[d]oomed and knew it, accepted the doom without either seeking or fleeing it” (336). In The Sound and the Fury, she, like so many other women in Faulkner's fiction, serves as the nonpresent center of the novel: her three brothers possess an obsession with her and her sexuality, an obsession perhaps engendered by the three of them seeing her wet and muddy underwear as she climbed a tree during their childhood (39). Caddy becomes pregnant (it is unclear who the father is, though Quentin alleges that “You dont know whose it is then”), and marries Herbert Head. She gives birth to a daughter, who she names Quentin after her brother, and sends her to the Compson home to be raised. She sends money every month for her daughter's upkeep and accuses Jason of taking the money (190). In the Compson Appendix, a librarian finds a picture of a German staffgeneral with a woman who resembles Caddy; though many readers assume that the woman in the picture is in fact Caddy, it's never clear.

Peculiarly, there exists a misconception even among literary critics that Caddy is as sexually promiscuous as her brothers, particularly Jason, believe she is. However, there is no textual evidence that supports this claim; Quentin asks her “Have there been many Caddy” and she replies “I dont know too many will you look after Benjy and Father.” Even though many readers take this to mean she's promiscuous, even one or two partners could be too many (115).

Compsons

The Sound and the Fury
“A Justice”
“That Evening Sun”

Polk, Noel. Children of the Dark House: Text and Context in Faulkner. Jackson, MS: UP of Mississippi, 1996.

Folks, Jeffrey J.: “Crowd and Self: William Faulkner's Sources of Agency in The Sound and the Fury” Southern Literary Journal 34:2 Spring (2002): 30-44.