Reading Benjy's Section

First, we will learn to decipher Benjy's thoughts. Doing so requires a mix of imagination and logic, but, as with all things, practice makes perfect. Let us consider the first paragraph of the novel:

“Through the fence, between the curling flower spaces, I could see them hitting. They were coming toward where the flag was and I went along the fence. Luster was hunting in the grass by the flower tree. They took the flag out, and they were hitting. Then they put the flag back and they went to the table, and he hit and the other hit. Then they went on, and I went along the fence. Luster came away from the flower tree and we went along the fence and they stopped and we stopped and I looked through the fence while Luster was hunting in the grass” (3).

Take note of the first sentence, particularly the phrase “between the curling flower spaces.” Are the flowers curling? Do the flowers form curled spaces through which to look? It is impossible to tell. What about “I could see them hitting”? What, exactly, you might be asking, are they hitting?

In just the first sentence, we become aware of Benjy's habitual ambiguous descriptions and usage of transitive verbs as intransitives. It's very difficult to ascertain what exactly he's describing – it looks to be people pulling and placing flags while hitting someone or something. He is actually narrating a game of golf.

Another peculiarity in Benjy's section is his tendency to begin narrating a memory when he receives a sensory stimulus. For instance, examine this passage:

“Wait a minute.” Luster said. “You snagged on that nail again. Cant you never crawl through here without snagging on that nail.” Caddy uncaught me and we crawled through. Uncle Maury said to not let anybody see us, so we better stoop over, Caddy said. Stoop over, Benjy. Like this, see. We stooped over and crossed the garden, where the flowers rasped and rattled against us. The ground was hard . . .” (4).

What happened here was Benjy heard the word “nail” and began to narrate another occasion when he was stuck on the nail, as evidenced by the switch to italics and the change from Luster to Caddy. You might have also noticed that Luster's question, “Cant you never crawl through here without snagging on that nail,” lacks both an apostrophe in the contraction “Cant” and a question mark. To some, this indicates Benjy's narrative role as being simply a mirror for what he sees and hears, colored with stray thoughts and past experiences.

As you see, you have to pay careful attention to what Benjy is actually experiencing and feeling in order to comprehend his section. This holds true for the remaining four sections; be thoughtful, and you'll be more comfortable with the novel in no time.

Polk, Noel. “Trying Not to Say: A Primer on the Language of The Sound and the Fury.” New Essays on The Sound and the Fury. Ed. Noel Polk. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1993. 139-75.

Kartiganer, Donald M. The Fragile Thread: The Meaning of Form in Faulkner's Novels. Amherst: U of Massachusetts P, 1979.

Bleikasten, André. The Most Splendid Failure: Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1976.

Ross, Stephen M., and Noel Polk. Reading Faulkner: The Sound and the Fury. Jackson: UP of Mississippi, 1996.