Benjy Compson

When reading William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, it is normal to become confused on the first page. Many just put the book down instead of trying to tease their way through it. Why is that? The first page really doesn’t seem to make any sense whatsoever. The first chapter, or Benjy’s section, is told through a disorganized stream of consciousness. In other words, a thirty-three-year-old-man is telling a story through the mind of a three-year-old. I will argue that Benjy’s personality, his sense of order, and his sense of time throughout the novel are essentially the most important aspects. Benjy Compson, the most innocent person in the entire Compson family, is also the most misunderstood character in The Sound and the Fury. Because Benjy is the only Compson that is considered innocent in the eyes of John Bassett, he states that Faulkner uses Benjy’s section as the best way to “begin telling the story of lost innocence, the drama of the human minds grief and longing for a fantasized state of childhood bliss” (Bassett 3). I happen to agree with Bassett. In my opinion, Benjy is the most innocent character in the whole store. He has no control over his environment. He has to have someone take care of him at all times. This grown man has the mind of a three-year-old. To me, this screams innocence. Children have been known to be the most innocent human beings, next to dogs. Benjy’s section is the first chapter in the novel. This is a very significant chapter because of its chaotic structure. Eben Bass states, “Benjy of part I ‘knows’ everything that happens at the end of the novel, but he knows it only as a three-year-old” (728). It is apparent throughout the story that Benjy has some sort of mental deficiency. What that may be, we are not told. The other characters in the story are very hateful to him. They even claim that he is deaf, but he can hear them perfectly fine. Benjy just can’t speak. What the other characters don’t know is that Benjy is actually very aware of the things happening around him. Stacy Burton notes, “That Benjy cannot explicitly differentiate between past and present does not mean that he does not experience time or attempt to order it; that he cannot speak or reason does not mean that his discourse is either wholly idiosyncratic or purely objective” (210). What Burton is saying is that just because Benjy cannot differentiate between past and present does not mean that he is an idiot like people claim. Even though Benjy cannot express himself, he is still very aware of what is going on around him and has his own way of interpreting actions and events. Benjy can only communicate basic responses and the other characters consider him to be an idiot, however, just because his mentality lacks doesn’t mean that he isn’t fully aware of what is going on. He can hear people’s conversations. He may not be able to understand what they mean, but he can pick out bits and pieces. He understands a little bit of the information, just not all of it. The characters who think he is deaf are the idiots. Belittling a mentally deficient person to their face is cruel. In my opinion, it has to do with the time period this story was written in. The reason these characters are so cruel to Benjy is because it wasn’t socially acceptable to have a mental deficiency. Benjy’s section is the best way to start the novel because it gives the reader a sense of who the Compson’s are. Benjy isn’t biased towards any character and he sees them for who they really are. It isn’t one sided at all He sees all of the events happening, such as Damuddy’s funeral and Caddy’s wedding, and he interprets it as a toddler. When adults are around small children, they usually watch what they say and use subtext to communicate. With Benjy, no one sensors anything. Everyone thinks he can’t understand, let alone hear them, which is how he gets all of his information. Benjy’s section is a way that Faulkner foreshadowed what was to come later on in the story, which is the main reason it was the best way to begin the novel. Although Benjy has the mind of a three-year-old, he can still feel the absence of his parents even though they live in the same house as him. Because of this, he becomes obsessed with his older sister, Caddy, who also lives in his house. Caddy and Dilsey, the Compson’s African American house keeper, are the only two real mother figures in his life. Since Benjy is so close to Caddy, he associates things with her. For example, in Benjy’s section he is also saying that Caddy smells like trees. He associates that smell with his sister. There is a golf course beside the Compson house and the players always yell for their caddies, which sends Benjy into a tantrum. Benjy has associated Caddy’s name with her face. He has associated the smell of trees with her as well. When he smells this on her he becomes upset. He knows this is associated to her promiscuous sex life. Faulkner intended for Benjy to be able to feel the pain that he goes through, but he will never understand that loss. Benjy will always feel the absence of his parents, however, he will never understand it. Benjy is very gifted. He can associate smells with events. For example, he can smell death. We see this with the death of Damuddy. He knows that she is dead, however, the funeral scene is very vague due to his mental state. Another example of his sense of smell is sex. He can smell sex on Caddy. The smell he associates with her sexual encounters is the smell of trees. This tells us that Benjy knows more than the characters in the story think he does. With that being said, Benjy is the most misunderstood character in the entire novel. From Luster, the young Negro man who watches Benjy, thinking that he is deaf to his mother thinking he is a baby. Benjy knows and remembers more than they think. He just can’t seem to put it in order. Benjy remembers Caddy getting married. He remembers Caroline, his mother, selling his land share for Quentin, his brother, to go to Harvard. Benjy remembers Miss Quentin, his niece, stealing Jason’s, his other brother, money and running away. The only thing he doesn’t know is what came first, what happened last, or what came in between. His mind is very gifted, it just isn’t all the way there. Jacqui Griffiths wrote a very absurd article in which she compares Benjy to a dog. She states, “I will then consider the effects on suggested caninity in the case of Benjy, the forever-infantile retarded character” (170). Benjy may be a lot of things, but, he most certainly does not share canine characteristics. Griffiths point is that Benjy has to have someone take care of him, he slobbers, he has very little of an attention span, and he can’t do anything without someone else. I understand that Benjy may be all of these things, but I find it hard to believe that he could be compared to a dog. He is merely just a human trapped in the mind of a toddler. Griffiths then goes on to say, “the association of dog and child in Benjy, the congenital imbecile who narrates the novel’s first section, resists attachment to the ‘gigantic memory,’ opening up lines of escape and letting ‘the’child become ‘a’ child” (170). The evidence proves that Benjy suffers from a mental deficiency. What I get out of this article is someone who backs up my argument. Benjy needs someone to take care of him, which is something his parents don’t do. I also see something else. Children are innocent, and so are animals. They need someone to feed them and take care of them, just like Benjy. Someone has to give them a bath and clean up after them, just like Benjy does. Dogs are dependent on someone taking care of them, just like Benjy. His mind doesn’t make sense, but I just can’t bring myself to compare him to a dog. I disagree with Griffiths on that aspect, however, I do see how someone could compare him to a dog. Because Benjy has the mentality of a small child, his sense of order and time is skewed. Bass claims, “The reader gets scarcely any sense of order from the idiot because Benjy’s ‘time’ stops at his three year mental age” (728). While that may be true, Benjy is the only character who knows, for the most part, exactly what is going on and, more importantly, his section is the only section that knows what is happening at the beginning and end of the novel. His section does not hold anything back. While it may not specifically state what is going on, because he may not know how to describe it or he may not know exactly what is happening, Benjy still knows what events are going on. Leona Toker says it best when she notes, “The text of The Sound and the Fury is at first difficult to follow. The diffusive presentation of material impedes the imaginative construction of the scenes: words tend to fall flat on our inner ear, failing to come alive in a dramatic illusion. And since the initial mist is at its densest in Section 1 (‘told by an idiot’), it seems to be a side effect of Faulkner's experiment with the point of view” (111). I agree, Faulkner may have been experimenting with point of view. If that is the case, then he did a very good job at creating a narrator who may be considered unreliable by many critics. She also backs up the claim that Benjy’s section is chaotic. Toker also states, “The diffusion of information in The Sound and the Fury is the effect of numerous minor informational gaps which delay pattern recognition. Part of these gaps are called for by the narrative stance” (111). Toker also backs up the claim that Benjy cannot put events in order due to his “informational gaps which delay pattern recognition.” Toker has some very valid points that back up the argument I have been making. In her article, Toker then notes, “The lucid parts of Section 1 carry the major theme of the novel. The frustration of a fundamental human need, the need of love. Very early in the novel, in what we identify as Benjy's memories of his childhood, it is made clear that the egocentric Mrs. Compson does not satisfy her children's need for affection. Even her distress on account of Benjy takes a perfunctory form that does not deceive the sensitive though uncomprehending child” (117). If Benjy had been loved by his mother like he should have been then maybe he would be able to have some sense of order in his memories and events. She couldn’t have cured him, but it could have helped him. Toker notes, “Thus as in Benjy's section, the alternation of clarity and confusion enhances the impact of the episodes that involve Caddy and develop the theme of the need for love” (120). Caroline Compson left the mother role for her daughter, Caddy. When Caddy left, Benjy felt like he would be abandoned once again. No child, no matter how old they are, should have to be afraid of abandonment. This just goes to show that Benjy is not responsible for what has happened to him and that if Caroline had loved him the way she should have then he would be completely different. Warwick Wadlington made a valid point when he said, “The Compson’s' schismatic, incipiently tragic mental habits are strikingly-though perversely-like a two-value logic” (412). In my opinion, there are other Compson’s beside Benjy who have a mental disorder. Wadlington then goes on to note, “To be immersed into Benjy's perspective, which reduces everything to an unqualified opposition (Caddy and not-Caddy), is our proper introduction to the Compson experience of life. As in the novel's first scene, the mental landscape is without middle ground or nuance-there is only this side of the fence or that side of the fence” (414). Wadlington backs up the claim that Benjy’s section is the best way to begin the novel. This critic then goes to say, “Aside from Benjy's lack of normal organic development, his mental processes differ from those of the rest of the family only in degree, not in kind of simplification. In a sense his schematic is larger than life, but it shows what is in the life” (415). Wadlington notes that Benjy does lack development and his mental process is skewed, but not in the way that people think. Wadlington acknowledges that Benjy does realize what is happening. I agree with the fact that he says Benjy shows what is in life. Benjy knows just about everything right up until the last two chapters. He knows very little in these chapters because they are happening as the story goes on. There are no flashbacks or events taken out of order and placed somewhere else. Benjy has to interpret these events as they happen. Burton acknowledged the fact that Benjy’s section is a stream of consciousness. She then went on to state, “Benjy’s section operates with a local coherence that readers rely on, shows the dialogic formation of his identity, demonstrates how his preoccupation with the past affects his present perceptions, and reveals Benjy’s significance for other members of the household” (208). Burton is merely stating that Benjy’s section is the most important one, because all of the information he knows, even though it may be the most disorganized. Bassett explains, “Benjy’s section establishes the major conflicts and characters in the novel, revealing a physically and mentally ill family” (3). Not only does Benjy’s section set the foundation for the novel, it also informs the reader on the personalities of the remaining characters. His section takes us into past and present events, which helps us better understand why everything happens. Bassett merely backs up the claim that Benjy’s section is quite possibly the most important section in the entire novel. With that being said, Burton adds even more evidence when she says, “it [Benjy’s section] fractures conventional critical assumptions by confirming that the Benjy section is anything but a tale ‘signifying nothing’” (209). These critics have made it known that Benjy’s section is the most important one. It isn’t just a chaotic mess, it actually has a purpose. Benjy’s lack of order is due to his lack of comprehension of time. His lack of time is because his world stopped at three years of age. Even though Benjy cannot differentiate what happened yesterday, or what is happening right now, he still does experience time. We can see that he does have some sort of understanding of what is going on around him. He knows that something is happening when it does. Burton says, “Benjy’s lack of a concept of time, Lowry and others argued, leaves him incapable of recognizing cause and effect; unable to organize his experiences temporally, or logically, Benjy must rely on the reoccurring images or sensations he can identify” (209). Yes, Benjy does rely on things he can identify, however, he does understand more than people think he does. He knows that Damuddy died, he knows that Caddy is getting married, he knows that she is promiscuous, he knows that Jason is an awful person, and he knows that Miss Quentin is his niece. Griffiths stated, “It is important to note that the temporal disjunction of Benjy’s narrative makes it difficult to assess his physical age at the time” (170). I don’t necessarily disagree with this. It is difficult to understand how much time has passed when Benjy goes into a memory. This is because he can’t put the events into order and he doesn’t really know how old he was when these events happened. Griffiths merely supports the claim that Benjy really has no sense of time due to his mental deficiency. As stated previously, Benjy does know what happens, he just can’t tell you when they happened or what came first. Benjy does try to organize his experiences, but it doesn’t help that he has no parental support and his family is borderline crazy. His mental disorder is not his fault and the fact that he is basically alone is not his fault. Benjy does the best he can while other characters belittle him right in front of his face. Minter stated in his article, where Faulkner was quoted, “having presented Benjy’s experience, [Faulkner] found that it was so ‘incomprehensible, even I could not have told what was going on then, so I had to write another chapter’” (381). It seems as if it weren’t for Benjy’s chapter, the rest of the novel may not exist. These critics have made it clear that Benjy’s section does not make sense, and even Faulkner knows. Griffiths points out that Benjy’s section “presents a multiple chronology” (174). Again, this is concrete evidence that Benjy has no idea on how to differentiate the past from the present. Miner also claimed, “the ecstasy and relief Faulkner associated with the writing of the novel as a whole, he associated with the writing of Benjy’s section” (385). This also goes to show that even though Benjy’s section doesn’t make sense, it is still the most important section in the whole story. The way that the novel is set up is phenomenal. In the first three sections, not just Benjy’s, the narrators seem to jump back and forth in time. There is more of the time jump in Benjy’s section because of his inability to keep track of time and differentiating the past from the present. In one sentence Benjy could be in present day and the next he could be five years old. It allows for the reader to understand the build up to that Easter Sunday and it also allows for clarification on the history of the Compson family. In Quentin’s section, it is strictly told in the past, his present, but it is still past. We see his suicide and what drove it him to it. In Jason’s section, we are back in present day. It is the day before Easter. The buildup from Benjy’s section and the background information from Quentin’s section leads us to what happens on Easter Sunday: Miss Quentin steals the money Jason has been keeping from her. The chaotic setup in this book gives the reader a sense of the dysfunctionality of the Compson family and it helps the reader understand why everything happens. All in all, it is safe to say the Benjy Compson is the most misunderstood character in the story. He is bullied, belittled, and pushed to the side, however, his personality proves that he is not the idiot that everyone claims he is. Just because he has no sense of order or time does not mean that he is clueless, or deaf for that matter. It has been made clear that his section of the novel is the most important section, not just because it is introductory, but because it is the only section that knows what is happening at the beginning and the end. The disorganization of Benjy’s section is ultimately the foundation for the Compson family. Works Cited Bass, Eben. "Images in The Sound and the Fury." Modern Language Notes, Vol. 76, No. 8. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Dec. 1961. Web. 7 Apr. 2015. Bassett, John E. "Family Conflict in The Sound and the Fury." Studies in American Fiction, Vol. 9, No. 1. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1981. Web. 7 Apr. 2015. Burton, Stacy. "Benjy, Narrativity, and the Coherence of the Compson History." Cardozo Studies in Law and Literature, Vol. 7, No. 2. Taylor & Francis Ltd., 1995. Web. 7 Apr. 2015. Griffiths, Jacqui. “Indeterminate Children and Dogs in ‘Flush’ and ‘The Sound and the Fury.’” The Yearbook of English Studies, Vol. 32. Modern Humanities Research Association, 2002. Web. 7 Apr. 2015. Martin, Robert A. “The Word of The Sound and the Fury.” The Southern Literary Journal, Vol. 32, No. 1. University of North Carolina Press, Fall 1999. Web. 7 Apr. 2015. Minter, David. "Childhood and the Making of The Sound and the Fury." American Literature, Vol. 57, No. 3. Duke University Press, Nov. 1979. Web. 7 Apr. 2015. Toker, Leona. “Diffusion of Information in The Sound and the Fury. College Literature, Vol. 15, No. 2. College Literature, 1988. Web. 7 Apr. 2015. Wadlington, Warwick. The Sound and the Fury: A Logic of Tragedy. American Literature, Vol. 5. Duke University Press, Nov. 1981. Web. 7 Apr. 2015.