Compson Family As Microcosm

Written in 1929, William Faulkner’s novel, The Sound and the Fury, encapsulates much of the liminality which defined American culture at that time. The 1920s was an era of unprecedented social transformation in the United States. Change had transpired rapidly. The Civil War, which ended in 1865, stopped the institution of black slavery; subsequent decades saw radical readjustment of race relations. Additionally, the earliest portion of the 20th century was a time of accelerated industrialization, and a revolutionized American economy. The United States was progressively becoming urbanized. Certain notions which had characterized the 19th century, particularly regarding standards of acceptable sexual behavior, suitable gender realms, and classist expectations of delineated privilege, were becoming increasingly obsolete. These cultural mutations fostered tensions which were perhaps experienced most powerfully within insular factions of people. Faulkner’s novel illustrates these breeds of tension. The Compson family is a microcosm that demonstrates the friction of greater American culture during the late 1920s. Specifically, the Compsons depict the disruption of stable class distinctions in the Southern states.
The character of Quentin is a representation of the “old” culture; he clings to antiquated notions of sexual purity, gender, and class distinctions. Caddy, contrastingly, represents the burgeoning “new” American culture. She is far less sexually inhibited than the prototypical 19th century southern aristocratic woman. Her sexual liberation is a symptom of the dissolution of southern aristocracy as it was before the inaugural decades of the 1900s. Furthermore, this dissolution is demonstrated by Caddy’s considerable lack of concern for social consequences to her sexual behavior. She behaves in way that would previously have been considered abominable in popular culture, and exhibits little fear of repercussion.