Dilsey's Grandmother In The Commpson

“ ‘Ise seed de first en de last,’ she said, looking at the cold stove, ‘I seed de first en de last’ ” (Faulkner, 375). As Dilsey reflects on herself as she witnesses the fall of the Compson family she realizes that she is helpless to stop it, but serving a family from its being to end, especially one with negligent parents, and taking it upon herself to raise the children must mean she has had a life time of child care experience. This makes her exceptionally qualified and ready to handle the life experience of being a grandparent. Due to the calm and motherly way Dilsey handles and reacts to every situation and problem the Compsons throw at her, she would have no problem transitioning into becoming a caring, motherly grandmother who would instill in her grandchildren honorable virtues by leading by example.
First of all, Dilsey would react to and handle being a grandmother by not only being loving and caring to all her grandchildren, but also a dependable, motherly figure in their life. These are all noticeable characteristics of hers that she puts into practice often. On Benjy’s thirty-third birthday, she goes out and buys him a birthday cake with her own money even though her status does not allow her to have much money as she explains to Mrs. Compson, “I brought it. It never came out of Jason’s pantry. I fixed him some birthday” (Faulkner, 73).
This also suggests that she would become one of those grandparents who spoil their grandchildren on certain occasions because before Mrs. Compson confronts Dilsey, Dilsey tells Luster and Benjy, “You all go ahead and eat this cake, now, before Jason come. I don’t want him jumping on me about a cake I brought with my own money” (Faulkner, 69). Even though she knew she would be given a hard time about the cake if Jason ever saw it, she went ahead and got it anyway because it was Benjy’s birthday and she wanted to do something special for him. Another time Dilsey’s caring, motherly nature is seen is when she tries to comfort Benjy as Faulkner writes, “Dilsey led Ben to the bed and drew him down beside her and she held him, rocking back, and forth, wiping his drooling mouth upon the hem of her skirt” (Faulkner, 395). This also shows how dependable Dilsey is because she basically runs the Compson household since Mr. Compson succumbs to alcohol and Mrs. Compson is concerned about nothing but herself and her sickness. She is the only person the Compson children have to turn to, especially Benjy, who Mrs. Compson feels is a judgement on her and hardly pays attention to him, and she raises them like her they are her own. She handles this on top of caring for her own family. Moreover, she even takes Caddy’s daughter Quentin under her wing after she gets sent home for Mrs. Compson to raise. This brings out more of Dilsey’s motherly care which shows in their argument over Quentin wanting another cup of coffee. Dilsey finishes it by declaring, “I aint gwine do it. You aint got no business wid mo’n one cup, a seventeen year old gal, let lone whut Miss Cahline say. You go on and git dressed for school, so you kin ride to town wid Jason. You fixin to be late again” (Faulkner, 227). If she shows this much care for a girl from another family who she is not even required to take care of, she will without question do the same for any grandchildren she might have. There is also another aspect of caring besides being kind and concerned for others and that is disciplining them in order to teach and guide them. This is something Dilsey practices often both with the Compson’s kids and her own. One example of this is when Luster loudly throws the wood he brought in down and Dilsey scolds him asking, “ ‘Is you trying to wake up de whole house?’ Dilsey said. She hit him on the back of his head with the flat of her hand” (Faulkner, 336). Accordingly, due to Dilsey’s actions towards others and the characteristics she possesses, she would handle becoming a grandmother by displaying a loving and caring attitude toward her grandchildren and be a person they could come to and depend on whenever they need her.
Another way Dilsey would handle and react to becoming a grandmother is by doing her best to become a role model for them to learn from. She does this for Quentin as he is growing up because from his point of view it is clear that he is obsessed with the ideals of Southern honor. This comes out when Mr. Compson acts indifferent to Quentin about Caddy’s pregnancy explaining, “Boys. Men. They lie about it. Because it means less to a women, Father said. He said it was men invented virginity not women” (Faulkner, 96). Since Mr. and Mrs. Compson were very distant in the raising of their children these ideals are ones that he most likely acquired from Dilsey who upheld them. Caddy probably also picked up her caring nature that she displays toward Benjy from Dilsey as well. Dilsey would also be a grandmother who would make sure her grandchildren were brought up in the faith because that is another Southern value that she passes down to her children and displays around the Compsons as she sings hymns to stay uplifted while doing housework. She even brings Benjy to church on Easter Sunday despite all the folks that talk about him, but she defends Benjy proclaiming, “Tell um de good Lawd don’t keer whether he smart er not” (Faulkner, 362). From the parallels seen between the characteristics of Dilsey and those of the children she raises as well as her devotion to religion, it can be concluded that as a grandmother she would instill honor in her grandchildren and bring them up to know Christ.
From a close analysis of Dilsey’s experience and interactions with the Compson children and her own family, she would be a caring, motherly, and dependable grandmother for her grandchildren who would help them acquire honorable qualities and know the Lord by living her life as an example for them.
She is always there for the Compson children to guide, sustain, care for, and love them while one of their parents is killing himself with alcohol and the other is self-absorbed and sick. If she was thrown into this position she would no doubt be a great and beneficial person for her grandchildren to have in their
lives.