What Are Faulkner's Literary Techniques In The Sound And The Fury

Faulkner’s masterful technique creates a first person look into the unraveling mind of a time obsessed boy. In The Sound and The Fury, by William Faulkner, Quentin Compson slings to the past and tries desperately to stay afloat. As the old order crumbles and sinks around him, Quentin has to make a choice whether to sink or to float. Like Quentin, Faulkner saw how society was changing, which is where he probably got the idea for the character. Faulkner took inspiration from his experiences growing up in a changing southern United States in the early 20th century. His writing styles were not conservative, and he often experimented with different literary devices. In each chapter, Faulkner writes in a different style, using a mix of literary elements
to convey multiple themes and perspectives. In The Sound and The Fury, William Faulkner shows that an attachment to the past does not create a solid future by weaving together syntax, diction, and organizational structure. Quentin’s attachment to the past and the traditional ways of the South has had profound effect on his psyche, evident in the way Faulkner incorporates run-on sentences that go on for a long time.
These moments usually focus on either his sister Caddy, his father, or his mother. The most poignant moment of run-on that occurs is Quentin reflecting on his mother, and how she was quick to play the pity card. For over 2 pages, Quentin’s stream-of-consciousness is focused on phrases his mother was often saying such as “what [has she] done to have been given children like these,” “[her] thinking that Benjamin was punishment enough for any sins [she has] committed,” and “[she] see now that [she] must pay for [Quentin’s] sins as well as [hers]” (Faulkner 102-103). Phrases like these not only show how Mrs. Compson thought, but also how she constantly treated her children. She, in a way, blames Quentin for the sins she has to pay because she is paying for his sins from the past as well as her own. This leads to Quentin’s downfall. Moments where he focuses on Caddy deeply reflect his most troubled feelings about how he believes things should be: how they had been in the old southern order. Caddy’s pregnancy, from sleeping with a man she wasn’t married
to, is one of the main causes of Quentin’s spiraling sanity. To Quentin, this is an obvious break from what he considers to be normal, from what society considered to be normal, and it tore him to shreds. His attempts to confront his sister about it, his various attempted “solutions”, such as claiming incest, and his frustration and depression following her refusal to listen to him are the most frequent to appear in his run-on sentences. In a series of run-on flashbacks, Quentin recalls tells Caddy, “‘how it was it was a crime [they] did a terrible crime’”(148). He is trying to convince Caddy to go along with claiming incest, which is the crime he is referring to. To Quentin, she is what shows him the true flaws and cracks in the system he had revered, that his father had taught him the ins and outs of, and what destroys him in the end. Faulkner implements run-on sentences to show Quentin’s attachment to the past and his obsession with traditional Southern social codes.
Despite his obvious mental instability and his constant repetitive thoughts, Quentin displays an incredible intellect, evident through his rich and diverse vocabulary. Throughout his chapter, Quentin makes his intelligence very known. Early on, Faulkner drops that Quentin is attending Harvard, an obvious indication that Quentin has some intelligence. He uses various complicated words and Latin phrases that an uneducated man wouldn’t even know. At the beginning of his chapter, he uses the phrase “reducto absurdum,” a phrase that goes all the way back to Aristotle in ancient Greece (76). The phrase is used to counter an argument, and is used a lot when Quentin is proving a point in his mind. This phrase is actually repeated a handful of times throughout his narration. His obsessing over the past and need to say this phrase eventually leads to his downfall. Besides the Latin phrases, Quentin also uses more advanced words like “pompous,” which is a word that doesn’t come up in everyday conversations (100). His use of these words show his intelligence, and with as much intelligence as Quentin possesses, the future seemed bright, but his obsession with the past, and his desire to set things to how they had been destroys him. Quentin would never receive the “mausoleum of all hope and desire,” he would just end up at the bottom of the river (76). Although his use of complex words and phrases suggests a long, healthy life, his repetitive and obsessive thoughts show that a solid future isn’t always a given.
The most evident sign of the past tearing Quentin apart is through paragraph patterns; the past is literally tearing itself into the narrative and interrupting whatever is going on in the present. In moments of intense emotion, the stream of consciousness that Faulkner incorporates runs out of control. The distinction between the past and the present begin to blur in these moments. While thinking about something emotional, the thought triggers him to recall another moment of his past, “to leave Harvard” is suddenly and harshly interrupted by him recalling how it was “[his] mother’s dream [that they] sold Benjy’s pasture for” (102). These interruptions occur at some of the most emotional times in Quentin’s narration, and will often happen during his stream of consciousness. These moments are often intense emotional moments for Quentin, and the way they violently tear their way into the narrative implies that they’re doing the same in Quentin’s mind. In one flashback, he recalls saying, “‘Caddy’s a woman too remember. She must do things for women’s reasons too’” (92). He believes in traditional Southern social codes and hasn’t caught up with modern times. He’s obsessed with the past, and views the fact that the old order of things wasn’t kept a failure. He continues to worry about Caddy and her husband, Herbert. Before their wedding day, Quentin constantly urged Caddy not to marry him. To the present day, Quentin still remembers when Caddy said “ Quentin this is Herbert,” introducing the two for the first time (93). This thought was triggered then and continued to be triggered throughout his narration. He continued to obsess over Herbert, Caddy, and their wedding. These obsessive thoughts ultimately led to him ending his own life. Faulkner having the paragraphs switch between past and present is a good way to convey how obsessing over the past doesn’t necessarily mean there will be a future.
Faulkner shows that the attachment to the past isn’t a good way to stay afloat by the use of syntax, diction, and organizational structure. Quentin’s obsession with the past and with time is what slowly caused him to unravel seam by seam. Faulkner’s use of run-on sentences shows how Quentin obsesses over small things, such as the past, time, and Caddy, and his thoughts keep going with no stop and, in the end, cause him to sink. The use of complex diction to convey Quentin’s intelligence may suggest the boy has a bright future ahead of him, but the repetitiveness of these prove that the future may be very short. Faulkner arranges the paragraphs in a way that they switch between the past and the present. This displays that constantly thinking about the past can blur with the present. The now blurred line between the two can cause a major downfall.