A Psychological View of Benjy's Mental Retardation in The Sound and the Fury

A Psychological View of Benjy 's Mental Retardation Benjamin Compson, a character from The Sound and the Fury, is the youngest child of Jason and Caroline Compson who has round the clock supervision. His keepers say, "he been three years old thirty years" (Faulkner 17). Mental retardation is a condition that is associated with a person who develops slowly. "The label mentally retarded is applied when someone is significantly below average in general intellectual functioning (IQ less than 70) and has significant deficits in adaptive functioning (American Psychiatric Association, 2000)" (qtd. In Huffman 306). Benjy 's character matches this definition of mentally retarded perfectly. In order for psychologists to recognize persons ' with mental retardation, they use the Standford-Binet Intelligence Scale to test their intelligence level. If an individual score a 70 or below on the IQ test the person is incapable of functioning properly and is referred to as mentally retarded. He is thirty-three years old with the mind of a three year old because he suffers with mental retardation. In the book, The Sound and the Fury, Benjy 's mental retardation can be defined through his language development, cognitive development, and family impact. Benjy cannot communicate with others because of his premature language development. Since he is incapable of talking to express himself, others view Benjy as an idiot. Contrary to popular belief, "he know lot more than folks thinks" ( Faulkner 31). According to the stages of language development in psychology, Benjy is at a stand still

in the prelinguistic stage. In the prelinguistic stage, "at about 2 to 5 months babies begin cooing and babbling" (Huffman 295). Even though Benjy has the mind of a three year old, he exhibits the behavior of a five-month-old baby in terms of his language capabilities. He bellows all the time for one reason or another as a way to express himself. Luster, one of his keepers, constantly tries

Cited: Burack, Jacob A., Robert M. Hodapp, and Edward Zigler, eds. Handbook of Mental Retardation and Development. Rev. ed. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1998. . Everett, Walter K. Faulkner 's Art and Characters. Woodbury: Barron 's Educational Series, Inc., 1969. Faulkner, William. The Sound and the Fury. New York: Vintage International, 1990. Huffman, Karen. Psychology in Action. 7th ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2004. Tuck, Dorothy. Crowell 's Handbook of Faulkner. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1964. Wadsworth, Barry J. Piaget 's Theory of Cognitive and Affective Development. 3rd ed. New York, NY: Longman, 1984.