The Sound and the Fury

The Sound and the Fury is William Faulkner’s novel about the decline of the Compson family, told through sharply different perspectives. Its first three sections follow the voices or consciousness of Benjy, Quentin, and Jason Compson; a final section changes the narrative vantage point. Caddy remains central to their memories even though she has no equivalent section of her own. Events return in fragments, and familiar details acquire new meanings as the voices change. This demanding structure makes time and interpretation part of the family’s tragedy, exposing the limits of possession, resentment, and inherited pride.