english

Upon finishing The Sound and The Fury, I felt as I did in the beginning…still confused. Not confused in the sense of the book in itself, but confused oh how this book is considered “Canonical.” I have definitely read other books that are way more intriguing that aren’t in the canon, and that makes me frustrated to know. It makes me feel as though if I were to read other books in the canon, I would fear they would be as bad as this one. Talking with my classmates and our discussions in class only made me realize I wasn’t the only one who felt this way, the majority of the class did as well. Which makes me think that there has to be something special about this book that has made it canonical worthy. I’ve sat and thought about what qualities it has that have made it so significant for the canon, maybe it’s the common themes found throughout the novel..maybe it isn’t. I Just don’t know and I cant seem to think of any more. But I cant express it enough that I couldn’t be any more happier to be done with reading and talking about The Sound and the Fury. Its even frustrating for me to have to write about it again for a blog just because I have nothing really left to say. The characters in this book were all twisted and screwed up in one way or another whether it was weird relations between brother and sister or the fact that Benjy’s family ‘decapitated’ him or the fact that Jason was so money hungry he stole from his own niece. The book was difficult to follow throughout and I cant express it enough, I’m thankful the torture is over.

I italicized all the sexual references in this passage that Quentin and Caddy exchange with each other*

“it wont take but a second Ill try not to hurt

all right

will you close your eyes

no like this you’ll have to push it hardertouch your hand to it

but she didn’t move her eyes were wide open looking past

my head at the sky

caddy do you remember how Dilsey fussed at you because your drawers were muddy

don’t cry

im not crying caddy

push it are you going to

don’t cry poor Quentin

but I couldn’t stop she held my head against her damp hard breast I could hear her heart going firm and slow now not hammering and the water gurgling among the willows in the dark and waves of honeysuckle coming up the air my arm and shoulder were twisted under me

what is it what you doing

her muscles gathered I sat up

its my knife I dropped it”

I chose to do my close reading on a small piece of the part when Quentin holds a knife to Caddy’s throat. Previous to the specific part I picked out, Quentin and Caddy were discussing her virginity and about all the different/poor decisions she has made with boys. Quentin then whips out a knife and holds it to Caddy’s throat and threatens to kill her along with himself. Instead of freaking out and crying, Caddy just calmly sits there, teasing and mocking her brother in a way to cut her throat, she uses a bit of reverse psychology, telling him to push it and slit her throat. There’s more then just the “murder attempt” going on this scene. Although he is holding a knife to Caddy’s throat, there are many sexual references as well. Leading the reader to believe that Quentin really just wants to have sex with his sister Caddy. Quentin also brings up the time when Dilsey yelled at her for having her underpants dirty. Which I found kind of strange because why would any brother bring that up to his sister? Caddy also tells Quentin not to cry as he is attempting to slit her throat and he shoots back with that he isn’t crying, yet Caddy keeps telling him not to cry. Finally, after a while of Quentin holding the knife to Caddy’s throat, he ends up dropping the knife.

This specific passage to me is one of the more important scenes throughout the novel and stands out the most in many ways. First, I noticed that in each line there are references to Quentin wanting to have sex with his sister, “will you close your eyes, it wont but a second, ill try not to hurt, touch your hand to it , do you want me to, push it hard, she held my head against her damp hard breast.” These couple of lines keep repeating through out the passage and hint at the fact that Quentin has a strange longing connection to his sister. He is in love with her and it all comes down to the fact that he wants to have sex with her..not slit her throat. I also noticed that within this passage there are no periods, commas, or anything else. Its all words and statements running into each other, at points, you as a reader get confused with who is actually talking. I also noticed that no letters are capitalized except for Caddy, Quentin, “I” and Dilsey. Which I thought to be weird, because the book started out with correct punctuation and in this chapter it slowly disappears. Even the names I just stated loose their capitalization as the chapter continues. Other lines that I thought to be interesting were when Quentin says “but she didn’t move her eyes were wide open looking past.” and “caddy do you remember how Dilsey fussed at you because your drawers were muddy” Through out holding a knife to his sisters throat he often stops to observe her emotions and facial expressions. He also out of nowhere brings up her muddy draws that Dilsey once yelled at her for and he mentions this in between their little argument about whether he is crying or not. Through out this passage, there are many moments of tension of whether Quentin is going to slit Caddy’s throat or have sex with her. However, in the end, he ends up dropping the knife and Caddy gets up.

In my opinion, this is just another weird/disgusting scene out of this novel. The reader is sitting there wondering, is Quentin going to kill or rape his sister and then kill himself? How could a brother let his love for his sister go anything beyond a normal brother-sister love for one another. In this scene in particular the reader actually sees how he wants to have sex with his sister just by the statements he made that I italicized. Its just disgusting to me and then to find out later in the novel that Quentin kills himself. That just symbolizes the fact that he was unhappy, with either not having Caddy in the end or it finally hitting him how sick it was to do what he did.

Upon reading the 2^nd section of The Sound and the Fury when Quentin narrates, I find it to be a much easier read. However, it’s just as messed up and twisted as the first section with Benjy as narrator. Both characters choose to tell the reader about past memories without actually telling the reader when they are switching back and forth, except with Quentin, its much easier to tell when he does so. I did find it really interesting that with both narrators, whenever they talked about past memories they almost ALWAYS mentioned Caddy. Its almost a little weird how much each narrator does talk about Caddy, especially because they are both her brothers. In the first section, when Benjy narrators, its seems as though he is almost obsessed with Caddy. He wails when going to the golf course because the term ‘caddie’ was thrown around and it reminded him of her. He also got so upset he got when she lost her virginity and he cried when Caddy told him that they cant sleep in the same bed anymore. It seems as though Caddy has an unhealthy relationship with her family members and it really creeps me out. Especially, in the second section Quentin tells the reader how he falsely tells his father that he committed incest with her. Why would anyone on earth ever want to tell someone that they committed incest especially when it wasn’t true?…(another part that completely freaked me out). I also thought it was really weird that on Caddy’s wedding day, Quentin tries to convince Caddy not to marry him and she responds with the fact that she has too because she is pregnant..although she does make it clear that she isn’t sure who the father is. Later on, Quentin also suggests running away with Caddy, and they could just live off of his life savings that he had for his education at Harvard. All of these past memories that the narrators keep telling the reader just keep adding up to GROSS! Its just so weird.

Upon finishing The Great Gatsby, I noticed that within this novel there are many symbols. Just like many other pieces of literature, these symbols hold a great significance to the novel as a whole. There were two symbols in particular that I noticed that hold great meaning throughout the story. The first symbol that was introduced to us as a reader was the “green light” that is introduced to us on page 20.

“Something in his leisurely movements and the secure position of his feet upon the lawn suggested that it was Mr. Gatsby himself….But I didn’t call to him, for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone- he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way…involuntarily I glanced seaward- and distinguished nothing except a single green light, that must have been at the end of a dock…”

The reader later finds out this this green light was at the end of Daisy’s dock over in East Egg. This symbol can be read in many different ways but the way I took it was that he was reaching out to Daisy. That he so badly just wanted to trap the light in his arms as though it was Daisy herself. The symbol can be said to represent Gatsby’s hope that someday in the future Daisy will be in perfect reach, instead of being way across the river in her home with another man. It also struck me that this all happened in the middle of the night only enhancing the green light and making it more clear to see. It was as though Daisy is drawing Gatsby in by this one light. Making him yearn for her more then he already does.

The second symbol that immediately caught my attention were the “eyes” of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg. These eyes were introduced to the reader in the introduction of Chapter two. “The eyes are blue and gigantic-their retinas are one yard high, they look out of no face, but, instead from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a non-existent nose.” These eyes, are placed on a billboard high up in the Valley of Ashes. Which is where the poor town in the novel that resides in-between West Egg and New York City. These eyes are said to represent god staring down at this waste land judging not only it but the people in it as well. The reader isn’t the only one to get this interpretation either, some of the characters even make vague comments about how the eyes seem almost real and how they just stare down on you like they are the eyes of god himself.  Nick states, ” I followed him over a low whitewashed railroad fence, and we walked back a hundred yards along the road under Doctor Eckelburg’s persistent stare” (pg 24). And again on pg 26, “Terrible place isnt it? said Tom, exchanging a frown with Doctor Eckelburg.”  I feel as though every time the eyes are mentioned its because the characters are doing something they shouldnt be doing.  Both times in this chapter the eyes were mentioned when Tom was seeing his mistress and its as though the eyes were judging them.  The eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg are not only mentioned here in the beginning of the novel, but they are also mentioned in the ending of the novel as well. Right around when all the deaths start happening. Which also makes this symbol that much more significant to focus in on.