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.
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Michelle Said:
on February 23, 2007 at 6:50 pm
Dev, I totally agree with your post for the week. I had the same opinions as you regarding this novel. I think Faulkner was an extremely brilliant writer; however, The Sound and the Fury, was a complicated reading in which I think he intended it to be. One can definately say he wanted people to think about every situation between the characters. I often found myself confused in the various different sections. Even though everything was wrapped up in the end, I thought to my myself, “Is this really the end?” I too, am glad to be done with this reading.
mandy2612 Said:
on February 23, 2007 at 7:32 pm
I definitely agree with what you said in your post about starting and ending on the same note – confused. I don’t really understand why this book is considered part of the canon, but it definitely leaves me wondering that if this book is included in that respected category of literature, what other difficult, confusing, and unenjoyable readings are included in the canon.
Literaturer Said:
on February 24, 2007 at 7:41 pm
I agree with you as well (other than the part about the family decapitating (beheading) Benjy because I don’t think that happened.) I very grateful to be out of the twisted Faulkner world as well. The relationships and plot were extremely confusing. To me, those should be the simplest part of the novel. Yet, they were the hardest to pull apart. It’s interesting though that when we compiled the list of themes, that came very easily. The only suggestion I can give relating to this on why this book is in the canon is because it’s themes were so American and so easy to pull out, yet what we’re used to in any story was really jumbled up in a massive text. Sorry I can’t help you, but I definitely agree with you. I’m so glad, as you said, that the torture is over.
emilysatalino Said:
on February 28, 2007 at 12:55 am
I agree with you about pretty much everything. I too am glad that we’re done with the novel. I also have a difficult time figuring out why it is included in the canon. If this was the first book I’ve ever read from “the canon”, I too would be apprehensive about other books from the canon. But since this isn’t the first book I’ve read from the canon, I am able to say that thus far, it has been my least favorite