Major Characters in Faulkner
Pivotal Characters in The Sound and the Fury
The Compsons: Principal characters in Faulkner's masterpiece.
Candace “Caddy” Compson: Caddy is the character who prompted Faulkner’s writing of the novel. He had previously written a short story with her in it and felt she needed a place of her own. Ironically, she does not have a voice of her own. She is not included among the four narrators who tell us the story of the Compson family.
Caddy is the second child of Jason (III) and Caroline Compson. Because her parents are emotionally unavailable, she becomes a surrogate Mom for Benjy and Quentin who both become obsessed with her.
Of the Compson’s, she is the most understanding and caring of Benjy.
While Caddy is arguably the central character of the novel, our understanding of her is incomplete. We see her only through the lens of her brothers’ needs and desires.
Benjamin “Benjy” Compson: Benjy is the youngest child of Jason (III) and Caroline Compson. He is profoundly retarded and cannot speak. At birth he was named Maury after Caroline’s brother Maury Bascomb (Uncle Maury). They changed his name from Maury to Benjamin. Some in the novel believe it was in an attempt to improve the family’s failing luck others think it was to separate him from the Bascomb side of the family.
Benjy adores Caddy. She is the single stable factor in his life. The present and his memories all occupy the same moment in time for him. Benjy doesn’t separate what is happening to him in the moment from what happened to him twenty years ago. As a result, although Caddy is gone and he misses her, she is still the most stable part of his life as her care from him when he was young still lives in his present.
Quentin Compson (Male): Quentin is the oldest child of Jason (III) and Caroline Compson. He is the narrator of the second section of the novel, which is an account of the last day of his life before he commits suicide.
His thoughts revolve around Caddy’s lost virginity (and his continued virginity) and his desire to have intercourse with her. His thoughts often return to an imagined conversation with his father where he tells his father that he and Caddy had committed incest and that Caddy’s baby is his. In an attempt to defend Caddy’s honor, he picks fights with Dalton Ames and Gerald Bland.
He also obsesses about the nature of time. In an attempt to take himself out of the progression of time, he breaks the glass of a pocket watch that his father gave him and pulls off the hands. The clock continues ticking. In the end, he commits suicide.
Jason Compson IV: Jason is the third child of Jason (III) and Caroline Compson. He narrates the third section of the novel. He is full of bitterness and anger and cares about nobody but himself. His anger is so extreme that he lashes out verbally and occasionally physically on everyone around him.
His actions and thoughts are so angry that his section is the hardest section of the book to read. His most outrageous act of revenge is to misappropriate the money that Caddy sends for her daughter Quentin.
Dilsey Gibson: Dilsey is the cook and housemaid for the Compsons. She is married to Roskus. Her children are T.P. Versh, and Frony. Luster is her grandchild. Dilsey is patient and understanding with the Compson children. Especially with Benjy who she defends saying “de good Lawd don’t keer whether he bright er not.” She patiently cares for the Compson tribe throughout the entire novel and at the end she realizes “I seed the beginnin, en now I sees de endin.”
More About William Faulkner's Masterpiece The Sound and the Fury.
- A review of the novel.
- A summary of the novel.
- Minor characters in the novel.
- Different aspects of love as portrayed in the novel.
- Discussion questions regarding William Faulkner's style in the novel.
- Discussion questions regarding themes in the novel.
