Minor Characters in Faulkner
A Summary of the Supporting Cast from The Sound and the Fury
From Luster to Reverend Shegog, find out more about the people who support the activity of the Compson household.
Caroline Compson: Caroline Compson is the matriarch of the Compson family. She is a hypochondriac and certain that her death will occur in the near future. Deeply dissatisfied with her life and family, she retreats into a world of tradition and formulas. She feels that Quentin, Caddy, and Benjy are a judgment on her and she prefers Jason who she thinks is the most Bascomb-like.
Her constant complaints are a thread that runs through all four sections of the book.
Miss Quentin Compson: Miss Quentin is Caddy’s illegitimate daughter. No one knows for certain who her father is. Quentin is raised by Caroline on the condition that she neither know anything about nor hear a word about her mother. Contact between Miss Quentin and her mother is forbidden. She is a hardened teenager who skips school and lies. She steals the money that her Uncle Jason stole from her and runs off with a circus performer.
Jason Compson III: The patriarch of the Compson clan. He is cynical and tells his children that everything they might possibly do is meaningless. He is an alcoholic and drinks himself to death. His words have a particularly profound effect on Quentin who recalls many of them of them throughout the course of his last day before he commits suicide.
Damuddy: The children’s grandmother on the maternal side. Her funeral occurs early in Benjy’s section of the novel and we see the impact the event had on the Compson children.
Frony Gibson: Dilsey’s daughter and mother of Luster. She isn’t interested in her son Luster. Her primary concern is keeping up appearances.
Luster Gibson: Dilsey’s grandson. He takes care of Benjy often teasing Benjy until he howls. He spends a lot of time during the time-frame of the story near the golf course looking for a quarter he lost so that he can go to the circus.
Roskus Gibson: Dilsey’s husband. Roskus has an extreme case of rheumatism. He dies before the novel takes place.
T.P. Gibson: Dilsey’s eldest son.
Versh Gibson: Dilsey’s second son. He takes care of Benjy until Luster is old enough to.
DaltonAmes: Seduced Caddy. He is a candidate for father of Miss Quentin. Quentin (male) picks a fight with him and is easily defeated by Ames.
Gerald Bland: A student at Harvard who reminds Quentin (male) of Dalton Ames and Caddy. Quentin (male) picks a fight with him and is easily defeated by Bland.
Reverand Shegog: A guest pastor who preaches at the Negro church on Easter Sunday. His sermon has a profound effect on the Compson’s maid, Dilsey.
More About William Faulkner's Masterpiece The Sound and the Fury.
- A review of the novel.
- A summary of the novel.
- Major 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.
