More Fun This Way

The Sound and the Fury is certainly a difficult novel to understand. Lawrence Bowling's article gives a view into the debate as to whether or not the difficulty is a necessary one. Could Faulkner's writing be just as moving and get the same point across to the reader had he written it in a more normal fashion? In my opinion, no it could not. First, much of what the reader gets out of the book is through the reactions of the different characters. These reactions are only seen the way they are by the individual narrator at any given time. A different narrator may very well have seen the scene in a completely different way. The cynicism of Jason, depression and confusion of Quentin, and the innocence and lack of intellect of Benjy all contribute to their narrations. Each give a different view of individual actions and of life, and Faulker depicts them all perfectly through the eyes of the characters. In fact, Faulkner often gives us examples of this occurrence and lets the reader piece it all together. Furthermore, the piecing together of events is a large part that makes this book such a fun one to read and analyze. To be honest, I probably would not have read it outside of class, and if I had I would certainly not have gotten as much out of it as I did through our group analysis, but I definitely enjoyed the work. 

• Faulkner: Technique of "The Sound and the Fury"

• Lawrence Edward Bowling
• The Kenyon Review, Vol. 10, No. 4 (Autumn, 1948), pp. 552-566
• Published by: Kenyon College