WHAT?!: June 2, 1910

In my progress of The Sound and The Fury, I have just finished the second chapter and all I can say is WHAT?! This chapter brought to life so many aspects of the Compson household that I didn't expect. The chapter is written with the view point of Quentin the oldest (I think) of the Compson children. Just for a brief understanding of the chapter, it begins in Quentin's dorm at Harvard with him talking about a watch. He then decides to skip class and go buy some weights. He then goes to a bridge where he commits suicide. All the while he is doing all this, he is thinking about his sister Caddy, and more specifically, her promiscuity. Quentin views it as shameful and feels ashamed of himself. In order to fix this, which I honestly don't know what he was thinking, he tells his father the Caddy's baby is his and that he committed incest. Again: WHAT?! That's as close as I can get to what happened in the chapter.


Quentin's narration is all over the place. His use of I is not to be trusted because he could be talking about himself, his father, his uncle, his friend, numerous things. This makes the narration confusing along with the fact that Quentin's narrative is subjective and not objective like Benjy's. With Benjy's you didn't have to think about his feelings because his documents the events almost like a list of facts. Instead of facts, Quentin talks about his feelings about stuff and that leads him to other stuff. Just a lot of stuff in the Quentin chapter basically. This narration definitely leads the reader to believe there is something wrong with Quentin's mentally state. The scene with the clock shop is what really solidifies this for me. Quentin goes into a clock shop and wants to know if his watch can be fixed but to not fix it. He then asks if any of the clocks in the shop have the right time, but he doesn't want to know the time. I believe this scene ties with the theme of time in the novel. Quentin hates his life in the present so he is trying to relive his memories of the past. These clocks are symbolic of the idea that time is a construct and if we can have multiple clocks with multiple times, then why can't we go back to a better time? I believe this is the point of the Quentin chapter.

Well, another chapter down and two more to go. After this one, I don't know what to expect. I read ahead a little and the next chapter is from Jason's point of view and his first line sure is a strong one. I'll keep you guys posted.