10.01.2009

The Sound and the Fury (a Gothic-style, fiction work, written in the stream-of-consciousness mode).

I used to reread this novel a lot. I like these parts from the Benjy section: the second scene with Benjy (when he wants to go outside in the cold), the scene somewhere later on when Benjy can't stop crying into his soup, the scene where Benjy falls asleep next to Caddy, when the servants get Benjy drunk on 'sarsaparilla' or 'sassparilla' (not sure) during Caddy's wedding. I like the 'muddy drawers' scene with Caddy and when they are 'playing' in the 'branch' behind the house. I like the dialogue as they are walking back to the house for dinner. At the house the dad seems like a 'really good' character. He must be the least talked about character aside from maybe one of the servants. I like the Quentin section the most. It seems like 'the core' section of the novel. I like these scenes from that section: Quentin meeting the lost, Italian speaking girl in the bakery; when he goes to court for walking around with the Italian girl; when they get him out of court and he has a flashback to him and Caddy by 'the branch'. This part seems like it involves suicidal thinking and thoughts about beauty. I don't like the Jason section as much as the others. It is readable and a lot happens in it. The Dilsey section seems more readable - not a lot happens in it. I like the church scene and the opening description of Dilsey, in the Disley section. One of my favorite scenes involves Quentin and Caddy, I think, or is it Benjy, no, I think it's Quentin and he's home from college and he goes walking into the woods at night. They talk about a dead horse in a ditch. The horse might be from his childhood. The horse has a name. That part seems suicidal. I usually cannot discern at what point Quentin dies while I am reading. I think I just know he has died because they talk about him in the other sections as if he's gone forever.