After finishing The Sound and the Fury, I was filled with a sense that it had not been completed. There was no big finish, no conclusion to the life of the Compsons, and certainly no happy ending. The story ends and all we know is that Mrs. Compson is needy and self-pitying, Jason is embittered and conniving, Benjy is distraught, Father and one Quentin are dead, while the other has run away, and Caddy is still the promiscuous exile. To me, Faulkner’s ending resembled one you might see in a horror film. Just like in The Hills Have Eyes, the pretty girl barely manages to get out alive and escape her evil pursuer. However, the fact that both the pretty girl and the pursuer both manage to survive the entire movie leaves the viewer with the ominous feeling that maybe this tale isn’t quite over. And in a year, that viewer’s suspicions are justified when she sees the cheesy previews for upcoming sequel.
Comparing The Sound and the Fury to The Hills Have Eyes is really only to point out that neither instilled in me a definitive answer as to why the story began. There is one major difference between these two endings, though. Faulkner did not make me feel as though Jason would continue to be a powerful character that could cause problems for Quentin in the future. Jason seems worn down physically and mentally. The scene in which he is so plagued by a headache that he has to pay a “negro in overalls” to drive him home shows just how weak and vulnerable he really is. Even though Jason would hate to admit it, Quentin won the war.
Quentin coming out as the strong, independent character in the end symbolizes a kind of rebirth for the Compsons. If she is strong enough emotionally to endure all of Jason’s torment and strong enough mentally to reclaim all the money that he had swindled her out of, then she is most definitely strong enough to restore dignity and class to the Compson name. She is the one character that leaves the reader with a sense of hope for her well-being after the completion of the novel.
I was left with a few lingering questions towards the end. I have this nagging desire to know if Quentin will reunite with her mother or just stay with the man with the red tie? I would also really like to know if Quentin’s decision to flee the Compson household was influenced by Caddy at all or if it was purely to spite Jason? I think perhaps some of Quentin and Caddy’s correspondence could have evaded Jason’s dictatorial control. That would explain Quentin’s knowledge that Jason had been hoarding all of the money that was intended for her. If they were able to do this, Caddy and Quentin could have planned and pulled off a proper escape. Besides the details of Caddy and Quentin’s relationship, I am also wondering about the significance of a couple passages. I did not understand what the purpose of the Reverend Shegog’s appearance was. I also did not understand what the altercation between Jason and the disgruntled old man was about.
Hopefully our class discussions will help me solve these mysteries!
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Uno--I hope our final discussions did clear up at least some of your questions. I know we talked a bit about the sermon and the scene with the very cranky old man.
The only thing I'd add to your thoughts about the ending is that while what you say at the beginning of your post is very true, we also know that none of it will change. They will all remain as we see them in the final scene for the rest of their lives. That's why I think the scene at the courthouse is important. This family is so incapable of change that even going the wrong way around the statue throws everything into total turmoil.
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