Dirty Underwear

In The Sound and the Fury, one of the most pivotal and representative scenes is repeated many times. After playing in the stream with her brothers, Caddy attempts to listen in on an adult conversation occurring inside the house. She climbs the tall tree next to the window to make the spying easier. As her brothers look on from the base of the tree, they get a full view of Caddy's muddied underwear (a result of playing in the mud.) This is the first moment which foreshadows Caddy's promiscuity and the "dirtying" of the Compson name. In his chapter, Benjy recalls this moment many times, of course never realizing its significance and being completely unaware of Caddy's lost virginity. This is a physical realization of Caddy metaphorically being dirty in the eyes of her brothers. Also, she happens to be standing on a tree which is the trigger for how Benjy remembers this moment-by Caddy's smell. He always mentions how much she loves that she smells of trees-pure, natural, untouched trees.