Process of Reflection

In William Faulkner's The Sound and The Fury, each character who has their own chapter reflects on the past in different manners. Although some of the moments that each character remembers may be the same, each character has a particular weakness that triggers their past to seep into their current thoughts.

For Benjy, whenever nature or trees are mentioned, he remembers how he loved Caddy's natural smell of the outdoors. This takes him back to remembering viewing her "dirty" bottom from the tree, a metaphor for her dirty morals. The unorganized manner of his passage filled with unrelated memories. For Quentin, representations of time are the triggers which remind him of his sister's marriage and promiscuity. The constant force of time is shown through long, complex sentences and the presence of clocks and watches. In contrast to his brothers complex narratives, Jason's passage is short, simple, and swift. The hardened man he has become is illustrated through his negative memories of the past in relation to what he believes is a disastrous future.

Although each narrative represents its character well, Caddy is ultimately the central memory that each brother has in common. Although she is represented differently and the process of reflection is different, Caddy is the cause of each brother's being.