Sound and Fury Characterizatio
Several times throughout The Sound and the Fury, as in other novels, are scenes in which the family, or parts of it, is sitting down at the dinner table for a meal. In Jason's section, there is a particular scene in which this occurs. At this point in time, the Compson family consists of Jason, his mother, Quentin and Benjy, and Dilsey and Luster. The scene begins by Jason refusing to eat dinner, or even go to the dinner table, until his mother and Quentin come down to accompany him. This situation clearly shows the stubbornness of Jason's personality. Several times Dilsey asks him to just eat by himself, and to forget about the other family members who are obviously too sick or occupied to come down to dinner. Instead, Jason continues to read the paper, refusing to move until the rest of the family has come down to join him. In the same dialogue as above, not only is the trait of stubbornness shown, but also his constant sarcastic, almost brash tone. When Dilsey first tells Jason that dinner is ready, instead of a thank you or any other common words of appreciation, he replies "Is it?. . .Excuse me, I didn't hear anybody come down." This clearly shows his sarcastic tone towards all people.
More specifically, these scene gives the reader's, hopefully, some affection for Quentin and some hatred for Jason, therefore setting up the reader's for Quentin's revenge. This scene also revisits the idea of Quentin being the possible incestrious product of Quentin and Caddy. This society was a less evolved one in the fact that the man was always the head of the house, and that he worked for the benefit of everyone else. The rest of the family was then expected to be obedient to this man. The next character being portrayed in this scene is Carolina. She is over concerned with Jason, being her only 'normal' child. She considers him the head of the house, which I personally find quite strange for a mother to be calling her youngest son the head of the house. It almost seems as she looks at Jason as her husband, especially after he passed away. She also keeps herself locked up from society and the outside world. She likes the fact that she is blind to the 'wickedness' of the world, when ironically so much of it is in herself and her family. By keeping herself confide, she doesn't have to compare herself or her family to anything else, and they won't be seen as dysfunctional. Jason also seems to be a chronic liar, an expected characteristic of such an egotistical jerk. He is constantly lying to his mother about his money usage and where he has been and done throughout the day. He lies to his boss at the hardware store about why he was late and what he has been doing. Not only does he lie to his mother, but also he instills a deep depression into her. He does this because he knows it gives him power and control. He likes the fact that his mother is dependent on him and practically bows down in his presence. At one point in their conversation, he said in his mocking tone "You've got Ben to depend on. Cheer up." Just a couple paragraphs down they start talking about Quentin (Jason's brother) an
Some common words found in the essay are:
Jason's Jason, Instead Jason, Jason Jason, Dilsey Luster, Sound Fury, You've Ben, head house, , mother quentin, dinner table, rest family, compson family, chasing quentin, Quentin Caddy,
Approximate Word count = 1300
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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