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The Women of Yoknapatawpha County Faulkner's intrinsic portrayal of his characters using his signature stream of consciousness style left much room for discussion on the true nature of his characters, however his portrayal of women was obviously that of despair as the female characters never transcended their lowly confinement. Caddy Compson was a victim of the dysfunctional family, whose attempt to reject it landed her even worse off. Addie Bundren was also a victim, a victim of an indolent husband and the backwoods culture that Faulkner so heavily criticized. Temple Drake was the hapless victim of the kidnapping in Sanctuary; her inability to combat her fate reaffirms a womans position in Yoknapatawpha. The pages of The Sound and The Fury, As I Lay Dying, and Sanctuary tell the tales of sorrow, struggle, and ultimately defeat for the three women.
Caddy's role is the veritable centerpiece of The Sound and the Fury, her destruction is symbolizes the destruction of the Compson Family. Despair marked her life. In an early age she assumed the responsibility of being a mother to Benjy. She put the bottle down and came and put her arms around me. You mustnt cry. Caddy's not going away.
See here. She took up the bottle and took the stopper out and held it to my nose (The Sound and the Fury 51). A caring maternal figure to Benjy, Caddy herself was confined in the chill of solitude. As she grows older, she saw the deranged complaints of her mother and the drunken cynical father. Caddy wanted to escape from this deranged family, escape from society, and most importantly herself. It was her own gentile heart that she was trying to disapprove of so that in an insane world she might seem more in control.
Her sexual maturity was no more than a protest against the world that had done her wrong. She told Quentin that when they touched me, I died (The Sound and The Fury 58). Caddy's transformation caused the great disturbance in the world. Benjy was even further lost.
Her growth and sexuality became Quentin's ultimate downfall. Jason was so furious about losing his job as a result of Caddy's pregnancy that he never over came and carries the rage on to Miss Quentin. Caddy represents the destruction of herself and the Compson Family. She is responsible for all the sound and the fury. Not only was she not able to escape from her despairs, she made everything worse. Through all the chaos Caddy emerged bruised and battered.
Addie Bundren escaped to Anse to find companionship in life; the word love that she found had no meaning. She had always seen herself as being completely alone in the world. Her own parents didnt love her and she had no one to call family. So I took Anse.
And when I knew that I had Cash, I knew that living was terrible and that this was the answer to it. That was when I learned that words are not good; that words dont ever fit even what they are trying to say it (As I Lay Dying 59). It was loneliness they she tried to conquer. Thus, she took in promises, words that did not have any meaning. All her life she lived in words, surrounded by emptiness, a life without meaning.
I could just remember how my father used to say that the reason for living was to get ready to stay dead a long time (As I Lay Dying 56). Faulkner mentioned no love or emotional understanding, but mere acceptance, maybe not even an acceptance but a long wait for death. Even at death, Addie tried to once more to find attention, something she desperately sought for during her lifetime. The journey was her revenge on her husband. I realized that I had been tricked by words older than Anse or love, and that the same word had tricked Anse too, and that my revenge would be that he would never know I was taking revenge. And when Darl was born I asked Anse to promise to take me back to Jefferson when I died, because I knew that father had been right, even when he couldnt have known he was right anymore that I could have known I was wrong (As I Lay Dying 78).
Her only communication was with Darl and Jewel. Even at that level, the understanding can only be expressed in violence. Addie Bundren set out in her life to fill the many holes in her soul what she found was merely existing but not living. Temple Drake is the simple witted teenager whose tragic fate renders the theme of despair. An individual with a sparkling personality and a rebellious nature, Temple was a TomBoy.
However, the only thing she was able to do after her kidnapping is to cry. Her confinement and rape were typical of the violence and suffering endured by many of Faulkner's female characters. In Ms. Rebas brothel her despair seemed more apparent as every moment was spent in a state of sadness. Her inability to decide and weakness in character are probably the most crippling. Faulkner's writing reflected the common theme of women through out literature as bearers of pain and origins of destruction.
Caddy was sane in an insane world and rejection to the insanity destroyed her and the whole Compson Family. Addie Bundren's emptiness with the lack of fulfillment were not solved by her marriage and births, she never escaped from words-emptiness. Temple Drake never escaped from Popeye until the very end due to her inability to do anything besides feeling sorry for herself. The women of Yoknapatawpha County are victims; they fought the dysfunctional world in Faulkner's imagination and lost.
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Research essay sample on Sound And The Fury Lay Dying
