The Sound and the Fury Quotes Review

She looked at me. She had crumpled all the bread, but her hands still went on like they were crumpling it yet and her eyes looked like they were cornered or something and then she started biting her mouth like it ought to have poisoned her, with all that red lead. 259

Miss Q acting strange at lunch and biting the inside of her mouth (this is dinnerafter Jason had just chased her around town)

Why does he treat me like this, Grandmother? She says. I never hurt him. 259

Miss Q asking mother why Jason treats her like that (I never hurt him—she doesn't understand that Jason blames her for losing the job at the bank)

But that's not it. It's not not having them. It's never to have had them then I could say O That That's Chinese I don't know Chinese. 116

Q after story about man mutilating himself. It's the idea that women are never virgins, and it's not never having virginity, but having and losing.

Knowing your Mother's delicate health and that timorousness which such delicately nurtured Southern ladies would naturally feel regarding matters of business....It is our duty to shield her from the crass material world as much as possible. 224

Uncle Maury in a letter to Jason, telling him not to tell mother about Maury's new business deal (I'm guessing he invested)

There were vines and creepers where at home would be honeysuckle. Coming and coming especially in the dusk when it trained, getting honeysuckle all mixed up in it as though it were not enough without that, not unbearable enough. 133

Where Quentin runs into after running away from little girl. Comparison of him abandoning the little girl to Caddy's presence, knowing he's doing the wrong thing.

I said Why couldn't it have been me and not her who is unvirgin and he said, That's why thats sad too; nothing is even worth the changing of it 78

Q continuing from narration abt virginity. Goes back to Q's conflicting ideas about southern purity and father's values.

Then Ben wailed again, hopeless and prolonged. It was nothing. Just sound. It might have been all time and injustice and sorrow become vocal for an instant by a conjunction of the planets (288)

Ben and Luster are in the Cellar and Dilsey takes the mallet away

He bellowed slowly, abjectly, without tears; the grave hopeless sound of all voiceless misery under the sun (316)

Benjy crying while Dilsey is rocking him after lUster whispered Caddy Caddy Caddy into his ear.

Now I guess you're satisfied Q said. We'll both get whipped now. I dont care, Caddy said. I'll run away. Yes, you will, Q said. I'll run away and never come back. Caddy said. I began to cry. Caddy turned around and said Hush So I hushed. Then they played in the branch. Jason was playing too. He was by himself further down the branch 19

Benjy is so obsessed with caddy that even with his limited understanding he realizes that Caddy leaving is another iteration of his perpetual loss

I went down to the gate, where the girls passed with their book satchels. They looked at me, walking fast, with their heads turned. I tried to say, but they went on, and I went along the fence, trying to say, and they went faster. 52

Benjy is watching the girls as they pass by, and unintentionally scares them. Maybe reminded of Caddy?

Caddy. Charlie whispered, loud. We went on. You better come back. Are you coming back. Caddy and I were running. Caddy. Charlie said. We ran out into the moonlight, toward the kitchen....Caddy knelt down in the dark and held me. I could hear her and feel her chest. I won't. she said. I won't anymore, ever. Benjy. Benjy. Then she was crying, and I cried, and we held each other. 48

Caddy and Benjy are running from Charlie. Benjy is upset because Caddy was kissing Charlie. Caddy tried to wash her mouth out with soap, but the action can't be reversed.

dont cry Im bad anyway you cant help it/theres a curse on us its not our fault is it our fault 158

Caddy blaming reason why their family is so messed up. Illustrates how disillusioned they have become.

She took my hand and we ran through the bright rustling leaves. We ran up the steps and out of the bright cold, into the dark cold. 7

Caddy just got home from school and this is her first encounter with Benjy when they run back to the house.

So that was it. And you were trying to tell Caddy and you couldn't tell her. You wanted to, but you couldn't could you. Of course Caddy won't. Of course Caddy won't. Just wait till I dress. 42

Caddy talking to Benjy about him smelling her perfume.

There was something terrible in me sometimes at night I could see it grinning at me I could see it through them grinning at me through their faces it's gone now and I'm sick 112

Caddy talking to Q in flashback about sexuality. Important bc showcase Caddy's shame of it.

Wait, she says, catching my arm. I've stopped. I wont again. You promise, Jason? She says, and me feeling her eyes almost like they were touching my face. 210

Caddy—she stops laughing and asks Jason to promise that he'll give the money she sends to Miss Q so she can have "things like other girls"

His voice ceased, ebbed, left him staring at his mother with eyes that for an instant were quite empty of anything. It was as though his eyes were holding their breath (280)

Description of JAson as he talks to Ms. COmpson about his broken window

It was not anybody's room, and the faint scent of cheap cosmetics and the few feminine objects and the other evidences of crude and hopeless efforts to feminise it but added to its anonymity, giving it that dead and stereotyped transience of rooms in assignation houses (282)

Description of Ms. Q's room as they realize she is missing. The lack of care Ms. Q expressed and lack of feminism Q was given at home is shown through her room.

It might have been the dry pulse of the decaying house itself, after a while it whirred and cleared its throat and struck six times (285)

Description of the house as Luster and Benjy are in the kitchen. The broken look of the house emphasizes the broken family.

They began to watch him as they would a man on a tight rope. They even forgot his insignificant appearance in the virtuosity with which he ran and poised and swooped upon that cold inflectionless wire of his voice, so that at last, when with a sort of swooping glide he came to rest again (293-294)

Description of the visiting Pastor at Dilsey's church as he changes their first impressions of his insignificant stature and begins preaching with lots of passion

Two tears slid down her fallen cheeks, in and out of the myriad coruscations of immolation and abnegation and time (295)

Dilsey crying after being moved with understanding after listening to the visiting Pastor's sermon

You's a cold man, Jason, if man you is, she says. I thanks de Lawd I got mo heart dan dat. 208

Dilsey, basically calling Jason the devil. She doesn't believe him to be a man because of how evil he is

Hit me, den, she says, ef nothin else but hittin somebody wont do you. Hit me. 185

Dilsey—trying to protect Miss Q, telling Jason to hit her instead. Dilsey's protectiveness, resilience, etc

You's de Lawd's chile, anyway. En I be His'n too, fo long, praise Jesus (317).

Disley trying to comfort Benjy and reassure him of the Father's love for him as he cries out in sadness of loss.

Hush Caroline. Father said. Let her alone./ Caddy came to the door and stood there looking at Father and Mother. Her eyes flew at me, and away. I began to cry. It went loud and I got up. Caddy came in and stood with her back to the wall, looking at me. I went toward her, crying, and she shrank against the wall and I saw her eyes and I cried louder and pulled at her dress. 68-9

Dramatic scene after Caddy lost her virginity. She and Benjy were both so upset because the action couldn't be "fixed."

You'd be a good business man if you'd let yourself, Jason, he says. 246

Earl (Jason's boss) telling Jason that he could be a good businessman if he actually did things right and morally

The room went black, except the door. Then the door went black. Caddy said, Hush, Maury, putting her hand on me. So I stayed hushed. We could hear us. We could hear the dark. 75

End of Benjy's section, Benjy and Caddy go to sleep after after father turns off the lights

The last note sounded. At last it stopped vibrating and the darkness was still again. 178

Harvard's last bell sounding. Signaling time for Quentin to go commit suicide.

Well you're right no need to tell them we'll let bygones be bygones eh no reason why you and I should let a little thing like that come between us I like you Quentin I like your appearance you don't look like these other kicks I'm glad we're going to hit it off like this 108

Herbert talking to Q in flashback. Trying to woo/bribe Q into liking him. Just further's Q's hatred.

He every man is the arbiter of his own virtues but let no man prescribe for another mans wellbeing 178

Jason Sr. Quentin has no one to take care of him and must go alone into night.

So I counted the money again that night and put it away, and I didnt feel so bad. 205

Jason after taking $100 from Caddy to she can "see" her baby, drives by her in the wagon. Maybe some kinds of remorse until he counts the money and feels no regret (greedy asl)

The sun getting down just to where it could shine straight in my eyes and my ears ringing and I couldnt hear anything. 240

Jason after the chase scene, the sun in his eyes making his migraine unbearable

Well, I got to thinking about that and watching them throwing dirt in to it, slapping it on anyway like they were making mortar or something or building a fence, and I began to feel sort of funny and so I decided to walk around. 202

Jason at the funeral, he "feels funny"—won't even let himself be fully sad (uptight and bitter)

The swallows had begun....They are as big a nuisance as the pigeons...You can't even sit in the courthouse yard for them. First thing you know, bing. Right on your hat...If they'd just put a little poison out there in the square, they'd get rid of them in a day. 248

Jason being Jason and hating on birds because he can

I guess I don't need any man's help to get along I can stand on my own two feet like I always have. 206

Jason being narcissistic and saying that he always had to help himself as a child so he can do it now

I took the box down and counted out the money and hid the box again and unlocked the door and went out. 237

Jason counting all the money he's basically stolen from Caddy

He cut up all Benjy's dolls. Caddy said. I'll slit his gizzle./Candace. Father said./ I will...I will...He cut up all the dolls Mau--Benjy and I made....He did it just for meanness. 65

Jason cut up all the dolls Benjy and Caddy made because he's a jerk

He repeated his story, harshly recapitulant, seeming to get an actual pleasure out of his outrage and impotence (303)

Jason explaining to the sheriff about how he had been robbed

'And damn You too,' he said. 'See if You can stop me,' thinking of himself, his file of soldiers with the manacled sheriff in the rear, dragging Omnipotence down from His throne, if necessary; of the embattled legions of both heaven and hell through which he tore his way and put his hands at last on his fleeing niece (306)

Jason feeling like the world is against him and hating the world as he drives to find Q and his money.

It seemed to him that the fact that the day was clearing was another cunning stroke on the part of the foe, the fresh battle toward which he was carrying ancient wounds (306)

Jason looking out the window of the car while driving to go find Q and get his money back

I had just turned onto the street when I saw a ford come helling toward me. All of a sudden it stopped. I could hear the wheels sliding and it slewed around and backed and whirled... 238

Jason spots the truck with Miss Q and the man in the red tie

I told Mother good night and went on to my room and got the box out and counted it again. I could hear the Great American Gelding snoring away like a planing mill....And if they'd just sent him on to Jackson while he was under the ether, he'd never have known the difference. But that would have been too simple for a Compson to think of. Not half complex enough. 263

Jason talking about Benjy and his castration (he says sending Benjy away while he was under anesthesia would have been smart but "not complex enough for a Compson") I guess he's calling his family dramatic and that they always take the complicated way out???

Just let it come toward sundown and he'd head for the gate like a cow for the barn, hanging onto it and bobbing his head and sort of moaning to himself. That's a hog for punishment or you. If what had happened to him for fooling with open gates had happened to me, I never would want to see another one. 253

Jason talking about Benjy's infatuation with the gate (he says if what happened to Benjy happened to him (castration), he'd hate gates (doesn't understand or try to understand Benjy's POV)

Together they merely symbolised the job in the bank of which he had been deprived before he ever got it (306).

Jason talking about the stolen money and thinking not of Ms. Q except the job that her mother had cost him. His fed up anger with her is shown.

Oh I wouldn't be surprised, Jason said. I wouldn't be surprised at anything you'd do./Quentin threw her napkin on the table./ Hush your mouth, Jason, Dilsey said. She went and put her arm around Quentin. Sit down,honey, Dilsey said. He ought to be ashamed of hisself, throwing what ain't your fault up to you. ....Quentin pushed Dilsey away. 71

Jason was bashing Quentin for something (not entirely sure what specifically it was) and Dilsey tried to comfort her

After all, like I say money has not value, it's just the way you spend it. It dont belong to anybody, so why try to hoard it. It just belongs to the man that can get it and keep it. 194

Jason, about money (being hypocritical—even tho he "hates hypocrites"—because he hoards money)

I'll show you, I says. You may scare an old woman off, but I'll show you who's got hold of you now. I held her with one hand, then she quit fighting and watched me, her eyes getting wide and black. 184

Jason, about to hit Miss Q. Significant of Jason's violent, angry nature. Q's eyes get wide and black as she realizes she can't scare off Jason like she does Dilsey and Jason gets ready to hit her (ultimately doesn't)

I'm afraid all the time I'll run into them right in the middle of the street or under a wagon on the square, like a couple of dogs. 240

Jason, afraid he's gonna see Miss Q doing ​things i​ n the middle of the road with someone like a dog because of Miss Qs disinterest in secrecy

By the time I got the car stopped and grabbed her hands there was about a dozen people looking. It made me so mad for a minute it kind of blinded me. You do a thing like that again and I'll make you sorry you ever drew breath, I says./I'm sorry now, she says. She quit, then her eyes turned kind of funny. 188

Jason, after arguing with Miss Q when she is about to rip off her dress. "Blind with anger" Q says she is sorry she exists, that she doesn't want to

All right, I says. I dropped one of them in the stove...All right, I says. I dropped it in and Dilsey shut the stove. 255

Jason, after he taunted Luster with the show tickets for 5 cents, he burns them in the furnace

I got to thinking about when we were little and one thing and another and I got to feeling funny again, kind of mad or something. 203

Jason, again, mad and bitter at his past and won't admit to being sad

I know I'm right. 192

Jason, talking to someone about Jews being worthless (pompous personality)

I'm glad I haven't got the sort of conscience I've got to nurse like a sick puppy all the time. 228

Jason, telling his boss that he's glad he doesn't have his boss's conscience (or any conscience at all—which he definitely doesn't have)

I wont try to fool you, he says. You too smart fer me. Yes, suh, he says, looking busy as hell, putting five or six little packages into the wagon. You's too smart fer me. Aint a man in this town kin keep up wid you for smartness. 250

Job (coworker of Jason technically), kind of mocking Jason by calling him the smartest man in town

Whatever I do, it's your fault, she says. If I'm bad, it's because I had to be. You made me. I wish I was dead. I wish we were all dead..../That's the first sensible thing she ever said, I says. 260

Miss Q blames all of her bad actions on Jason and claims she wishes she and everyone else in the family was dead (Jason calls this statement sensible)

I dont care, she says. I'm bad and I'm going to hell, and I dont care. I'd rather be in hell than anywhere where you are. 189

Miss Q, talking to Jason (hell is better than being with Jason!!)

I'd gladly take her back, sins and all, because she is my flesh and blood. It's for Quentin's sake. 220

Mother saying that she would actually accept Caddy back in because of "flesh and blood" and for Quentin's sake (she's tired of burning the checks)

Dilsey started to set it up in her old room. Then Mother started sure enough. Hush, Miss Cahline, Dilsey says. You gwine wake her up./ In there? Mother says. To be contaminated by that atmosphere? 198

Mother talking about how Caddy's room is "contaminated" and doesn't want baby Miss Q in there—the impact Caddy's actions have had on the family

He was always saying that they didn't need controlling, that they already knew what cleanliness and honesty were, which was all that anyone could hope to be taught. And now I hope he's satisfied. 261

Mother talking about how father always defended Quentin (male) and Caddy saying that they had all that they needed: cleanliness and honesty. She mocks father by saying she hopes he's satisfied (he's dead and Quentin committed suicide and Caddy is a mess)

We must decide this now, tonight. Either that name is never to be spoken in her hearing, or she must go, or I must go. Take your choice. 199

Mother, telling father that either they never say Caddy's name around baby Miss Q, baby Q leaves, or she leaves

What have I done to have been given children like these Benjamin was punishment enough....have you ever laid your eyes on him will you even let me try to find out who he is it's not for myself I couldn't bear to see him it's for your sake to protect you but who can fight against bad blood you won't let me try we are to sit back with our hands folded while she not only drags your name in the dirt but corrupts the very air your children breathe 104

Mrs. Compson's big monologue flashback. Happens after upset with Caddy. Sees Benjy as divine punishment.

Then she began to cry again, talking about how her own flesh and blood rose up to curse her. 181

Narration by Jason, describing his mother (she). Significant—the repetition/symbol/theme of "flesh and blood" and what it means to Jason and mother. in this quote mother is specifically talking about Miss Q skipping school and such

I began to laugh again. I could feel it in my throat....still I couldn't stop it and then I knew that if I tried too hard to stop it I'd be crying and I thought about how I'd thought about how I could not be a virgin 147

Q in car with Shreve and Mrs. Bland, etc. Laughing about absurdity that they thought him doing something sexual with the little girl.

She had her back turned I went around in front of her. You know what I was doing? She turned her back. I went around in front of her the rain creeping into the mud flatting her bodice through her dress it smelled horrible....I was hugging her I tell you./I don't give a damn what you were doing/You dont you dont I'll make you I'll make you give a damn. 137

Q's narration. Fighting with Caddy in flashback. Very sexualized :(

Father and I protect women from one another from themselves our women 96

Q's thoughts. Happening while in middle of looking for Deacon. Quentin keeps thinking back to memory of parents fighting over Caddy. IMportant bc reflects Q's southern values.

What must I do with her? I said. She just follows me....I've got to do something with her. 130

Quentin about little girl that follows him. Fear of reminding him of Caddy.

Damn that honeysuckle I wish it would stop 153

Quentin after he cannot kill Caddy. His ideas over Caddy's sexuality block connection.

t wont take but a second just a second then I can do mine I can do mine then....dont cry/Im not crying Caddy/push it are you going to/do you want me to/yes, push it/touch your hand to it/dont cry poor Quentin 152

Quentin and Caddy convo in mutual suicide. Quentin cannot bring himself to stab her.

I would lie in bed thinking when will it stop when will it stop....I seemed to be lying neither asleep nor awake looking down a long corridor of gray halflight where all stable things had become shadowy paradoxical all I had done shadows all I had felt suffered taking visible form antic and perverse mocking without relevance inherent themselves with the denial of the significance they should have affirmed thinking I was I was not who was not was not who. 170

Quentin cannot stop thinking. In his dreams he sees no end.

They talked all at once, their voices insistent and contradictory and impatient, making of unreality a possibility, then a probability, then an incontrovertible fact, as people will do when their desires become words. 117

Quentin observing fishing boys. Shows how Quentin sees the world as made up of desires.

She was never a queen or a fairy she was always a king or a giant or a general 173

Quentin remarking on Caddy as a child. She was never a damsel, but always a hero. But now no longer.

Father was teaching us that all men are just accumulations where all previous dolls had been thrown away the sawdust flowing from what wound in what side 175

Quentin remarking on father's words. People are made up from others.

Did you ever have a sister? Did you?166

Quentin repeating phrase to Spoade because sees him as same as Dalton.

My face close to the ground so I couldn't smell the honeysuckle I couldn't smell it then and I lay there feeling the earth going through my clothes listening to the water and after a while I wasn't breathing so hard and I lay there thinking that if I didn't move my face I wouldn't have to breathe hard and smell it 156

Quentin running away from Caddy and Dalton. Has to physically block himself from presence of Caddy.

It was Grandfather's and when Father gave it to me he said I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire....I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you might forget it now and then for a moment and not spend all your breath trying to conquer it. 76

Quentin says it at very start of chapter. Sets up whole theme of Quentin trying to beat Time.

When after while I knew he hadn't hit me that he had lied about that for her sake too and that I had just passed out like a girl but even that didn't matter anymore 162

Quentin talking about how Dalton saved Q's honor. Humanizes Dalton.

That's it if people could only change one another forever 176

Quentin talking about third quarter ending. Thinking about father's words.

I could see the twilight again, that quality of light as if time really had stopped for a while. 169 ​-

Quentin thinking about one time time is really paused. Finds pace for a second.

he we must lay awake and see evil done for a little while its not always and i it doesnt have to be even that long for a man of courage and he do you consider that courage and i yes sir dont you 176

Quentin thinking back to convo with dad. What are morals surrounding courage.

If I'd just had a mother so I could say Mother Mother 172

Quentin thinking in flashback. Looking back, life couldve been better with a mother that loved him.

And then I'll not be. Peacefullest words. Non fui. Sum. Fui. Non sum. 174

Quentin thinking. Big foreshadowing that suicide is near.

he you cannot bear to think that one day it will not hurt you like this (& the rest of that page) 177

Quentin's dad warning him. Quentin cannot live with values.

In the South you are ashamed of being a virgin. Boys. Men. They lie about it. Because it means less to women, Father said. He said it was men invented virginity not women. Father said it's like death. Only a state in which others are left and I said But to believe it doesnt matter and he said, That's what so sad about anything: not only virginity. 78

Quentin's narration, thinking about Spoade calling Shreve Q's husband. Quentin's outlook on sex.

He know a lot more than folks thinks. 31

Roskus says this about Benjy and how he believes that Benjy knows about Damuddy's death

You know: like he does...All his damn innuendo and lying and a lot of stuff....talking about the body's beauty and the sorry ends thereof and how tough women have it, without anything else they can do except lie on their backs. Leda lurking in the bushes, whimpering and moaning for the swan. 166-167

Shreve talking about what triggered Quentin to fight him. Shows that disregard for women is what angers Q.

You may have hit him. I may have looked away just then or blinked or something. 164

Shreve talking after Q's fight. Comical because Q did not get a lick in.

Ain't nothing going to quiet him, TP said. He think if he down at the gate, Miss Caddy come back./Nonsense, Mother said. 51

TP is commenting on Benjy's with Mrs. C. Benjy continuously goes to the gate because he believes it will bring Caddy back. While Mrs. C believes its nonsense, Benjy doesn't know any better.

Then a voice said, 'Brethren'....It was as different as day and dark....sinking into their hearts and speaking there again when it had ceased in fading and cumulate echoes. (294). Bottom of page 294!! And the congregation seemed to watch with its own eyes while the voice consumed him, until he was nothing and they were nothing and there was not even a voice but instead their hearts were speaking to one another in chanting measures beyond the need for words

The sermon of the visiting pastor that touched the hearts and souls of those listening. He begins speaking in a black tone and with soul and everyone begins to feel deeply touched.

There was more than astonishment in it, it was horror; shock; agony eyeless tongueless; just sound (320).

This is Benjy crying after Luster hit Queenie.

The next minute he was pulling at her dress and bellowing his voice hammered back and forth between the walls in waves and she shrinking against the wall getting smaller and smaller with her white face her eyes like thumbs dug into it until he pushed her out of the room his voice hammering back and forth 124

This is Quentin's memory of Benjy pulling at Caddy after she has to tell parents about loss of virginity. Sees Caddy as shrinking away.

His invisible life ravelled out about him like a workout sock (313)

This is a description of Jason as he sits and waits for someone to drive him back to town. He was very unravelled and distrought at this point.

Her skeleton rose, draped loosely in unpadded skin that tightened again upon a pouch...as though muscle and tissue had been courage or fortitude which the days or the years had consumed until only the indomitable skeleton was left rising (265-6)

This is the narrator describing Dilsey. This is the first time DIsley is described in depth.

And then a furious desire not to die seized him (310-311)

This is the old man crying out as he died via the hatchet he was trying to hurt Jason with.

Quentin kicked TP and Caddy put her arms around me, and her shining veil, and I couldn't smell trees anymore, and I began to cry. 40

​Benjy at Caddy's wedding and how he knows that she is going to leave and doesn't smell trees anymore because of Caddy's maturation

Dilsey. Caddy said. Benjy's got a present for you. She stooped down and out the bottle in my hand....Caddy smelled like trees. We dont like perfume ourselves. Caddy said. 42-3

​Caddy gives her bottle of perfume to Benjy to give to Dilsey because she understands how Benjy doesn't like the smell of the perfume because it masks her "smelling of trees"

I said I have committed incest, Father I said.

​Flashback by Quentin at start of book. Dont yet know about Caddy's wedding. Thinking about Caddy's wedding invitation.

Unbutton it, Versh, she said. Don't do it, Versh, Quentin said. 18

​Quentin bosses Caddy about not getting her dress wet and when she does, she teases him about how she will just take it off and let it dry

Going to be more than one more. Dilsey said. Show me the man what ain't going to die. Bless Jesus./Dying ain't all. Roskus said./I knows what you thinking. Dilsey said. And there ain't going to be no use in saying that name, lessen you going to set up with him while he cries. 29

​This is when Benjy gets sick and Roskus says there is no lunch on this place and Dilsey talks about how if Benjy hears Caddy's name then we will start crying.