Quentin "Tarantino" Compson

If Benjy's chapter was hard to understand, Quentin's chapter was hard to even read. Whole sentences, phrases, and ideas are strung together with no punctuation. There are, believe it or not, several pages in a row without punctuation, which as a reader, is quite frustrating. Faulkner once again experiments with extremely unorthodox writing and narrating techniques, that are difficult for any reader to adapt to. Quentin's chapter is also filled with several reoccurring symbols, that seem to be attached to his obsession with Caddy. The motif of time is once again present in this chapter as it was before with Benjy, except it is reinforced through his watch. As Quentin says, the sound of a watch ticking creates a "long diminishing parade of time you didn't hear." This introduces the idea that the ticking watch will bring up memories of the past and of Caddy to Quentin. In this sense, Quentin is trapped by time and stuck in the past. Quentin's narration is also interesting because it is not always him speaking. There are passages that have other speakers besides Quentin, like Caroline. This creates a confusing sense of the "I" voice that a reader would expect to be consistent throughout the chapter. This, along with the before mentioned jumbling of sentences, creates very confusing writing for the reader. This style of narration clearly shows that Quentin has a mental illness. As the chapter progresses, Quentin's grasp of grammar diminishes. Towards the end his writing is reduced to mere rambling, making essentially no sense. Quentin becomes more upset and anxious about Caddy's sexuality and promiscuity further into the chapter, so much so, he is willing to claim Caddy's child as his own to avoid the disgrace to his family that would surely follow otherwise. Quentin more than others seems to recognize the decline of the Compson family. He is clearly disturbed by the direction his family is headed, and the repeated shadow symbol implies that the family is but a shadow of its former self. It is also interesting to consider the fact that both characters serve as observers to the moral decline of their family, but only Quentin grasps an understanding of what he notices, and what it means. Benjy simply sees it, but does not interpret it. This is best seen in Caddy's promiscuity. Benjy notices she smells of perfume not trees, but he doesn't know what it means. Quentin knows that she has been "dirtied" and is no longer a virgin anymore. Quentin feels trapped under his family's sin and his inability to change it, and eventually he views suicide as the final and only option.