William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury Essay -- Faulkner Sound Fury

William Faulkners The run low and the FuryIn William Faulkners The Sound and the Fury, the visit of honeysuckle is used repeatedly to reflect Quentins preoccupation with Caddys sexual urge. Throughout the Quentin section of Faulkners work, the image of honeysuckle arises in conjunction with the loss of Caddys virginity and Quentins anxiety over this loss. The particular construction of this image is unique and central to the work in that Quentin himself understands that the honeysuckle is a symbol for Caddys sexuality. The stream of consciousness technique, with its attempt at rendering the complex melt down of human consciousness, is used by Faulkner to realistically show how symbols are impose upon the mind when experiences and sense perceptions coalesce. Working with this modernist technique, Faulkner is able to examine the creation fail of symbols in human consciousness.The occurrences of honeysuckle in the Quentin section suggest that Quentin came to forecast this pla nt as a symbol for Caddys sexuality involuntarily. When Quentin attempts to convince his father that he was the one who impregnated Caddy, he connects honeysuckle with his babes loss of virginity I fooled you all the time I was in the house where that damn honeysuckle trying not to think the sweep the cedars the secret surges the breathing locked drinking the wild breath the yes Yes Yes yes (94). In Quentins memory of the night Caddy lost her virginity, he recalls honeysuckle as a signifi rout outt element of the event. In addition, he is hostile towards the plants and its meaning, which can be seen in his damning of it. This connection to the sexual act and the hostility, which is ascribed to it, suggests the informal conflict in his anger... ... of our deepest memories, rather they are active forces in our life, equal of controlling the mind of the individual. Works CitedBauer, Margaret D. Southern Literary Journal. I invite Sinned in That I Have Betrayed the Innocen t Blood Quentins Recognition of His Guilt. 2000 32.2 70-90.Bockting, Ineke. Style. The impossible knowledge base of the schizophrenic William Faulkners Quentin Compson. 199024.3 484-498.Kartiganer, Donald M. The Meaning of Form in The Sound and the Fury. The Sound and the Fury. Ed. David Minter. New York W.W. Norton and Company, 1994. 333. Vickery, Olga W. The Sound and the Fury A Study in Perspectives. The Sound and the Fury. Ed. David Minter. New York W.W. Norton and Company, 1994. 285. Zender, Karl F. American Literature. Faulkner and the Politics of Incest. 1998 70.4 739-766.