Saturday, September 15, 2007

On Quentin (Wed's discussion)

Quentin is arguably the most screwed up character in the Sound and the Fury, and that's saying something. They all have problems, but as someone said, only Benjy expresses his emotions (albeit not too articulately) by moaning. Jason tries to affect some change within the family. How does Quentin (not) solve his problems? He pretends to have committed incest, and then he kills himself. I know times today are different from back then, but I'm pretty sure that was never a normal way of dealing with problems.

Someone in class mentioned that the Compson family tries to hide all its problems, knowing it's not socially acceptable to be in such disarray. The Compson family would then be much, much more concerned with its image than with its happiness. Quentin's suicide should tell the outside world that there is something wrong with the workings of the family. Ironically, the family's failure to confront their problems in a meaningful way (Jason and Quentin's attempts are worthless) leads to what I must think is a degraded image (did that thought make any sense?).

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