On Quentin and His Symbols

The Language of Chaos: Quentin Compson in The Sound and the Fury
May Cameron Brown
American Literature, Vol. 51, No. 4 (Jan., 1980), pp. 544-553
Published by: Duke University Press

“No battle is ever won. …They are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools.” (93) This quote from Quentin’s father epitomizes the nihilistic view that becomes the death of Quentin, a view that is found within various symbols throughout his section.

Throughout the article, May Cameron Brown explores, step by step, the recurring themes of the last day of Quentin Compson’s life and in what way they lead to the young man’s suicide. Of the symbols she discusses, the three that stood out where time, shadow, and twilight.

“For Quentin, time is painful and destructive. He lives in the past, which he attempts to reconstruct by imaginatively damning himself and Caddy to the purifying flames of hell. …Because time is his enemy, responsible for his loss of Caddy and hence for his suffering, he seeks to destroy it by breaking his grandfather‘s watch and then to escape it by avoiding all instruments which record time. The more desperate he is in his efforts to avoid time, the more conscious of it he becomes.” (Brown 545-546) For Quentin, time is a trap. No matter how hard he tries, Quentin is powerless both to stop time and to move it backwards. He is as a stone within a stream, the world -- time itself -- surrounds him, flowing past him, regardless of his desires or wants.

Throughout Quentin’s section, another predominate symbol is that of the shadow. In a way, the shadow is connected to time, for it is a simple way for the reader to know what time of day it is. However, the shadow also symbolizes Quentin and his disassociation from the rest of the world. The boy feels he is a shade of a person and, either resulting from this feeling or because of it, feels he is unable to effect the corporeal world. Brown points out, “It is Quentin’s partial awareness of the emptiness of words and values which creates his despair and isolates him in a world of shadows.” (Brown 550)

Finally, because of Quentin’s deep connection with shadows, his most sacred moment is, fittingly enough, that time of shadows, twilight. We all know twilight to be important since it was Faulkner’s first title for the novel. Even Quentin is aware of this affinity he has to the time after sunset. “On a conscious level Quentin associates twilight with a peaceful state, with the anticipated suicide when time will cease to torture him. …[Twilight] is for him both a quality of light and a quality of mind.” (Brown 551) In fact, the whole of Quentin’s section takes place during his last day alive, the twilight of his life.

May Cameron Brown explains some interesting symbols that are present throughout the second part of Faulkner’s novel which not only include time, shadow, and twilight, but also mirrors, doors, sisters, and water. By looking beyond the obvious, Brown discovers a deeper meaning than could ever be stumbled upon during a first reading and, in turn, creates a more fulfilling portion of The Sound and the Fury.
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