Caddy Compson: Change (William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury)

What point does Faulkner make with her character by using indirect characterization?

William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury centers on a young girl's maturation in the changing South through the eyes of her three brothers. Although the object of obsession for the main characters and the focus of the novel, Caddy Compson remains conspicuously absent throughout the text. The catalyst for many life-changing events in the lives of her brothers, Caddy never receives the opportunity to tell her story. Instead, the reader is left with biased depictions of Caddy by her siblings. Faulkner indirectly characterizes Caddy to suggest the importance of voice and the importance of maintaining a balanced perspective through the surface level conflict among the family in addition to the deeper symbolic friction about changes in the South.

Caddy exists in different colored filters; the reader never gets to remove the screen just as her brothers are never able to see past their own limited perspective. Faulkner denies Caddy a section to express her side of the story because humans typically refuse to accept the explanation following their abandonment or betrayal. Caddy represents the absent mother (to Benjy), the wayward daughter (to Quentin), and the easy scapegoat (to Jason) that we all know. She is the cause of all our woes and we allow ourselves to pin the blame on her. Faulkner does not grant Caddy the opportunity to tell her story because we don't want to hear it. Denied a voice, Caddie takes the blame for her brother's pain and we lack an objective account to clarify her character. The situation illustrates the importance of having a voice and how many of us fail to utilize our own. Without a voice, we could all fall into the pit in which Caddy Compson dwells with the other demons of blame.

Faulkner imbeds this message more deeply into the text through his symbolization of Caddy as the changes taking place in the Deep South after the Civil War. Caddy's brothers cannot view her objectively because they each reacted to the changes differently, as illustrated through their varied viewpoints. Quentin idealistically wants to protect Old Southern virtue by guarding Caddy's virginity. His obsession with incest is interesting because incest would be a total derailment of Southern morals yet Quentin is obviously bent on upholding Southern nobility by any means necessary. Jason blames the changes in the South (i.e. Caddy's newfangled notions of womanhood and independence) for his all of his troubles. Benjy clings to his early memories of Caddy and the South and refuses to acknowledge the new reality that the Compson's find themselves in. Through this indirect characterization and symbolization, Faulkner suggests that we should examine our perceptions and motives when we face change so that we may greet it with a balanced and sane perspective.

When you deny someone a voice, you limit yourself. Your perspective remains biased and spotty. Faulkner indirectly characterizes Caddy, denying her the opportunity to share her story, to illustrate how important it is that we speak up and that we open our ears to those around us. Faulkner delves further into Caddy's metaphorical importance as the symbol of change in the South. The brothers' radically different means of dealing with change and inability to adapt suggest that we must seek a composed, cohesive perspective when faced with transformation or hardship.

thanks for your help and critique!
Grace

This essay is absolutely perfect! You're an amazing writer.

I only found one small thing to fix;

...changes in the South (i.e. Caddy's newfangled notions of womanhood and independence) for his all of his troubles.

Good luck in school and have fun~ I hope you write your own book some day.

:)