Sound and the Fury - How I view success.

Here is my rough draft on Columbia's supplementary "Please describe why a certain book, cultural event... is meaningful to you."
Thank you to all.

Kindness and Punishment
Incest! Incest, Quentin proclaimed in a ignominious plea for his father's ear. It was she and I, Quentin bemoaned. Mr. Compson rejected his son's dubious claims, determined to incriminate his daughter, Candace, to promiscuity around the town. She is the shame of the family, Mr. Compson declared, and she will not sully the Compson name further.

Moral decay certainly is a prominent feature in William Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury," but I find this decadence and corruption offers a much more optimistic lesson. I feel remorse for Candace, who, despite being generous and good-hearted to her mentally-handicapped brother Benjamin when no one else is, is punished by exile and disgrace from her socially-affluent parents. I feel pity for Quentin who, in spite of noble goals of sacrificing himself to preserve his sister Candace's deteriorating social stance, is driven to madness and suicide.

These themes may not seem optimistic, but I must look mindfully on them. As indicated by the Compson trait of self-deterioration, I have learned that success does not hinge upon resources or social-status; that I must make success my own through inexorable willpower. It seems driven by schadenfreude that I find happiness from these devastating circumstances, that, indicated by the noble characters of Candace and Quentin's downfall, good-nature does not reciprocate happiness. I must derive happiness from what makes me yearn to learn and expand, want to better myself, and strive for more than I want.

You are an amazing writer! I am very impressed.
I have a couple of questions...
1) What is the word limit? Is this the whole story, or is there more?
2) If possible, may you provide a little more background about the story? I am not familiar with it, so there are some holes in the story for me.

3) Try to relate it back to how you will thrive at Columbia.

This is superb! May you please critique mine? I think you will have valuable insight. Thank you!

beautiful writing but I would connect it more to you. there is more about the book and less about why it is important, after all isn't that the prompt? if there is more room to write I would add more to that second paragraph if not then I would take out even one sentence of the first paragraph and replace it with another sentence about you.

and please help me!!

Thank you both. I have edited this essay, and am posting a new version. Now, I will go to your essays.

Kindness and Punishment
Incest! Incest, Quentin proclaimed in a boisterous plea for his father's ear. It was she and I, Quentin bemoaned. Mr. Compson rejected his son's dubious claims, determined to incriminate his daughter, Candace, to promiscuity around the town. She is the shame of the family, Mr. Compson declared, and she will not sully the Compson name further.

With just a brief image into the Southern opulence of the Compson family, William Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury" presents an austere view on the highest social caste, and how the facade that the rich are better off is blurred and false. Of the Compson family, Quentin is depressed and suicidal, Mr. Compson is apathetic, Mrs. Compson is a hypochondriac, Benjamin is mentally-handicapped, Jason is tyrannical and narcissistic, Candace is promiscuous, and Miss Quentin is rebellious and deprave. An esoteric bunch, yet I would not expect them to be in a respected social standing, though they are. Ironically, I have found sanctuary and hope from their misdeeds and ignominy.

If you look at the Compson's servants, Dilsey and her children, Faulkner writes 'They endured' through their punishment and hardships, whilst the Compsons all died away. I take away a certain driving factor, a crucial role for me, that hard-work and trial are rewarded with endurance and inexorability in the face of sickening adversity, while social status and resources will not necessarily benefit an individual. I look upon my own lack of resources as a boon. It makes the trials of my life meaningful, that I knowingly can conquer them, whereas resources would allow me a cheat or advantage past them without significance.