of that particular part; this is especially true with Quentin's and Jason's
section. In Quentin's section, the first sentence draws the reader into his
obsession with being caught "in time" and includes two of the most common
symbols in the section: time and shadows. Jason's section begins "once a
bitch always a bitch, what I say," introducing both Jason's irrational
anger not only toward his sister and her daughter, but toward the world in
general, and also the rigorous logic that runs through this section (180).
Jason's world is dominated by logic. Once a bitch, always a bitch; like
mother, like daughter. Caddy was a whore, so is her daughter. He is furious
at Caddy for ruining his chances at getting a job, and the way she ruined
his chances was to bear an illegitimate daughter; therefore the way he will
get revenge on her and simultaneously recoup the money he lost is through
this same daughter. Caddy should have gotten him a job, but instead she had
Quentin; therefore it is his right to embezzle the money she sends to
Quentin in order to make up for the money he lost when he lost the job.
Jason's logic takes the form of literalism. Caddy is responsible for
getting him money, no matter where it comes from. She sends money each
month for Quentin's upkeep; he keeps Quentin clothed, housed and fed, so
the money should go to him. He himself claims that he "make[s] it a rule
never to keep a scrap of paper bearing a woman's hand," and yet he keeps
the money from the checks Caddy sends him; this act fits into his system of
logic because he cashes the checks, literally getting rid of her
handwriting while keeping the money. He allows his mother to literally burn
the checks she sends, but only after he has cashed them in secret. When
Caddy gives him 100 dollars to "see [Quentin] a minute" he grants her
request to the letter, holding the baby up to the carriage window as he
drives by, literally allowing Caddy only a minute's glimpse (203-205). When
Luster can't pay him a nickel for tickets to the show, he burns the tickets
rather than give then to him (255). All of these acts fit into a rigid and
literally defined logical order with which Jason structures his life.
Some readers see Jason's logic as a sign that he is more "sane" than the
rest of his family. He is not retarded like Benjy or irrationally
distraught like Quentin. He is able to live his life in a relatively normal
way, with a logical order to both his narrative and his daily activities.
However, Jason is just as blind, just as divorced from reality as his
brothers. Like them, he tries to control his life through a strictly
defined order, and when this is disrupted he collapses into irrationality.
Benjy's system of order is the routine of everyday life, disrupted on a
grand scale when Caddy leaves and on a small scale when Luster turns the
horses the wrong way or changes the arrangement of his "graveyard."
Quentin's system of order is the honor and purity he saw in himself and
Caddy when they were young, disrupted when Caddy loses her virginity and
leaves him. Jason's system of order is the rigidity of his logic, most of
which has to do with money, and with this he tries to control the world
around him. This system is disrupted when he loses his job opportunity
(Quentin gets a career boost in going to Harvard, so should Jason get a
career boost from Herbert Head), and again when Quentin refuses to come to
dinner, skips school, or runs away with his money. For each brother, the
systems he has established help to control everyday life, and the way they
do so is by controlling Caddy. As long as she is motherly to Benjy,
virginal to Quentin, and profftable to Jason, their worlds are in order.
But these controlling mechanisms are inflexible, breaking down entirely as
soon as Caddy or her daughter defies them.
Each brother remains irrationally connected with the past, particularly
with memories of Caddy. Benjy relives his memories of Caddy all the time,
making no distinction between the present and the past. Quentin goes
through the routines of life washed in a sea of memories of Caddy. And
Jason, for all he seems to have cut himself off from her entirely by
refusing to mention her name, is perhaps the closest of all to her. Not
only is he surrounded by reminders of her in the shape of her daughter and
her money, but he is also constantly reminded of her in his anger. It has
been eighteen years since she lost him his job opportunity, and yet he
remains as angry with her as he ever was. Certainly this is no way to
forget her, nor is it any more "sane" than his brothers.
Nor is Jason even a particularly good businessman, for all he obsesses
about money. In the course of this one day he loses $200 in the stock
market, for example; he has been warned that the market is in a state of
flux and yet he leaves town on a wild goose chase when he should be
watching the market and deliberately defies his broker's advice by buying
when he should sell. He is rude and spiteful to his boss, which is
certainly not the best way to succeed in business. He buys a car even
though he knows that gasoline gives him headaches. And perhaps the clearest
indication of his bad business sense is the fact that when Quentin steals
his savings in the fourth section, she steals $7000. This is the money that
he has been embezzling from Caddy and Quentin, and Caddy has been sending
him $200 a month for fifteen years. By this point he should have amassed
upwards of $30,000; where did it all go? Even though he thinks of little
else besides money, he is not capable of handling it properly.
Mrs. Compson spends much of the novel telling Jason that he is different
from Quentin and Benjy, that he is a Bascomb at heart. And yet, underneath
the sadism, money-grubbing and isolation, Jason is surprisingly similar to
his brothers. He is just as obsessed with Caddy as they are, and her
sexuality shatters his world just as much as theirs.
Summary of April Eighth, 1928:
The section opens with Dilsey standing on the stoop of her house in her
church clothes, then going back inside to change into her work clothes. It
is raining and gray outside. Dilsey goes into the kitchen and brings some
firewood with her; she can barely walk. She begins to make breakfast and
Mrs. Compson calls her from upstairs; she wants her to fill her hot water
bottle. Dilsey struggles up the stairs to get the hot water bottle, saying
that Luster has overslept after the night's reveries. She goes outside and
calls Luster; he appears from the cellar looking guilty and she tells him
to get some firewood and take care of Benjy. He brings in a huge armful of
firewood and leaves. A while later, Mrs. Compson calls her again, and she
goes out to the stairs. Mrs. Compson wants to know when Luster will be up
to take care of Benjy.
Dilsey begins to slowly climb the stairs again, while Mrs. Compson
inquires whether she had better go down and make breakfast herself. When
Dilsey is halfway up the stairs, Mrs. Compson reveals that Benjy is not
even awake yet, and Dilsey clambers back down. Luster emerges from the
cellar again. She makes him get another armful of wood and go up to tend
Benjy. The clock strikes five times, and Dilsey says "eight o'clock" (274).
Luster appears with Benjy, who is described as big and pale, with white-
blonde hair cut in a child's haircut and pale blue eyes. She sends Luster
up to see if Jason is awake yet; Luster reports that he is up and angry
already because one of the windows in his room is broken. He accuses Luster
of breaking it, but Luster swears he didn't.
Jason and Mrs. Compson come to the table for breakfast. Although Mrs.
Compson usually allows Quentin to sleep in on Sundays, Jason insists that
she come and eat with them now. Dilsey goes upstairs to wake her. Mrs.
Compson tells him that the black servants are all taking the afternoon off
to go to church; the family will have to have a cold lunch. Upstairs Dilsey
calls to Quentin, but receives no answer. Suddenly, Jason springs up and
mounts the stairs, shouting for Quentin. There is still no response and he
comes back down to snatch the key to her room from his mother. He fumbles
at the lock and then finally opens the door. The room is empty. Jason runs
to his own room and begins throwing things out of the closet. Mrs. Compson
looks around Quentin's note for a suicide note, convinced that history is
repeating itself. In his room, Jason finds that his strongbox has been
broken into. He runs to the phone and calls the sheriff, telling him that
he has been robbed, and that he expects the sheriff to get together a posse
of men to help him search for Quentin. He storms out.
Luster comments that he bets Jason beat Quentin and now he is going for the
doctor. Dilsey tells him to take Benjy outside. Luster tells her that he
and Benjy saw Quentin climb out her window and down the pear tree last
night. Dilsey goes back to her cabin and changes into her church clothes
again. She calls for Luster and finds him trying to play a saw like one of
the players did at the show last night. She tells him to get his cap and to
come with her; they meet up with Frony and head to church, Benjy in tow.
Dilsey carries herself with pride among the other blacks, and some of the
children dare each other to touch Benjy. They take their seats as the mass
starts.
The sermon will be delivered by a visiting preacher, Reverend Shegog. The
preachers process in, and Reverend Shegog is so slight and nondescript as
to attract no attention. But when he speaks, he holds their attention.
First he speaks without accent "like a white man," describing the
"recollection and the blood of the Lamb," then when this doesn't have much
of an effect, he modulates into black dialect and delivers the same sermon
again, describing the major events of Jesus' life and his resurrection.
When he finishes, Benjy is rapt with attention and Dilsey is quietly
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