I like books I always have. I like math I always have. Books usually follow some sort of equation and are in a logical order even if it is not always chronological; these things please my mathematical mind. The Sound and the Fury is about as far away from these two things you can get and still call it a novel. I understand why the novel is a classic and can appreciate it as a piece of literature I just can’t enjoy it as I wish I could.

While reading the Benjy section I was able to accept to a great extent Faulkner’s chaotic style as it made sense do to the mental capabilities of the narrator. What made me lose interest was how he continued such a disjointed style into the section narrated by a highly capable person, as even if Quentin is lacking in sanity I do not find it believable that his thoughts would be even more confusing than those of Benjy. By the time the Quentin section started I was tired. What keeps me going isn’t that it’s our assignment; instead it is because, even with my struggles in reading, I find the themes and characters to be intriguing.

Of the characters we have met so far I find Benjy to be the most interesting by far. He is the perfect tool for showing the inside thoughts of any person, as with his disabilities his thoughts are all turned into actions. In times when any regular person would hold back even their strongest of emotions, in Benjy we see what everyone would like to be doing and probably should be doing in many cases. He is also in my opinion the least flawed of all the main characters we have met. Sure he has issues that come with his disability, but other than being annoying at times he does not have a negative affect on the family nearly as much as most of the others. The only other characters that I actually like much at all are the servants. Even with all the troubles of the Compson family they carry on happy lives, while trying to help the Compsons along the way. While their roles might not be too complicated, they are still very important especially to the care of Benjy. The rest of the Compson family I find to be somewhat dull. They all have issues, but in present-day all of their issues are pretty common so don’t do anything new for me.

So I guess I have enjoyed the novel to some extent, but what frustrates me is that I could not have done so on my own. I would have given up and I’m guessing many people have, including much of Oprah’s book club. I need just about everyday to have someone (Mr. Coon) explain most of what I have read. This I guess makes the novel great for the classroom and scholarly discussion, but leaves the casual reader out. I have to believe that this is done on purpose by the author, who was targeting the critics and upper class that were able to take the time to understand the novel through deep thought without the help of Wikipedia. To fully understand this book on my own I would probably have to sacrifice much of my life and become an English-major. There would be mental damage done and I don’t think I would be a happy person. Instead I will just accept that I need help to even partially understand the style and story Faulkner wrote with a target audience that is not Eric. . (604)