June 2, 1910

Quentin's chapter is messy. I didn't really know what to expect going into it, but I found myself as confused by Quentin as I did by Benjy. The degenerative syntax in Quentin's chapter reflects his degenerative state of mind. Quentin uses punctuation lackadaisically; he gives entire accounts of events with no punctuation at all. What makes his chapter so hard to read, though, is the way he switches speakers. We discussed this in class a little bit. He will go from saying something in his own voice to repeating something another character said as if he said it himself. The only way to determine a change in speaker in several instances is to look for a change in pronoun.

So far, both narrators have been somewhat mentally off. Benjy is mentally retarted, and Quentin is mentally unstable. My question is why did Faulkner choose such mentally unreliable (or, better put, undecipherable) narrators? They are not unreliable like the governess in Turn of the Screw, but they are unreliable in their perception of reality. Events are confusing to readers because they are confusing to the characters. I think Faulkner wants us to experience the events as a character in the story--it's like he is giving us a lens into the life of the Compson family, so far through two very confused people. We might not like what we see (especially the incestuous innuendo), but that is the point. Faulkner wants us to feel emotion. For me, the confusion builds up a sense of anxiety; I anticipate some sort of clarity in upcoming chapters, although so far there has been no relief from the dense, intense passages. One thing I know for sure is that Faulkner intended this novel to be read very closely. It takes work to read this one.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that being so confused is kind of eerie. The fact that Faulkner leaves us confused for so long is even eerier, almost as if it is better to be confused than to have clarity. Ignorance is bliss I suppose. I don't know. It's just how I have felt so far. I'm looking forward to some sort of resolution.