WEBVTT 00:10.167 --> 00:12.397 WAI CHEE DIMOCK: So let me just start with Faulkner. 00:12.400 --> 00:17.330 This is a really interesting image of Faulkner in Japan. 00:17.333 --> 00:21.273 We know that Faulker so much associated with Oxford, 00:21.267 --> 00:22.967 Mississippi. 00:22.967 --> 00:28.727 But he actually traveled quite a bit under the sponsorship of 00:28.733 --> 00:29.633 the State Department. 00:29.633 --> 00:34.133 He was there because the State Department asked him to travel 00:34.133 --> 00:37.273 around and to give talks. 00:37.267 --> 00:41.967 And what's interesting about Faulkner in Japan is that some 00:41.967 --> 00:46.167 of the most interesting things that he says about his own 00:46.167 --> 00:53.227 novels were actually said when he was in Japan, in the course 00:53.233 --> 00:57.573 of the Nagona seminar, 1955. 00:57.567 --> 01:00.327 And this is really what he says about The 01:00.333 --> 01:02.903 Sound and the Fury. 01:02.900 --> 01:05.100 "This is how the book grew. 01:05.100 --> 01:09.700 That is, I wrote the same story four times. 01:09.700 --> 01:14.870 None of them were right, but I had anguished so much that I 01:14.867 --> 01:20.597 could not throw any of it away and start over, so I printed 01:20.600 --> 01:22.630 it in the four sections." 01:22.633 --> 01:25.033 I mean this is obviously tongue in cheek. 01:25.033 --> 01:29.033 He's saying that he's written so much in four different 01:29.033 --> 01:34.403 ways, that he can't bear to get rid of any of it. 01:34.400 --> 01:38.530 So he's keeping all four, and it's the same story told four 01:38.533 --> 01:41.033 times, tongue in cheek. 01:41.033 --> 01:44.173 But there's an element of truth in it. 01:44.167 --> 01:52.097 So let's try out, follow Faulker in that thought. 01:52.100 --> 01:55.970 And think of The Sound and the Fury, the four sections of The 01:55.967 --> 02:00.127 Sound and the Fury as theme and variation. 02:00.133 --> 02:02.533 So it's a very interesting, musical 02:02.533 --> 02:05.703 structure, theme and variation. 02:05.700 --> 02:09.330 Basically it's really the same story, but told from four 02:09.333 --> 02:13.003 different point of view using four different narrative 02:13.000 --> 02:14.600 techniques. 02:14.600 --> 02:17.000 And so producing different effects, but really they are 02:17.000 --> 02:19.600 all rooted in the same phenomenon, which makes sense. 02:19.600 --> 02:22.070 I mean it's really the same story. 02:22.067 --> 02:24.127 Another way to think about this -- 02:24.133 --> 02:27.873 and this is really kind of adding on to a sense that this 02:27.867 --> 02:30.027 is theme and variation -- 02:30.033 --> 02:31.573 is the notion of kinship. 02:31.567 --> 02:34.697 And this is really closer to our thematic understanding of 02:34.700 --> 02:41.630 the novel, that the three brothers, each gets to tell 02:41.633 --> 02:45.273 his story in one section, and then the full section is told 02:45.267 --> 02:48.567 by an omniscient narrator. 02:48.567 --> 02:51.067 But the first three sections are told by the 02:51.067 --> 02:53.167 three Compson brothers. 02:53.167 --> 02:57.497 So there is kinship among them. 02:57.500 --> 03:01.830 And we'll think about the extent to which they are 03:01.833 --> 03:07.933 brothers, they are kin, in both a biological sense, but 03:07.933 --> 03:13.673 perhaps also in more than just a biological sense. 03:13.667 --> 03:20.397 So let me just lay out the three ways in which Benjy and 03:20.400 --> 03:25.630 Quentin might be seen as kin. 03:25.633 --> 03:30.433 And this is very much using the three analytic registers 03:30.433 --> 03:32.933 that we've been using all the way through. 03:32.933 --> 03:34.833 The three analytics scales -- 03:34.833 --> 03:38.003 the largest scale the shared macro history. 03:38.000 --> 03:39.430 This is commonsensical. 03:39.433 --> 03:42.703 They live in the United States after the Civil War. 03:42.700 --> 03:45.500 So that is the common ground between them. 03:45.500 --> 03:47.230 And in fact, it doesn't take brothers to 03:47.233 --> 03:49.503 have that common ground. 03:49.500 --> 03:53.670 And especially thinking about race relations, and the 03:53.667 --> 03:58.567 tomorrow of race, thinking back to that line from Macbeth 03:58.567 --> 04:02.067 Act V, Scene Five. 04:02.067 --> 04:07.197 So that's the largest ground for kinship between them. 04:07.200 --> 04:09.300 And then there's another ground for kinship, which has 04:09.300 --> 04:12.200 to do, obviously, with Faulkner's narrative 04:12.200 --> 04:16.700 experimentation and the traumatic loss of Caddy that 04:16.700 --> 04:17.500 we saw last time. 04:17.500 --> 04:20.530 That's being repeated in the Quentin section. 04:20.533 --> 04:24.503 Likewise, the incomplete syntax that is so striking in 04:24.500 --> 04:28.430 Benjy will also be repeated in Quentin. 04:28.433 --> 04:32.433 And finally, the importance of the sense of smell that is in 04:32.433 --> 04:35.033 Benjy will also be repeated in Quentin. 04:35.033 --> 04:39.103 We'll look at the kinship first. And then 04:39.100 --> 04:41.970 we'll look at variation. 04:41.967 --> 04:43.967 Even though they're brothers, they're different as well. 04:43.967 --> 04:45.797 So basically today's lecture is 04:45.800 --> 04:48.370 about kinship and variation. 04:48.367 --> 04:49.967 But let's start with the kinship. 04:49.967 --> 04:54.067 And I want to talk a little bit about race after the Civil 04:54.067 --> 04:57.997 War, especially Faulkner's understanding of that. 04:58.000 --> 05:05.130 So in his 1956 interview with the London Sunday Times, 05:05.133 --> 05:08.433 Faulkner has this very interesting thing to say. 05:08.433 --> 05:13.603 "And the negro won't come out on top, because of anything to 05:13.600 --> 05:17.430 do with race, but because he has always 05:17.433 --> 05:20.473 gotten by without scope. 05:20.467 --> 05:24.267 When they're given scope, they use it fully. 05:24.267 --> 05:27.967 They are trained to do more than a white man can do with 05:27.967 --> 05:33.397 the same limitations." 05:33.400 --> 05:38.300 I have a little bit of a cold, so. 05:38.300 --> 05:39.830 This will be fine. 05:51.433 --> 05:57.703 So this is the way that we like to think about race, is 05:57.700 --> 06:03.670 by going back to Macbeth, Act V scene five. 06:03.667 --> 06:08.667 And the first line actually of Macbeth, Act V, Scene five, 06:08.667 --> 06:13.297 is, "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow." And thinking 06:13.300 --> 06:17.230 that, mapping that onto race relations. 06:17.233 --> 06:21.103 We see that Benjy is 33 years old. 06:21.100 --> 06:24.630 What kind of a future does he have? 06:24.633 --> 06:31.803 And what kind of future do the other black characters have? 06:31.800 --> 06:35.570 So let's look at Benjy first. And thinking about what 06:35.567 --> 06:39.327 future, what tomorrow holds for Benjy. 06:39.333 --> 06:44.273 And this is very early on, the opening of the Benjy section. 06:44.267 --> 06:46.967 "Listen at you now, Luster said. 06:46.967 --> 06:48.927 Ain't you something. 06:48.933 --> 06:52.033 33 years old, going on that way. 06:52.033 --> 06:56.173 After I done went all the way to town to buy you that cake. 06:56.167 --> 06:58.397 Hush up that moaning. 06:58.400 --> 07:01.100 Ain't you going to help me find that quarter so I can go 07:01.100 --> 07:03.600 to the show tonight?" 07:03.600 --> 07:07.070 Benjy can't talk, obviously. 07:07.067 --> 07:11.827 So Luster is the one who is doing all the talking. 07:11.833 --> 07:17.173 But I think that Faulkner seems almost to be emphasizing 07:17.167 --> 07:21.427 that Luster is the player in the present. 07:21.433 --> 07:25.603 And he's going to be the player in the future. 07:25.600 --> 07:31.330 And everything that is being done by Benjy, is being done 07:31.333 --> 07:34.273 by Luster and Dilsey to some extent, the two black 07:34.267 --> 07:34.997 characters. 07:35.000 --> 07:38.230 His mother isn't doing anything for him. 07:38.233 --> 07:39.973 Quentin is dead. 07:39.967 --> 07:42.097 Caddy is gone. 07:42.100 --> 07:47.330 So Luster is Beny's only significant 07:47.333 --> 07:49.933 other at this point. 07:49.933 --> 07:57.003 And if for no other reason, the future belongs Benjy, to 07:57.000 --> 08:00.570 the extent that Benjy could have a future. 08:00.567 --> 08:03.897 That future can come only from Luster. 08:03.900 --> 08:08.230 So it's a really interesting way to think about the future 08:08.233 --> 08:11.903 as being race mediated and race dependent. 08:11.900 --> 08:14.230 Benjy is completely helpless. 08:14.233 --> 08:17.373 Only Luster can give him a future. 08:17.367 --> 08:19.967 And Luster is doing that. 08:19.967 --> 08:25.627 All the things that Caddy used to do, Luster is doing. 08:25.633 --> 08:28.333 He's telling Benjy to hush. 08:28.333 --> 08:31.703 He's gone all the way to town to buy a birthday cake for 08:31.700 --> 08:36.870 Benjy because Benjy is 33 that day. 08:36.867 --> 08:39.667 And so in that sense, he's a very good 08:39.667 --> 08:43.467 significant other to Benjy. 08:43.467 --> 08:47.067 But more than that, we see that Luster actually has a 08:47.067 --> 08:49.827 life apart from Benjy. 08:49.833 --> 08:53.203 The last sentence of that passage, "Ain't you going to 08:53.200 --> 08:58.130 help me find that quarter so I can go to the show tonight?" 08:58.133 --> 09:00.133 Luster wants to go to the show completely 09:00.133 --> 09:02.933 independent of Benjy. 09:02.933 --> 09:07.533 He has his own desires, he has a life apart from Benjy. 09:07.533 --> 09:12.273 And Benjy is really just an aside, an appendage, and this 09:12.267 --> 09:15.127 case, someone who should help him to find that quarter, so 09:15.133 --> 09:18.133 he can pay for the show and go to the show. 09:18.133 --> 09:23.273 So all this is to suggest that the playing field has been 09:23.267 --> 09:27.897 reconfigurated, and who is at the center, who is the main 09:27.900 --> 09:31.170 player, who is the protagonist in this drama that is 09:31.167 --> 09:32.767 unfolding into the future? 09:32.767 --> 09:34.097 That really is an open question. 09:34.100 --> 09:36.530 And there's a strong suggestion that the playing 09:36.533 --> 09:39.303 field has been so re-constituted that black 09:39.300 --> 09:42.730 characters would be the protagonist. 09:42.733 --> 09:50.333 So let's think more about the tomorrow of race, but going 09:50.333 --> 09:52.333 off in a slightly different direction. 09:52.333 --> 09:54.803 This is the very end, towards the very end 09:54.800 --> 09:55.830 of the Benjy section. 09:55.833 --> 09:59.133 So basically, we're looking at the two moments that bracket 09:59.133 --> 10:00.873 the Benjy section. 10:00.867 --> 10:05.797 Once again, Benjy is with his significant other, Luster. 10:05.800 --> 10:07.430 "He put my gown on. 10:07.433 --> 10:08.773 I hush. 10:08.767 --> 10:12.697 And then Luster stopped, his head toward the window. 10:12.700 --> 10:15.830 Then he went to the window and looked out. 10:15.833 --> 10:18.833 He came back and took my arm. 10:18.833 --> 10:20.203 Here she come, he said. 10:20.200 --> 10:21.930 Be quiet now. 10:21.933 --> 10:24.533 We went to the window and looked out. 10:24.533 --> 10:27.873 It came out of Quentin's window and climbed 10:27.867 --> 10:29.767 across into the tree. 10:29.767 --> 10:31.667 We watched the tree shaking. 10:31.667 --> 10:35.727 The shaking went down the tree, then it came out. 10:35.733 --> 10:39.073 And we watched it go across the grass. 10:39.067 --> 10:41.127 Then we couldn't see it. 10:41.133 --> 10:42.403 Come on, Luster said. 10:42.400 --> 10:43.500 There now. 10:43.500 --> 10:44.700 Hear them horns. 10:44.700 --> 10:46.870 You get in that bed where my foot [? stays ?]." 10:46.867 --> 10:49.367 OK, it's completely ungrammatical 10:49.367 --> 10:51.467 and that's just fine. 10:51.467 --> 10:54.267 The future can belong to people who don't speak 10:54.267 --> 10:56.297 Standard English, it's not a problem. 10:56.300 --> 10:59.630 But what is interesting here is that we are seeing 10:59.633 --> 11:03.633 something that only one person understands. 11:03.633 --> 11:07.103 We are actually in exactly the same position as Benjy. 11:07.100 --> 11:10.500 We have no idea what's going on. 11:10.500 --> 11:14.430 The meaning of what they are watching, whatever it is 11:14.433 --> 11:16.973 that's coming out of Quentin's window -- and this is the 11:16.967 --> 11:22.027 female Quentin, the daughter of Caddy -- 11:22.033 --> 11:24.403 whatever is happening, whatever's coming out of 11:24.400 --> 11:28.000 Quentin's window, what's going to come after that, what 11:28.000 --> 11:33.130 occasions that movement out of that window, all of this will 11:33.133 --> 11:37.203 not be disclosed to us until section three, when we get to 11:37.200 --> 11:40.170 the Jason section. 11:40.167 --> 11:43.527 So there's a really interesting differential of 11:43.533 --> 11:47.033 knowledge in this moment. 11:47.033 --> 11:51.333 Benjy obviously doesn't know what's going on. 11:51.333 --> 11:54.933 We, the readers, also don't know what's going on. 11:54.933 --> 11:58.473 The only person who's fully in command of the requisite 11:58.467 --> 12:00.927 knowledge is Luster. 12:00.933 --> 12:04.103 I think this is very deliberately set up by 12:04.100 --> 12:07.530 Faulkner to highlight the extent to which black 12:07.533 --> 12:11.003 characters have knowledge and agency. 12:11.000 --> 12:16.070 So much for Benjy, and obviously Benjy is a part of 12:16.067 --> 12:17.927 the black world. 12:17.933 --> 12:22.373 I think that maybe we should even suspend -- 12:22.367 --> 12:25.127 I mean, Benjy looks white. 12:25.133 --> 12:27.333 He is pasty, actually. 12:27.333 --> 12:30.673 But we can think of him as really part and parcel of the 12:30.667 --> 12:31.297 black world. 12:31.300 --> 12:34.330 And his well-being is completely dependent and, of a 12:34.333 --> 12:37.303 piece with the well-being of the black world. 12:37.300 --> 12:40.300 But that is not the case with Quentin. 12:40.300 --> 12:45.930 Although Quentin also has very important, nontrivial 12:45.933 --> 12:49.003 relations to black characters. 12:49.000 --> 12:54.630 And one black character who's following him is the Deacon. 12:54.633 --> 12:57.973 So this is a black man in Massachusetts. 12:57.967 --> 13:01.027 And this is what the Deacon says to Quentin. 13:01.033 --> 13:01.833 "Yes, suh. 13:01.833 --> 13:04.203 Right dis way, young marster, hyer we is,' 13:04.200 --> 13:05.900 taking your bags ... 13:05.900 --> 13:09.970 From then on until he had you completely subjugated he was 13:09.967 --> 13:14.627 always in and out of your room, ubiquitous and 13:14.633 --> 13:20.173 garrulous, though his manner gradually moved northward as 13:20.167 --> 13:25.327 his raiment improved, until at last, when he had bled you 13:25.333 --> 13:28.873 until you began to learn better he was calling you 13:28.867 --> 13:31.527 Quentin or whatever..." 13:31.533 --> 13:37.173 So this is a black man who is definitely not the same as the 13:37.167 --> 13:41.497 Lusters and the Dilseys who have stayed on in Mississippi. 13:41.500 --> 13:44.100 This is a black man who has moved north. 13:44.100 --> 13:49.570 And here's important to have some sense of the historical 13:49.567 --> 13:53.367 background that Faulkner is alluding to. 13:53.367 --> 13:57.597 A black man going north, this turns out to be one of the key 13:57.600 --> 14:00.600 episodes in African-American history, which 14:00.600 --> 14:01.830 is the Great Migration. 14:01.833 --> 14:04.203 In fact it happens in several waves. 14:04.200 --> 14:07.670 What we've seen here is the first wave of Great Migration. 14:10.333 --> 14:16.733 Roughly from 1910 to 1930, two million African-Americans went 14:16.733 --> 14:21.303 out of the south to the north, to the midwest and the west. 14:21.300 --> 14:25.430 And here is one image of the Great Migration, the train 14:25.433 --> 14:29.303 station almost completely filled with blacks. 14:29.300 --> 14:33.070 And here's a wonderful painting by the 14:33.067 --> 14:35.267 painter Jacob Lawrence. 14:35.267 --> 14:41.767 If you are in DC, make sure to go to the Phillips Collection. 14:41.767 --> 14:43.497 It's a really interesting collection. 14:43.500 --> 14:47.700 It's just a private collection of great paintings. 14:47.700 --> 14:51.270 And they have the Jacob Lawrence, The Great Migration 14:51.267 --> 14:55.967 series, is almost 40 or 50 drawings. 14:55.967 --> 15:00.697 So it's really a wonderful thing that they have. And so 15:00.700 --> 15:04.400 check this out when you're in Washington, DC. 15:04.400 --> 15:08.730 So as you can see, the people are going to Chicago and New 15:08.733 --> 15:10.433 York and St. Louis. 15:10.433 --> 15:13.373 But some of them also end up in Boston, Massachusetts. 15:13.367 --> 15:17.267 And the Deacon ended up in Boston, Massachusetts. 15:17.267 --> 15:24.197 And once again, he starts out sounding not only black, but 15:24.200 --> 15:28.870 Southern black, calling Quentin young master. 15:28.867 --> 15:33.467 But then he actually, in the course of one conversation, he 15:33.467 --> 15:37.797 can actually metaphorically move north, just in the space 15:37.800 --> 15:39.570 of that one conversation. 15:39.567 --> 15:48.327 So here is something else that happens between Quentin and 15:48.333 --> 15:50.573 the Deacon. 15:50.567 --> 15:56.427 And this is actually very obviously a backward allusion 15:56.433 --> 16:00.773 to Macbeth, Act V, Scene five, because the word tomorrow is 16:00.767 --> 16:05.797 just repeated about eight times in this little passage. 16:05.800 --> 16:09.800 This is something that happens that, when Quentin is thinking 16:09.800 --> 16:12.630 about his future, and we sort of know that he 16:12.633 --> 16:14.703 has no future, right? 16:14.700 --> 16:17.930 So this is someone with no future talking to 16:17.933 --> 16:21.333 someone with a future. 16:21.333 --> 16:23.573 "Take this around to my room tomorrow 16:23.567 --> 16:25.327 and give it to Shreve. 16:25.333 --> 16:27.003 He'll have something for you. 16:27.000 --> 16:31.070 But not till tomorrow, mind.' He took the letter and 16:31.067 --> 16:32.127 examined it. 16:32.133 --> 16:34.033 'It's sealed up.' 'Yes. 16:34.033 --> 16:35.873 And it's written inside. 16:35.867 --> 16:39.027 Not good until tomorrow, mind.'... 16:39.033 --> 16:43.133 He was looking at me now, the envelope white in his black 16:43.133 --> 16:45.473 hand, in the sun. 16:45.467 --> 16:50.197 His eyes were soft and irisless and brown, and 16:50.200 --> 16:54.400 suddenly I saw Roskus watching me from behind all his 16:54.400 --> 16:58.700 whitefolks' claptrap of uniforms and politics and 16:58.700 --> 17:05.700 Harvard manner, different, secret, inarticulate, and sad. 17:05.700 --> 17:09.400 'You ain't playing a joke on the old nigger, is you?' 'You 17:09.400 --> 17:10.770 know I'm not. 17:10.767 --> 17:15.297 Did any Southerner ever play a joke on you?' 'You're right. 17:15.300 --> 17:16.630 They're fine folks. 17:16.633 --> 17:20.873 But you can't live with them.' 'Did you ever try?' I said. 17:20.867 --> 17:22.627 But Roskus was gone. 17:22.633 --> 17:27.973 Once more he was that self he had long since taught himself 17:27.967 --> 17:31.667 to wear in the world's eye, pompous, 17:31.667 --> 17:35.497 spurious, not quite gross. 17:35.500 --> 17:41.570 'I'll confer to your wishes, my boy.' 'Not until tomorrow, 17:41.567 --> 17:42.597 remember." 17:42.600 --> 17:46.530 So the letter is not going to be delivered to Shreve until 17:46.533 --> 17:49.133 Quentin is no more. 17:49.133 --> 17:54.803 And the Deacon obviously will still be there to reap the 17:54.800 --> 17:57.730 benefit of delivering that letter. 17:57.733 --> 18:04.673 What is interesting here is the very compressed time scale 18:04.667 --> 18:07.797 that is packed into this little exchange. 18:07.800 --> 18:10.070 In the course of one conversation, the Deacon can 18:10.067 --> 18:13.697 slide back into someone just like Roskus, still in 18:13.700 --> 18:18.570 Mississippi from sometime back, with the manner and the 18:18.567 --> 18:21.167 diffidence and the fear, really. 18:21.167 --> 18:26.397 And lack of self-assurance from some time past. He can 18:26.400 --> 18:28.200 slip back into it. 18:28.200 --> 18:33.230 But he's secure enough in the present in Boston, 18:33.233 --> 18:37.233 Massachusetts, that he can get out of it, just also in the 18:37.233 --> 18:38.473 space of one conversation. 18:40.867 --> 18:45.767 So the Great Migration is not just geographical migration, 18:45.767 --> 18:49.467 but also psychological migration as well. 18:49.467 --> 18:53.427 That in his own mind, the Deacon can move very, very 18:53.433 --> 18:56.433 fast from the south to the north. 18:56.433 --> 19:00.503 And that agility of movement is partly 19:00.500 --> 19:02.570 what gives him a future. 19:02.567 --> 19:05.167 And there's something else about the slightly 19:05.167 --> 19:09.327 ungrammatical and not quite perfect command of English. 19:09.333 --> 19:14.933 "I'll confer to your wishes." He means to say, I'll defer to 19:14.933 --> 19:16.703 your wishes. 19:16.700 --> 19:21.870 But actually "confer" is the more appropriate word. 19:21.867 --> 19:25.567 Because he's not actually deferring to Quentin anymore. 19:25.567 --> 19:29.027 Deference is a thing of the past, a thing of the 19:29.033 --> 19:33.473 geographical south, and because in Massachusetts, he's 19:33.467 --> 19:35.527 actually conferring something. 19:35.533 --> 19:39.733 It is up to him to be the agent and to confer something 19:39.733 --> 19:40.933 on Quentin. 19:40.933 --> 19:46.303 So the re-composition of the playing field is dramatized in 19:46.300 --> 19:49.700 some sense through that imperfect command of the 19:49.700 --> 19:51.730 English language. 19:51.733 --> 19:56.573 And so in this sense, Faulkner is also rewriting both the 19:56.567 --> 19:59.727 future of race, but also the future of the history of the 19:59.733 --> 20:01.473 United States. 20:01.467 --> 20:06.627 So in both these ways, Benjy and Quentin are really kin. 20:06.633 --> 20:12.733 They have a lot in common in the very facts, relations, to 20:12.733 --> 20:14.233 black characters. 20:14.233 --> 20:16.333 And another theory -- 20:16.333 --> 20:19.033 I think this is something that you already know, but I just 20:19.033 --> 20:24.273 wanted to refresh your memory, they also are kin in the very 20:24.267 --> 20:29.497 dramatic reaction to this loss of innocence on Caddy's part. 20:29.500 --> 20:32.230 So this is something that we looked at last time. 20:32.233 --> 20:37.003 Benjy, the moment when Caddy can no longer go to the 20:37.000 --> 20:39.970 bathroom and wash herself clean. 20:39.967 --> 20:41.567 "We were in the hall. 20:41.567 --> 20:43.767 Caddy was still looking at me. 20:43.767 --> 20:46.067 Her hand was against her mouth, and I saw 20:46.067 --> 20:48.367 her eyes and I cried. 20:48.367 --> 20:49.727 We went up the stairs. 20:49.733 --> 20:53.833 She stopped again, against the wall, looking at me and I 20:53.833 --> 20:58.103 cried and she went on and I came on, crying, and she 20:58.100 --> 21:00.570 shrank against the wall, looking at me. 21:00.567 --> 21:04.467 She opened the door to her room, but I pulled her dress, 21:04.467 --> 21:06.967 and we went into the bathroom and she stood against the 21:06.967 --> 21:08.827 door, looking at me. 21:08.833 --> 21:13.433 Then she put her arm across her face and I pushed at her, 21:13.433 --> 21:13.873 crying." 21:13.867 --> 21:18.597 So we remember this very well, a moment when suddenly, Caddy 21:18.600 --> 21:21.570 is not putting her arms around Benjy, but 21:21.567 --> 21:23.297 across her own face. 21:23.300 --> 21:29.130 And it is telling that is almost completely reproduced 21:29.133 --> 21:33.233 and repeated in Quentin's section. 21:33.233 --> 21:36.703 "...one minute she was standing in the door the next 21:36.700 --> 21:41.570 minute he was pulling at her dress and bellowing his voice 21:41.567 --> 21:45.697 hammered back and forth between the walls in waves and 21:45.700 --> 21:50.230 she shrinking against the wall getting smaller and smaller 21:50.233 --> 21:54.673 with her white face her eyes like thumbs dug into it until 21:54.667 --> 21:59.397 he pushed her out of the room his voice hammering back and 21:59.400 --> 22:04.830 forth as though its own momentum would not let it stop 22:04.833 --> 22:10.033 as though there were no place for it in silence bellowing." 22:10.033 --> 22:12.403 It's exactly the same episode. 22:12.400 --> 22:17.130 Except that now, all of a sudden, we hear that sound, 22:17.133 --> 22:20.703 that bellowing, that Benjy is making, that of course is 22:20.700 --> 22:24.830 invisible and inaudible when Benjy is telling the story. 22:24.833 --> 22:28.173 We know exactly what that sound is doing. 22:28.167 --> 22:30.827 Caddy seems to be shrunken. 22:30.833 --> 22:32.333 She's getting smaller and smaller. 22:32.333 --> 22:35.803 She's so pushed around by Benjy, that she's getting 22:35.800 --> 22:39.330 smaller and smaller, until she has no place to go. 22:39.333 --> 22:44.273 And we really haven't thought of Benjy as being aggressive. 22:44.267 --> 22:47.127 But that's really what he is. 22:47.133 --> 22:51.373 Innocence is aggressive in its demand that the world should 22:51.367 --> 22:55.097 completely conform to his dictates. 22:55.100 --> 23:00.630 And Benjy is relentless in demanding that Caddy should 23:00.633 --> 23:03.603 conform to his dictates. 23:03.600 --> 23:07.430 And the bellowing is the weapon that he uses to make 23:07.433 --> 23:09.073 sure that she does that. 23:09.067 --> 23:12.927 And when she cannot, he just keeps on doing it. 23:12.933 --> 23:18.173 So from Quentin, we have this added perspective of what 23:18.167 --> 23:20.227 Benjy is doing to Caddy. 23:20.233 --> 23:22.873 But otherwise, it's exactly the same moment. 23:22.867 --> 23:28.527 The same Caddy, occupying the emotional center. 23:28.533 --> 23:34.503 And it's an unbearable place for her two brothers to be. 23:34.500 --> 23:38.200 It's not surprising then, that the consequence of that 23:38.200 --> 23:42.130 traumatic loss should be articulated in the same way. 23:42.133 --> 23:46.133 In Benjy, it's articulated as incomplete syntax and the 23:46.133 --> 23:48.803 consequences of that incomplete syntax -- 23:48.800 --> 23:51.700 "I was trying to say, and I caught her, trying to say, and 23:51.700 --> 23:55.100 she screamed and I was trying to say" -- and the frustration 23:55.100 --> 23:57.200 would come after that. 23:57.200 --> 24:03.370 Here's Quentin exhibiting the same symptom, the same 24:03.367 --> 24:06.397 reaction to the loss of Caddy. 24:06.400 --> 24:11.630 And it is surprising, because we can say that Benjy has an 24:11.633 --> 24:13.773 incomplete syntax, because he's an idiot. 24:13.767 --> 24:16.397 He's clinically retarded. 24:16.400 --> 24:18.630 Quentin is not retarded. 24:18.633 --> 24:23.133 But, he also doesn't speak in complete sentences when he's 24:23.133 --> 24:24.873 very agitated. 24:24.867 --> 24:29.867 "Because women so delicate so mysterious Father said. 24:29.867 --> 24:34.697 Delicate equilibrium of periodical filth between two 24:34.700 --> 24:36.530 moons balanced. 24:36.533 --> 24:39.273 Moons he said full and yellow as harvest 24:39.267 --> 24:42.427 moons her hips thighs. 24:42.433 --> 24:46.833 Outside outside of them always but. 24:46.833 --> 24:47.903 Yellow. 24:47.900 --> 24:51.270 Feet soles with walking like. 24:51.267 --> 24:54.467 Then know that some man that all those mysterious and 24:54.467 --> 24:56.697 imperious concealed. 24:56.700 --> 25:01.100 With all that inside of them shapes an outward suavity 25:01.100 --> 25:03.700 waiting for a touch to. 25:03.700 --> 25:08.730 Liquid putrefaction like drowned things floating like 25:08.733 --> 25:12.333 pale rubber flabbily filled getting the odor of 25:12.333 --> 25:14.503 honeysuckle all mixed up." 25:14.500 --> 25:17.670 It really is stream of consciousness. 25:17.667 --> 25:22.097 It is completely internal to Quentin. 25:22.100 --> 25:25.970 And the logic of association is also peculiar to Quentin. 25:25.967 --> 25:29.627 So that it would be very hard for us to understand 25:29.633 --> 25:30.633 completely. 25:30.633 --> 25:35.503 All we can say is that this is both a point of commonality 25:35.500 --> 25:37.300 between Quentin and Benjy. 25:37.300 --> 25:42.770 And also the point of departure or deviation. 25:42.767 --> 25:47.767 From Benjy, we never get the sense that women are filthy, 25:47.767 --> 25:51.367 that there's something really repulsive and 25:51.367 --> 25:53.367 abominable about women. 25:53.367 --> 25:57.697 That just having the menstrual cycle, that in 25:57.700 --> 26:00.930 itself is kind of filthy. 26:00.933 --> 26:06.373 But this is really what Quentin is fixated on, is this 26:06.367 --> 26:11.167 kind of revulsion by female sexuality in its most 26:11.167 --> 26:13.567 elemental form. 26:13.567 --> 26:16.697 In a sense that it doesn't really take any action, just 26:16.700 --> 26:20.400 in its state as femaleness, there's something repulsive 26:20.400 --> 26:22.100 about them. 26:22.100 --> 26:24.530 So this is a way -- 26:24.533 --> 26:27.273 this stream of consciousness -- 26:27.267 --> 26:33.297 is Faulkner's way of getting us to get into a mind that is 26:33.300 --> 26:34.600 very different. 26:34.600 --> 26:39.730 In some sense, as different from us as Benjy's mind is. 26:39.733 --> 26:47.773 And so let's think about this, also by way of the one thread 26:47.767 --> 26:50.227 that Faulkner is giving us. 26:50.233 --> 26:54.903 In the case of Benjy, we see that the guide that is taking 26:54.900 --> 27:00.630 us through the various salient moments in Benjy, is the 27:00.633 --> 27:03.973 phrase, "Caddy smelled like trees." 27:03.967 --> 27:07.727 And in the case of Quentin, the phrase that will perform a 27:07.733 --> 27:11.803 comparable function is, "getting the odor of 27:11.800 --> 27:16.030 honeysuckle all mixed up." We see that, that's the last 27:16.033 --> 27:20.473 sentence in that very strange passage. 27:20.467 --> 27:23.927 And that phrase will appear again and again in the same 27:23.933 --> 27:27.573 manner as Caddy smelled like trees. 27:27.567 --> 27:33.927 So let's use that as a way to try to understand Quentin. 27:33.933 --> 27:36.533 I don't think that we ever will, completely. 27:36.533 --> 27:39.033 And that probably is a good thing, that's really the 27:39.033 --> 27:42.073 effect that Faulkner wants to cultivate. 27:42.067 --> 27:46.067 And this is moving away from kinship to thinking about 27:46.067 --> 27:48.497 variation, the ways in which Quentin is 27:48.500 --> 27:50.830 different from Benjy. 27:50.833 --> 27:55.773 And one way in which Quentin is different from Benjy, is 27:55.767 --> 27:59.767 that "sister" is basically very, very clear, very 27:59.767 --> 28:03.627 straightforward, uni-vocal meaning for Benjy. 28:03.633 --> 28:05.033 It only has one meaning. 28:05.033 --> 28:06.873 Caddy smelled like trees. 28:06.867 --> 28:12.227 She's the source of everything that is wonderful and 28:12.233 --> 28:16.503 comforting and good for Benjy. 28:16.500 --> 28:18.870 The word sister has a much more 28:18.867 --> 28:21.727 complicated meaning for Quentin. 28:21.733 --> 28:26.603 So we can think of it instead of just as one word, as a very 28:26.600 --> 28:29.830 complex semantic field. 28:29.833 --> 28:34.333 And what I'd like to do today is to follow the trajectory of 28:34.333 --> 28:38.003 that word sister, and the phrase "honeysuckle all mixed 28:38.000 --> 28:44.600 up." Follow that to try to get us from the beginning of 28:44.600 --> 28:50.200 Quentin's chapter, not quite as linear as I would like, but 28:50.200 --> 28:54.400 I'll try to get us from the beginning of Quentin's section 28:54.400 --> 28:56.570 to the end of Quentin's section. 28:56.567 --> 28:58.897 And I think we all know that he kills himself, right? 28:58.900 --> 29:01.000 He kills himself by jumping into the 29:01.000 --> 29:03.530 Charles River in Cambridge. 29:03.533 --> 29:05.633 And so how does he get from-- 29:05.633 --> 29:08.773 and it's just one day, it's the space of that one day-- 29:08.767 --> 29:11.127 how does he get from the beginning of that day, that 29:11.133 --> 29:13.873 morning, to the end of that day? 29:13.867 --> 29:16.967 And we'll begin at the point when Quentin 29:16.967 --> 29:19.797 is closest to Benjy. 29:19.800 --> 29:23.670 And then the other ways in which he gradually moves away 29:23.667 --> 29:24.667 from Benjy. 29:24.667 --> 29:30.227 But this is a moment when we sort of know why it is, but 29:30.233 --> 29:35.173 we're learning more about why it is that Caddy's loss of 29:35.167 --> 29:39.727 sexuality is so traumatic to Quentin. 29:39.733 --> 29:45.033 "Caddy you hate him don't you She move my hand up against 29:45.033 --> 29:50.773 her throat her heart was hammering there poor Quentin 29:50.767 --> 29:54.927 her face looked at the sky it was low so low that all smells 29:54.933 --> 29:59.233 and sounds of night seemed to have been crowded down like 29:59.233 --> 30:03.733 under a slack tent especially the honeysuckle it had got 30:03.733 --> 30:07.073 into my breathing it was on her face 30:07.067 --> 30:09.627 and throat like paint... 30:09.633 --> 30:14.303 I had to pant to get any air at all out of that thick grey 30:14.300 --> 30:19.000 honeysuckle yes I hate him I would die for him I've already 30:19.000 --> 30:23.300 died for him I die for him over and over again everytime 30:23.300 --> 30:23.600 this goes when I lifted my hand I could still feel 30:23.600 --> 30:25.470 crisscrossed twigs and grass burning into the palm poor 30:25.467 --> 30:28.127 Quentin." 30:28.133 --> 30:30.933 It's a weird moment. 30:30.933 --> 30:38.773 Caddy is the one who is going to be pregnant because of this 30:38.767 --> 30:43.697 out of wedlock affair with men -- 30:43.700 --> 30:45.930 with someone, actually, she doesn't even know 30:45.933 --> 30:49.003 who the father is. 30:49.000 --> 30:55.430 So she is the last person to be in a position to say, "Poor 30:55.433 --> 31:02.033 Quentin." But Faulkner's understanding of the situation 31:02.033 --> 31:08.873 is that even though Caddy is in a dire situation 31:08.867 --> 31:09.897 at this moment -- 31:09.900 --> 31:15.570 and it's a much worse thing, back in the 20s for a young 31:15.567 --> 31:20.027 lady to be pregnant out of wedlock -- 31:20.033 --> 31:25.833 But in spite of that dire situation, Caddy still has a 31:25.833 --> 31:29.133 better life than Quentin. 31:29.133 --> 31:35.433 And it has to do with the complete incomprehension of 31:35.433 --> 31:37.473 Quentin for Caddy's life. 31:37.467 --> 31:40.867 So in that sense too, we can say this is the common ground 31:40.867 --> 31:42.827 between Benjy and Quentin. 31:47.900 --> 31:51.700 Benji doesn't understand Caddy because he doesn't have the 31:51.700 --> 31:53.900 mental capacity for it. 31:53.900 --> 31:59.870 And Quentin doesn't understand Caddy because he's never had 31:59.867 --> 32:03.227 the experience, and we know by the end of section two, that 32:03.233 --> 32:06.903 he never will have that experience. 32:06.900 --> 32:11.930 What does it mean to have that particular sensation, and to 32:11.933 --> 32:13.503 have gone through that, even though the 32:13.500 --> 32:15.970 consequences are terrible. 32:15.967 --> 32:19.867 So we can see another way in which there's actually a point 32:19.867 --> 32:25.497 of intersection between The Sound and the Fury and The 32:25.500 --> 32:25.870 Great Gatsby. 32:25.867 --> 32:29.367 And there's really a lot in common between Quentin and 32:29.367 --> 32:31.367 Gatsby, as well. 32:31.367 --> 32:36.327 The intense desire for the love object to deny that she 32:36.333 --> 32:39.473 has any relation to anyone other than yourself. 32:39.467 --> 32:42.197 This is what unites Quentin and Gatsby. 32:42.200 --> 32:47.100 Gatsby can't stand the thought that Daisy might have been in 32:47.100 --> 32:50.300 love with Tom at one point. 32:50.300 --> 32:54.070 And Quentin can't stand the thought that Caddy might 32:54.067 --> 32:56.427 actually be in love, just at that moment, when she's having 32:56.433 --> 32:57.473 sex with this guy. 32:57.467 --> 33:00.367 He can't stand that thought. 33:00.367 --> 33:05.267 And that inability to stand that thought says something 33:05.267 --> 33:09.267 about a lack in Quentin's life. 33:09.267 --> 33:12.767 If he had had that experience, he wouldn't 33:12.767 --> 33:14.067 have hated it so much. 33:14.067 --> 33:18.097 It wouldn't have been so unbearable for him. 33:18.100 --> 33:20.930 And Caddy completely understands that. 33:20.933 --> 33:25.803 So that's the background for that repeated phrase, "Poor 33:25.800 --> 33:27.370 Quentin." 33:27.367 --> 33:33.927 And so this is the point where Benjy and Quentin 33:33.933 --> 33:35.073 are really as one. 33:35.067 --> 33:37.597 The two brothers are as one. 33:37.600 --> 33:43.330 And now we begin to move away from that point of unity 33:43.333 --> 33:46.473 between Benjy and Quentin. 33:46.467 --> 33:52.227 Because we also know that in fact, Caddy is a very fleeting 33:52.233 --> 33:55.873 presence in the Quentin section. 33:55.867 --> 33:59.527 The person who's there a lot is actually the 33:59.533 --> 34:01.433 little Italian girl. 34:01.433 --> 34:07.203 So there's a very odd choice on Faulkner's part--that for a 34:07.200 --> 34:10.830 good part of the Quentin section, Quentin is actually 34:10.833 --> 34:13.833 walking around with the little Italian girl 34:13.833 --> 34:15.803 that he calls sister. 34:15.800 --> 34:19.670 So we're starting to get the different permutations of the 34:19.667 --> 34:23.727 word sister in this very complex, semantic field. 34:23.733 --> 34:25.703 "Hello, sister'... 34:25.700 --> 34:31.000 She extended her fist. It uncurled upon a nickel, moist 34:31.000 --> 34:36.600 and dirty, moist dirt ridged into her flesh... 34:36.600 --> 34:38.470 I handed [the buns] to the little girl. 34:38.467 --> 34:44.797 Her fingers closed about them, damp and hot, like worms... 34:44.800 --> 34:45.970 I went on. 34:45.967 --> 34:46.767 Then I looked back. 34:46.767 --> 34:51.027 She was behind me, under my elbow sort of, eating. 34:51.033 --> 34:52.173 We went on. 34:52.167 --> 34:56.367 It was quiet, hardly anyone about getting the odor of 34:56.367 --> 34:58.027 honeysuckle all mixed. 34:58.033 --> 35:01.773 She would have told me not to let me sit there on the steps 35:01.767 --> 35:06.397 hearing her door twilight slamming hearing Benjy still 35:06.400 --> 35:10.270 crying Supper she would have to come down then getting 35:10.267 --> 35:12.997 honeysuckle all mixed up in it." 35:13.000 --> 35:17.530 So here we started to get the conflation of the two sisters. 35:17.533 --> 35:21.173 So in the italics, he's going back to that 35:21.167 --> 35:23.327 traumatic moment, still. 35:23.333 --> 35:25.573 Caddy not been able to wash herself clean. 35:25.567 --> 35:29.467 Benjy bellowing, doors slamming. 35:29.467 --> 35:30.897 Caddy's still up in her room. 35:30.900 --> 35:32.870 So still that moment. 35:32.867 --> 35:36.667 But that moment is bleeding into-- 35:36.667 --> 35:42.327 that moment from the past, is bleeding into Quentin's 35:42.333 --> 35:45.733 current walk with the little Italian girl. 35:45.733 --> 35:51.603 And that accounts for the images of dirt and filth that 35:51.600 --> 35:54.930 are being projected onto the little Italian girl. 35:54.933 --> 35:58.833 She's just a little girl, eating buns. 35:58.833 --> 36:02.403 But the images of her are actually of 36:02.400 --> 36:04.900 a much older woman. 36:04.900 --> 36:10.330 Moisture and dirt ridged into her flesh. 36:10.333 --> 36:14.233 So at the very least, we can say that Quentin's experience 36:14.233 --> 36:19.373 of the entire world is channeled through, mediated 36:19.367 --> 36:25.667 by, and contaminated by, his sense of the loss of sexual 36:25.667 --> 36:28.267 innocence on the part of Caddy. 36:28.267 --> 36:32.967 So that every single woman that he's going to encounter 36:32.967 --> 36:36.897 is going to carry some attributes of the Caddy who's 36:36.900 --> 36:39.470 lost her sexual innocence. 36:39.467 --> 36:43.197 And the word sister also carries the weight of that 36:43.200 --> 36:46.000 contamination. 36:46.000 --> 36:49.200 But there are other interesting permutations of 36:49.200 --> 36:50.870 the word sister. 36:50.867 --> 36:54.627 And I just want to take us back now to the very opening 36:54.633 --> 36:56.773 of the Quentin section. 36:56.767 --> 37:03.127 And this is something that is once again, very peculiar, a 37:03.133 --> 37:08.333 kind of logical association not entirely clarified for us. 37:08.333 --> 37:12.673 "I don't suppose anybody ever deliberately listen to a watch 37:12.667 --> 37:13.997 or a clock. 37:14.000 --> 37:15.570 You don't have to. 37:15.567 --> 37:18.927 You can be oblivious to the sound for a long while, then 37:18.933 --> 37:24.133 in a second of ticking it can create in the mind unbroken 37:24.133 --> 37:28.603 the long diminishing parade of time you didn't hear. 37:28.600 --> 37:33.370 Like Father said down the long and lonely light rays you 37:33.367 --> 37:36.667 might see Jesus walking, like. 37:36.667 --> 37:41.167 And the good Saint Francis that said Little Sister Death, 37:41.167 --> 37:44.967 that never had a sister." 37:44.967 --> 37:49.227 It's making no sense to us on page 76, and it's probably 37:49.233 --> 37:52.903 still not making a whole lot of sense to you right now. 37:52.900 --> 37:56.770 We know though, that the watch is very important. 37:56.767 --> 38:01.167 And he steps on the watch and breaks the face of the watch. 38:01.167 --> 38:04.027 So he seems to have some quarrel with that watch. 38:04.033 --> 38:08.203 And we'll come back to this in plenty detail at the end of 38:08.200 --> 38:10.000 the Quentin section. 38:10.000 --> 38:10.530 What is it? 38:10.533 --> 38:13.773 Why is it that he's so angry at the watch? 38:13.767 --> 38:19.027 But for now, let's think about that last line. 38:19.033 --> 38:22.703 "And the good Saint Francis that said, Little Sister 38:22.700 --> 38:25.430 Death, that never had a sister." 38:25.433 --> 38:29.103 So we're just seeing the mapping of the word sister on 38:29.100 --> 38:31.200 to the little Italian girl. 38:31.200 --> 38:36.900 And now the word sister is mapped on to death, ok? 38:36.900 --> 38:42.000 So what is it that enables that mapping to take place? 38:42.000 --> 38:45.100 And here, I should say something about the way of 38:45.100 --> 38:46.300 reading Faulkner on the whole. 38:46.300 --> 38:50.700 I don't really think that we need to do a lot of research 38:50.700 --> 38:52.570 to understand Faulkner. 38:52.567 --> 38:53.867 He's hard to understand. 38:53.867 --> 38:58.097 But actually, it takes more reading than doing a lot of 38:58.100 --> 38:59.100 outside research. 38:59.100 --> 39:02.970 But here is one moment when actually, some outside 39:02.967 --> 39:07.627 research would cast light on this particular logic 39:07.633 --> 39:09.173 association. 39:09.167 --> 39:14.827 So I just want to bring up this very strange possible 39:14.833 --> 39:17.803 reference for Faulkner. 39:17.800 --> 39:21.270 And that is, it has to do with Saint Francis and he's telling 39:21.267 --> 39:23.267 us that Saint Frances is important to 39:23.267 --> 39:24.527 him for some reason. 39:24.533 --> 39:28.333 This is Saint Francis, Canticle of the Sun, which 39:28.333 --> 39:36.303 turns out to be pivoted on the word sister. 39:36.300 --> 39:41.500 Praised be my Lord for Sister Moon, and for the stars... 39:41.500 --> 39:46.800 Praised be my Lord for Sister Water, who is very serviceable 39:46.800 --> 39:51.900 unto us, and humble and precious and clean... 39:51.900 --> 39:57.830 Praised be my Lord for our Sister the death of the body, 39:57.833 --> 40:01.633 from whom no man living can escape. 40:01.633 --> 40:05.433 So at the very least, we can say that those different 40:05.433 --> 40:10.003 mappings that we've seeing in Quentin seem to bear a very 40:10.000 --> 40:13.430 close correspondence to this particular logic of 40:13.433 --> 40:18.303 association that we see in Saint Francis. 40:18.300 --> 40:23.400 Obviously, even though the two logics are similar, it's for 40:23.400 --> 40:28.030 different reasons that Quentin would have that kind of 40:28.033 --> 40:29.803 clustering of terms. 40:29.800 --> 40:33.770 So let's move on now to see what sister 40:33.767 --> 40:37.797 water means for Quentin. 40:37.800 --> 40:39.870 And this is once again going back to Caddy. 40:39.867 --> 40:44.367 But suddenly water is coming into play in 40:44.367 --> 40:47.397 his relation to Caddy. 40:47.400 --> 40:52.370 "Got to marry somebody Have there been very many Caddy I 40:52.367 --> 40:57.427 don't know too many will you look after Benjy and Father 40:57.433 --> 41:01.503 You don't know whose it is then does he know Don't touch 41:01.500 --> 41:05.130 me will you look after Benjy and Father 41:05.133 --> 41:10.473 I began to feel the water before I came to the bridge. 41:10.467 --> 41:15.027 The bridge was of grey stone, lichened, dappled with slow 41:15.033 --> 41:18.233 moisture where the fungus crept. 41:18.233 --> 41:22.333 Beneath it the water was clear and still in the shadow, 41:22.333 --> 41:26.933 whispering and clucking about the stone in fading swirls of 41:26.933 --> 41:27.633 spinning sky. 41:27.633 --> 41:33.003 Caddy that I got to marry somebody." 41:33.000 --> 41:39.100 So the most obvious, clearest fact is that Caddy is 41:39.100 --> 41:41.230 pregnant, and that she needs to marry somebody. 41:41.233 --> 41:43.233 And she's about to marry somebody. 41:43.233 --> 41:45.933 So this is about the only thing we know. 41:45.933 --> 41:52.273 But what is interesting here is that, when she's about to 41:52.267 --> 41:56.827 be married and leave the Compson house, what she says 41:56.833 --> 42:02.033 to Quentin is, will you look up after Benjy and father? 42:02.033 --> 42:06.503 It is something that someone who's about to leave will say. 42:06.500 --> 42:10.400 Someone who's about to get married and leave will say. 42:10.400 --> 42:15.570 But it could also be said by someone who is 42:15.567 --> 42:18.027 about to kill herself. 42:18.033 --> 42:19.633 I'm going to be gone. 42:19.633 --> 42:23.033 There are two possible meanings for, "Look after 42:23.033 --> 42:26.573 Father and Benjy." Someone who's no longer going to be 42:26.567 --> 42:27.327 around anymore. 42:27.333 --> 42:29.573 It's by someone who's not going to be around. 42:29.567 --> 42:33.297 And there are two different ways in which Caddy could be 42:33.300 --> 42:35.630 not around anymore. 42:35.633 --> 42:40.073 Right now, she's going to do the marriage option. 42:40.067 --> 42:41.767 That's the way in which she's not going 42:41.767 --> 42:44.467 to be around anymore. 42:44.467 --> 42:51.227 But in Quentin's mind, there's already that alternative root 42:51.233 --> 42:53.573 that he's toying with. 42:53.567 --> 42:59.797 It would be very nice if Caddy were to kill herself, by 42:59.800 --> 43:01.230 drowning herself. 43:01.233 --> 43:03.873 It would be one way. 43:03.867 --> 43:06.867 The water this time is not something in the bathroom. 43:06.867 --> 43:09.627 It would be this gigantic body of water. 43:09.633 --> 43:12.673 But she would indeed wash herself clean in 43:12.667 --> 43:13.827 that body of water. 43:13.833 --> 43:18.633 So this is one way in which sister and water consititute a 43:18.633 --> 43:22.633 potential mapping in Quentin's mind. 43:22.633 --> 43:25.403 But Caddy is not going to do it. 43:25.400 --> 43:26.670 She's just going to get married. 43:26.667 --> 43:27.997 She's going to be alive. 43:28.000 --> 43:34.430 So this is the problem for Quentin, is that Caddy is not 43:34.433 --> 43:37.703 going to clean herself by killing herself and by jumping 43:37.700 --> 43:39.500 into the water. 43:39.500 --> 43:41.100 And he's furious. 43:41.100 --> 43:42.970 And the world is not-- 43:42.967 --> 43:46.667 nothing is right when she refuses to clean herself as he 43:46.667 --> 43:48.667 demands her to be clean. 43:48.667 --> 43:52.097 So this is his conversation with his father. 43:52.100 --> 43:54.170 "And father said it's because you are a 43:54.167 --> 43:55.997 virgin: don't you see? 43:56.000 --> 43:58.500 Women are never virgins. 43:58.500 --> 44:03.600 Purity is a negative state and therefore contrary to nature. 44:03.600 --> 44:07.670 It's nature is hurting you not Caddy and I said That's just 44:07.667 --> 44:11.197 words and he said So is virginity and I 44:11.200 --> 44:12.670 said you don't know. 44:12.667 --> 44:16.027 You can't know and he said Yes. 44:16.033 --> 44:20.173 On the instant when we come to realize that tragedy is 44:20.167 --> 44:22.467 second-hand." 44:22.467 --> 44:26.867 So it would have been the right kind of tragedy if Caddy 44:26.867 --> 44:29.797 had just killed herself by jumping into the water. 44:29.800 --> 44:34.170 It would've been appropriate cleansing kind of tragedy. 44:34.167 --> 44:36.627 And instead, she's not killing herself. 44:36.633 --> 44:42.903 Somebody has to kill himself in order to perform that 44:42.900 --> 44:46.000 needed action. 44:46.000 --> 44:51.800 And Quentin's father is completely disapproving and, 44:51.800 --> 44:55.770 in fact, making fun of that whole operation. 44:55.767 --> 44:58.767 That it's right that Caddy shouldn't be too upset about 44:58.767 --> 45:00.127 her pregnancy. 45:00.133 --> 45:02.303 Women are never virgins to begin with, never. 45:02.300 --> 45:03.070 They're never virgins. 45:03.067 --> 45:05.867 Interesting interpretation of virginity. 45:05.867 --> 45:12.227 But I think that it really is an interesting observation. 45:12.233 --> 45:14.033 That the person who is-- 45:14.033 --> 45:16.603 both on the part of Mr. Compson, but also on the part 45:16.600 --> 45:17.430 of Faulkner-- 45:17.433 --> 45:20.373 the person who ought to be most upset by all of this is 45:20.367 --> 45:23.797 actually not the most upset about it. 45:23.800 --> 45:27.570 And what happens when tragedy becomes secondhand, becomes 45:27.567 --> 45:29.397 vicarious tragedy. 45:29.400 --> 45:32.330 Quentin is reacting to this tragedy on the part of his 45:32.333 --> 45:34.973 sister, and making it his own tragedy. 45:34.967 --> 45:38.267 Because in some sense, that's really the only thing that he 45:38.267 --> 45:40.967 can call his own. 45:40.967 --> 45:47.097 So the problem with secondhand tragedy is that it really is 45:47.100 --> 45:50.000 somebody else's tragedy. 45:50.000 --> 45:53.170 It is not Quentin's own tragedy. 45:53.167 --> 45:56.067 At the moment, he's been devastated by it. 45:56.067 --> 45:57.767 And he likes to be devastated. 45:57.767 --> 46:00.427 He likes to be heroic, and devastated, and to be 46:00.433 --> 46:03.133 devastated on behalf of his sister. 46:03.133 --> 46:05.503 And to feel that he's the one who's going to 46:05.500 --> 46:07.800 make everything right. 46:07.800 --> 46:12.570 But there's always the danger that a secondhand tragedy will 46:12.567 --> 46:16.997 very soon fade out, and become a non-tragedy. 46:17.000 --> 46:19.500 And that's why the word temporary is such an 46:19.500 --> 46:23.000 unbearable word for Quentin to contemplate. 46:23.000 --> 46:30.870 "And i temporary and he you cannot bear to think that 46:30.867 --> 46:35.397 someday it will no longer hurt you like this now... 46:35.400 --> 46:42.170 And I temporary and he it is hard believing to thing that a 46:42.167 --> 46:46.467 love or a sorrow is a bond purchased without design. 46:46.467 --> 46:50.467 And which matures willynilly and is recalled without 46:50.467 --> 46:54.697 warning to be replaced by whatever issue the gods happen 46:54.700 --> 46:56.730 to be floating at the time... 46:56.733 --> 47:02.733 And o temporary and he was the saddest word of all there is 47:02.733 --> 47:07.173 nothing else in the world it's not despair until time it's 47:07.167 --> 47:09.597 not even time until it was." 47:09.600 --> 47:14.530 So the tragedy isn't even that Caddy is pregnant. 47:14.533 --> 47:16.533 That's really nothing. 47:16.533 --> 47:22.073 The tragedy is the fact that Quentin is devastated now, 47:22.067 --> 47:24.027 that wouldn't keep forever. 47:24.033 --> 47:26.473 He's going to lose. 47:26.467 --> 47:29.367 He won't be able to hold on forever to that sense of 47:29.367 --> 47:30.727 devastation. 47:30.733 --> 47:35.133 And that is the tragedy that he's going to fight to put an 47:35.133 --> 47:39.973 end to claim, once and for all, by doing what he does at 47:39.967 --> 47:41.727 the end of the novel. 47:41.733 --> 47:46.403 And this is where he jumps off from, this is the bridge that 47:46.400 --> 47:50.330 he jumps off from in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 47:50.333 --> 47:54.373 And it just happens that it seems there's some British 47:54.367 --> 47:56.267 reader had gone there. 47:56.267 --> 47:57.767 We know it's British because of the 47:57.767 --> 48:01.227 spelling of the word odor. 48:01.233 --> 48:05.303 But at that bridge, there's actually a plaque saying, 48:05.300 --> 48:10.830 "Quentin Compson drowned in the odour of honeysuckle. 48:10.833 --> 48:16.433 1891-1910." So this is a very, very good reader of Faulkner, 48:16.433 --> 48:19.703 knowing exactly what is central in Faulkner's mind.