WEBVTT 00:01.233 --> 00:02.733 WAI CHEE DIMOCK: We're coming to the final 00:02.733 --> 00:04.633 section of The Sound and the Fury. 00:04.633 --> 00:08.873 And I think a question that would have to arise for 00:08.867 --> 00:13.167 everyone is why isn't Caddy the person to be telling the 00:13.167 --> 00:15.367 story in section four? 00:15.367 --> 00:18.067 It seems logical. 00:18.067 --> 00:23.027 Each of her three brothers gets to tell the story in one 00:23.033 --> 00:27.033 section, so it would seem logical that Caddy should be 00:27.033 --> 00:29.573 the narrator in section four. 00:29.567 --> 00:33.267 This is not a choice that Faulkner makes, so we have to 00:33.267 --> 00:36.167 think about why he decides against using 00:36.167 --> 00:38.597 Caddy as the narrator. 00:38.600 --> 00:42.530 So I can just say that to us, it might seem as if it would 00:42.533 --> 00:47.933 be good to have a woman's voice in that last section. 00:47.933 --> 00:51.303 If the missing point of view has been missing so far, how 00:51.300 --> 00:56.030 it feels to be Caddy, it certainly would have restored 00:56.033 --> 00:59.273 a more balanced gender dynamics to The 00:59.267 --> 01:00.767 Sound and the Fury. 01:00.767 --> 01:06.497 So I think that those are the reasons that one would argue 01:06.500 --> 01:09.670 for having Caddy as the narrator. 01:09.667 --> 01:12.667 And I would encourage you to think about that in your 01:12.667 --> 01:15.727 section, to have a discussion on this point, whether you 01:15.733 --> 01:18.903 would prefer to have Caddy as a narrator. 01:18.900 --> 01:23.770 But in today's lecture, I'd like to explore Faulkner's 01:23.767 --> 01:29.167 reasons for deciding against having Caddy as a narrator and 01:29.167 --> 01:34.127 the choice that he does make, which is to have not a 01:34.133 --> 01:38.333 first-person singular, not an "I" telling the story in 01:38.333 --> 01:43.603 section four, but instead to have omniscient narration told 01:43.600 --> 01:46.630 from an outside point of view. 01:46.633 --> 01:50.333 And I would argue that this narrative choice on Faulkner's 01:50.333 --> 01:56.003 part is also mapped onto a thematic emphasis on a 01:56.000 --> 01:58.470 collectivity, on a communal voice. 01:58.467 --> 02:03.897 So it's not one person's point of view, but instead really a 02:03.900 --> 02:07.730 group of people, their interrelations and what 02:07.733 --> 02:11.273 emerges from that collectivity. 02:11.267 --> 02:14.427 In thinking about these questions, I think it's useful 02:14.433 --> 02:18.103 to go back a little bit to the publication history of The 02:18.100 --> 02:19.730 Sound and the Fury. 02:19.733 --> 02:23.933 As you guys know, the first edition came out in 1929, the 02:23.933 --> 02:26.873 same year as the crash, as we saw last time. 02:26.867 --> 02:33.397 And in 1946, Random House decided to bring out The 02:33.400 --> 02:39.300 Portable Faulker, edited by a very important author and 02:39.300 --> 02:45.570 critic, Malcolm Cowley, who was also 02:45.567 --> 02:47.227 a big fan of Faulkner. 02:47.233 --> 02:50.333 So Malcolm Cowley was just editing this Portable 02:50.333 --> 02:54.003 Faulkner, which turned out to be a very successful edition. 02:54.000 --> 02:55.730 It was used a lot. 02:55.733 --> 03:00.733 And this is the 1946 edition of The Portable Faulkner. 03:00.733 --> 03:04.903 It really announces the importance of Faulkner. 03:04.900 --> 03:08.700 He's the kind of author about whom you would have a portable 03:08.700 --> 03:10.370 something edition. 03:10.367 --> 03:13.197 So it was a great thing for Faulkner. 03:13.200 --> 03:18.030 And in preparation for The Portable Faulkner, he decided 03:18.033 --> 03:22.433 to write an appendix to The Sound and the Fury to be 03:22.433 --> 03:25.633 included in The Portable Faulkner. 03:25.633 --> 03:30.803 And this is what he said to Malcolm Cowley before it came 03:30.800 --> 03:36.730 out, October 1945, about the appendix. 03:36.733 --> 03:40.073 "I should have done this when I wrote the book. 03:40.067 --> 03:44.267 Then the whole thing would have fallen into pattern like 03:44.267 --> 03:48.397 a jigsaw puzzle when the magician's wand touched it." 03:48.400 --> 03:52.230 So that's the degree of importance that he would 03:52.233 --> 03:57.573 attach to the appendix, although it seems-- he was 03:57.567 --> 04:02.967 writing in 1945, almost 20 years after the original The 04:02.967 --> 04:04.567 Sound and the Fury-- 04:04.567 --> 04:10.067 he had a somewhat changed idea about the novel. 04:10.067 --> 04:14.197 His recollection of the novel seemed a bit skewed, even to 04:14.200 --> 04:15.470 Malcolm Cowley. 04:15.467 --> 04:19.127 So Cowley wrote back to him, even made Xeroxes of the 04:19.133 --> 04:21.173 original The Sound and the Fury just to remind him what 04:21.167 --> 04:27.027 was in the original novel and asked if he would consider 04:27.033 --> 04:29.803 revising the appendix a little bit in light of what he'd 04:29.800 --> 04:32.600 actually written in The Sound and the Fury. 04:32.600 --> 04:33.870 But Faulkner wouldn't have any of that. 04:33.867 --> 04:35.697 He would stick to his appendix. 04:35.700 --> 04:39.430 And not only that, the same year, Random House decided to 04:39.433 --> 04:42.673 bring out a dual edition of The Sound and the Fury and As 04:42.667 --> 04:43.697 I Lay Dying. 04:43.700 --> 04:47.270 We'll be reading As I Lay Dying a little bit later on. 04:47.267 --> 04:50.797 In 1946, those two were brought out in a single dual 04:50.800 --> 04:54.970 edition under the Modern Library imprint, which is a 04:54.967 --> 04:59.397 cheaper paperback edition of Random House Books. 04:59.400 --> 05:02.500 So it came out in the Modern Library edition. 05:02.500 --> 05:06.430 And in preparation for that, Faulkner was also very 05:06.433 --> 05:09.373 emphatic that the appendix should be in there. 05:09.367 --> 05:12.727 So this is what he wrote to Robert Linscott, senior editor 05:12.733 --> 05:17.303 at Random House, the beginning of 1946. 05:17.300 --> 05:21.370 "When you read it, the appendix, you will see how it 05:21.367 --> 05:23.727 is the key to the whole book. 05:23.733 --> 05:27.773 And after reading it, the four sections as they stand now 05:27.767 --> 05:30.527 fall into clarity and place. 05:30.533 --> 05:35.203 When you issue the book, print this appendix first and title 05:35.200 --> 05:38.170 it, 'Appendix.' Then continue with the 05:38.167 --> 05:40.167 sections as they now are. 05:40.167 --> 05:43.497 Be sure and print the appendix first." 05:43.500 --> 05:48.170 So Faulkner really has very strange ideas about the 05:48.167 --> 05:51.097 importance of the appendix that seem a little dubious 05:51.100 --> 05:54.470 even to his devoted fan, Malcolm Cowley. 05:54.467 --> 05:59.667 And the appendix was in fact included in the 1946 Modern 05:59.667 --> 06:01.267 Library edition. 06:01.267 --> 06:05.467 And it was included in many editions of The Sound and the 06:05.467 --> 06:09.627 Fury all through the '50s, '60s, '70s. 06:09.633 --> 06:12.433 In the '80s, editors started taking it out. 06:12.433 --> 06:16.173 And so in our edition, as you can see, there's no appendix 06:16.167 --> 06:20.597 in our edition, the Vintage edition, which is also 06:20.600 --> 06:22.400 published by Random House. 06:22.400 --> 06:27.370 But just for your reference, I will post the appendix onto 06:27.367 --> 06:32.567 our website so you will see for yourself whether Faulkner 06:32.567 --> 06:35.897 has a point, whether it is, in fact, the key to The 06:35.900 --> 06:36.470 Sound and the Fury. 06:36.467 --> 06:39.397 But once again, remember that lots of people actually had 06:39.400 --> 06:43.830 reservations about the appendix, so don't think that 06:43.833 --> 06:47.373 it is, in fact, the key to the novel. 06:47.367 --> 06:54.627 But the appendix does tell us quite a bit about how Faulkner 06:54.633 --> 06:57.303 thinks about Caddy and how he thinks about 06:57.300 --> 06:58.470 the rest of the novel. 06:58.467 --> 07:03.067 So this is his very, very long entry on Caddy. 07:03.067 --> 07:05.467 "Candace, Caddy. 07:05.467 --> 07:07.767 Doomed and knew it. 07:07.767 --> 07:13.027 Accepted the doom without either seeking or fleeing it. 07:13.033 --> 07:16.173 Loved her brother despite him. 07:16.167 --> 07:21.397 Loved him not only in spite of but because of the fact that 07:21.400 --> 07:26.900 he must value above all not her but the virginity of which 07:26.900 --> 07:34.370 she was custodian and on which she placed no value whatever. 07:34.367 --> 07:37.327 Knew the brother loved death best of 07:37.333 --> 07:41.273 all and was not jealous. 07:41.267 --> 07:48.527 Vanished in Paris with the German occupation, 1940." 07:48.533 --> 07:54.133 For a good part of that entry on Caddy, it is a very, very 07:54.133 --> 07:59.833 good summary of her place in The Sound and the Fury. 07:59.833 --> 08:04.803 And you can see why Faulkner would not want her to tell the 08:04.800 --> 08:10.000 story on her own, that her importance in the novel is her 08:10.000 --> 08:15.700 importance to her brothers, and the way in which she is 08:15.700 --> 08:17.270 really not important. 08:17.267 --> 08:18.967 She's an ideal of virginity. 08:18.967 --> 08:22.297 She's the repository of virginity that is so important 08:22.300 --> 08:25.430 both to Benjy and to Quentin. 08:25.433 --> 08:29.673 And so she's really a cipher for her brothers. 08:29.667 --> 08:33.297 And that's why she is what she is, always existing in the 08:33.300 --> 08:36.400 minds of her brothers, but never having an independent 08:36.400 --> 08:37.770 existence of her own. 08:37.767 --> 08:40.967 But there's one other weird thing that comes out of the 08:40.967 --> 08:42.897 appendix, which comes out in this little detail. 08:42.900 --> 08:46.370 And Faulkner would go on to elaborate on that. 08:46.367 --> 08:51.367 Faulkner creates a whole other story about Caddy, that she 08:51.367 --> 08:55.467 went to Paris, that she was there, apparently, when the 08:55.467 --> 08:58.197 Germans occupied Paris. 08:58.200 --> 09:02.070 And then there was this other detail about a picture of her 09:02.067 --> 09:05.827 falling into the hands of a librarian in Jefferson, a 09:05.833 --> 09:08.833 woman who looked like Caddy who was hanging out with a 09:08.833 --> 09:10.803 German Nazi officer. 09:10.800 --> 09:14.500 And the librarian wasn't sure that that was Caddy, but she 09:14.500 --> 09:17.370 showed the picture to Jason, she showed the picture to 09:17.367 --> 09:20.397 Dilsey, and nobody knew whether or not that woman who 09:20.400 --> 09:22.000 was hanging out with a Nazi officer, 09:22.000 --> 09:23.270 whether that was Caddy. 09:23.267 --> 09:27.997 So a whole new mystery unfolds in the course of the appendix, 09:28.000 --> 09:32.300 and clearly Faulkner maybe was even thinking of another novel 09:32.300 --> 09:34.230 based on Caddy. 09:34.233 --> 09:36.673 It's his way of writing a new novel back into-- 09:36.667 --> 09:40.227 you can see that she would not be the appropriate person to 09:40.233 --> 09:43.003 be telling the story in section four. 09:43.000 --> 09:47.370 So we'll see what Faulkner actually ends up with, what he 09:47.367 --> 09:55.497 chooses as his representative in section four, the most 09:55.500 --> 09:59.170 authoritative way of telling the story, which is actually 09:59.167 --> 10:03.067 through a third party, through this omniscient narration. 10:03.067 --> 10:08.567 And that is linked to some degree with his understanding 10:08.567 --> 10:12.567 of what section four is about. 10:12.567 --> 10:16.797 And that is the two people that he mentions at the end of 10:16.800 --> 10:18.330 the appendix. 10:18.333 --> 10:20.133 "And that was all. 10:20.133 --> 10:22.473 The others were not Compsons. 10:22.467 --> 10:24.667 They were black. 10:24.667 --> 10:25.427 Luster. 10:25.433 --> 10:31.333 A man, aged 14, who was not only capable of the complete 10:31.333 --> 10:37.603 care and security of an idiot twice his age and three times 10:37.600 --> 10:42.230 his size, but could keep him entertained. 10:42.233 --> 10:43.573 Dilsey. 10:43.567 --> 10:45.767 They endured." 10:45.767 --> 10:49.227 So these are the two people that he would like to talk 10:49.233 --> 10:54.673 about, and those are the centers in section four. 10:54.667 --> 10:58.527 And I actually agree with Faulkner that that 10:58.533 --> 10:59.503 makes a lot of sense. 10:59.500 --> 11:02.130 They have been so important all through the novel, and 11:02.133 --> 11:05.873 finally section four is devoted to Luster and Dilsey 11:05.867 --> 11:08.927 and the world that revolves around them and the future 11:08.933 --> 11:15.473 that emerges from this focus on Luster and Dilsey. 11:15.467 --> 11:18.367 We already have seen something about Luster, that he is very 11:18.367 --> 11:23.497 young, but he's capable of replacing Caddy in taking good 11:23.500 --> 11:25.600 care of Benjy. 11:25.600 --> 11:30.170 What is odd about these three words used to describe Dilsey 11:30.167 --> 11:32.027 is "Dilsey. 11:32.033 --> 11:38.173 They endured." So Faulkner is super-conscious of pronouns, 11:38.167 --> 11:44.127 and he has a very odd use of what appears to be a 11:44.133 --> 11:45.273 non-matching pronoun. 11:45.267 --> 11:47.027 It should have been "Dilsey. 11:47.033 --> 11:50.673 She endures." And so he introduces the 11:50.667 --> 11:52.197 third-person plural. 11:52.200 --> 11:56.200 And I would argue that section four is in fact a section 11:56.200 --> 12:00.500 dominated by that pronoun that is invoked in this very 12:00.500 --> 12:01.570 peculiar fashion. 12:01.567 --> 12:05.767 It is the section devoted to the third-person plural by way 12:05.767 --> 12:08.467 of someone like Dilsey. 12:08.467 --> 12:12.467 So in the rest of the lecture, I'll be thinking about section 12:12.467 --> 12:13.727 four along those lines. 12:16.433 --> 12:18.003 This is the first thing that we notice, 12:18.000 --> 12:20.500 this omniscient narration. 12:20.500 --> 12:23.100 And these are the other points that I would like to make 12:23.100 --> 12:24.670 about Dilsey. 12:24.667 --> 12:27.327 Through her, we see the legacy of slavery. 12:27.333 --> 12:30.333 We see a shift between outside and inside. 12:30.333 --> 12:33.373 Omniscient narration is an external point of view, but 12:33.367 --> 12:36.697 quite often, there's a shift back to the interior of 12:36.700 --> 12:41.400 Dilsey, and along with that shift, a tension between sight 12:41.400 --> 12:46.230 and sound, between the visual and the auditory registers. 12:46.233 --> 12:50.103 Because it's a question of endurance. "They endure." 12:50.100 --> 12:53.930 Faulkner is thinking about the future of race and of the 12:53.933 --> 12:58.203 United States by way of race, the tomorrow of race. 12:58.200 --> 13:03.830 And we'll test a concept that we used last time, that we 13:03.833 --> 13:06.973 took from Raymond Williams, the knowable community. 13:06.967 --> 13:10.627 We'll ask whether or not that could be resurrected in 13:10.633 --> 13:11.703 section four. 13:11.700 --> 13:14.300 And the question of resurrection comes up because 13:14.300 --> 13:19.300 section four is Easter Sunday, is the day on which some 13:19.300 --> 13:20.630 resurrection takes place. 13:20.633 --> 13:24.403 So Faulkner is using that as the frame for the idea of 13:24.400 --> 13:26.100 resurrecting something else. 13:26.100 --> 13:30.130 And obviously, we think because Benjy is in there 13:30.133 --> 13:31.703 still, everyone else-- 13:31.700 --> 13:33.370 Jason is still there-- 13:33.367 --> 13:36.867 there's a possibility of a cross-racial "we" emerging 13:36.867 --> 13:38.727 from "They endured." 13:38.733 --> 13:43.533 And as promised last time, the horse, Queenie, actually makes 13:43.533 --> 13:47.773 an appearance as well in section four of The 13:47.767 --> 13:48.267 Sound and the Fury. 13:48.267 --> 13:50.367 In fact, she's very, very important. 13:50.367 --> 13:55.867 So we're not quite at a place where we can talk about a 13:55.867 --> 13:59.797 community made up of humans and non-humans, but it is 13:59.800 --> 14:03.600 interesting that it is not the automobile but the horse that 14:03.600 --> 14:05.900 comes back in a big way at the very end of The 14:05.900 --> 14:07.070 Sound and the Fury. 14:07.067 --> 14:11.127 So let's start out with omniscient narration. 14:11.133 --> 14:14.133 And I think that there's a temptation on our part to 14:14.133 --> 14:17.473 think that omniscient narration is going to be 14:17.467 --> 14:21.997 benign, that, OK, section one is told by Benjy, who's 14:22.000 --> 14:23.570 mentally retarded. 14:23.567 --> 14:25.797 Section two is told by Quentin, who is 14:25.800 --> 14:27.270 going to kill himself. 14:27.267 --> 14:31.027 Section three is told by Jason, totally obnoxious, but 14:31.033 --> 14:34.203 very sad, very pathetic character. 14:34.200 --> 14:38.600 Section four is told by an omniscient narrator, so we 14:38.600 --> 14:41.200 might assume that this is going to be benign, that this 14:41.200 --> 14:43.800 is going to be full of goodwill. 14:43.800 --> 14:46.970 That is not necessarily the case. 14:46.967 --> 14:51.627 And in fact, the omniscient narration actually begins with 14:51.633 --> 14:57.903 a fairly off-putting, external, and objectifying 14:57.900 --> 15:02.330 view of Dilsey, in the sense that she's turned into an 15:02.333 --> 15:04.403 inert object to be observed. 15:04.400 --> 15:08.870 So it's a very striking and to some extent puzzling narrative 15:08.867 --> 15:11.927 choice on Faulkner's part. 15:11.933 --> 15:15.733 This is the morning of Easter Sunday. 15:15.733 --> 15:21.173 "Dilsey opened the door of the cabin and emerged, needled 15:21.167 --> 15:25.597 laterally into her flesh, precipitating not so much a 15:25.600 --> 15:30.130 moisture as a substance partaking of the quality of 15:30.133 --> 15:33.803 thin, not quite congealed oil. 15:33.800 --> 15:38.330 She wore a stiff velvet cape with a border of mangy and 15:38.333 --> 15:43.703 anonymous fur about a dress of purple silk, and she stood in 15:43.700 --> 15:48.270 the door for a while with her myriad and sunken face lifted 15:48.267 --> 15:53.067 to the weather, and one gaunt hand flac-soled as the belly 15:53.067 --> 15:55.197 of a fish." 15:55.200 --> 15:58.830 That's a repulsive picture of Dilsey. 15:58.833 --> 16:03.403 And it is first of all observing her at very, very 16:03.400 --> 16:04.070 close range. 16:04.067 --> 16:09.397 This is really Dilsey captured on not even a micro-register, 16:09.400 --> 16:13.700 but almost like a nano-register, in the sense 16:13.700 --> 16:18.370 that we're not even seeing her eyes, we're not seeing her 16:18.367 --> 16:23.367 hair or the possible smile or non-smile on her face. 16:23.367 --> 16:28.267 We're looking at something that maybe is sweat coming out 16:28.267 --> 16:31.167 of her, but it is not moisture. 16:31.167 --> 16:35.867 It is a thin layer of congealed oil that's sticking 16:35.867 --> 16:37.427 to her skin. 16:37.433 --> 16:41.103 A completely physical, mechanical description of 16:41.100 --> 16:42.970 Dilsey at very close range. 16:42.967 --> 16:45.727 It's almost Faulkner telling us that when it comes to 16:45.733 --> 16:48.433 omniscient narration, he's as good as the next guy. 16:48.433 --> 16:51.973 He can give us the most minute details, the most minute 16:51.967 --> 16:57.167 impersonal and non-benign level of 16:57.167 --> 17:00.297 detail attached to Dilsey. 17:00.300 --> 17:04.330 From that very minute and non-benign-- in the sense that 17:04.333 --> 17:06.373 it's impersonal , it's completely neutral-- 17:06.367 --> 17:12.597 description of Dilsey, we move on to a slightly larger scale. 17:12.600 --> 17:15.600 And now we notice the clothes that she's wearing. 17:15.600 --> 17:17.070 And she's wearing fancy clothes. 17:17.067 --> 17:19.367 She's wearing clothes too good for her station. 17:19.367 --> 17:23.067 She's wearing a velvet cape and a silk dress. 17:23.067 --> 17:26.167 So we know that those are not really her clothes. 17:26.167 --> 17:29.867 Those are the hand-me-downs discarded by her mistress, 17:29.867 --> 17:33.867 Mrs. Compson, and she's wearing them. 17:33.867 --> 17:39.267 So right there, we have the legacy of slavery encoded into 17:39.267 --> 17:44.227 the articles of clothing that are to be found on Dilsey. 17:44.233 --> 17:47.373 And I would emphasize that they are to be found on 17:47.367 --> 17:49.267 Dilsey, in the sense that there's not a whole lot of 17:49.267 --> 17:52.827 agency in Dilsey choosing to wear those clothes. 17:52.833 --> 17:55.533 They are just hand-me-downs given to her. 17:55.533 --> 18:02.473 So slavery is also something that was historically a given 18:02.467 --> 18:05.827 and quite possibly is still a given in 18:05.833 --> 18:07.103 the twentieth century. 18:09.000 --> 18:12.030 The African-American characters in section four are 18:12.033 --> 18:13.173 not slaves anymore. 18:13.167 --> 18:16.027 This is the twentieth century, slavery was a thing in the 18:16.033 --> 18:19.773 past. But there is still the legacy of slavery, the shadow 18:19.767 --> 18:25.827 of slavery, hanging over everyone's heads as Dilsey is 18:25.833 --> 18:28.973 still wearing the old clothes of her mistress. 18:28.967 --> 18:33.497 So in that sense, in thinking about the legacy of slavery, 18:33.500 --> 18:38.530 The Sound and the Fury could be seen in the company of 18:38.533 --> 18:40.273 other narratives-- 18:40.267 --> 18:42.897 not novels, but narratives-- 18:42.900 --> 18:47.870 that were emerging or being produced in the 1930s, just a 18:47.867 --> 18:49.297 little later. 18:49.300 --> 18:52.470 And this was the project sponsored by the Federal 18:52.467 --> 18:58.167 Writers' Projects during the Great Depression, when lots of 18:58.167 --> 19:02.427 unemployed authors were going around the country under the 19:02.433 --> 19:06.033 sponsorship of the federal government to talk to 19:06.033 --> 19:10.433 ex-slaves and to get the life stories and to make sure that 19:10.433 --> 19:12.933 those are on record and archived. 19:12.933 --> 19:16.773 So there's that desire in the '30s to capture something that 19:16.767 --> 19:20.097 would otherwise vanish forever. 19:20.100 --> 19:22.170 And those are really interesting 19:22.167 --> 19:24.867 archives to look at. 19:24.867 --> 19:28.267 If you ever decide to go to graduate school in literature 19:28.267 --> 19:30.827 and decide to do something on Faulkner, it would be very 19:30.833 --> 19:33.973 interesting to look at those in conjunction with what 19:33.967 --> 19:37.427 Faulkner says about the slaves in The Sound and the Fury. 19:37.433 --> 19:39.403 But that's just a reference point that-- 19:39.400 --> 19:40.700 what else is happening. 19:40.700 --> 19:44.200 Within The Sound and the Fury, we see that the legacy of 19:44.200 --> 19:48.970 slavery is basically a hostility, a visual hostility, 19:48.967 --> 19:51.697 directed against Dilsey. 19:51.700 --> 19:55.430 She's an enormously, enormously sympathetic 19:55.433 --> 19:59.673 character, but she's not completely immune from the 19:59.667 --> 20:05.097 hostile gaze that is part of the omniscient narration. 20:05.100 --> 20:08.030 Omniscient narration is completely neutral. 20:08.033 --> 20:09.433 It doesn't side with anyone. 20:09.433 --> 20:12.073 It can be both for someone or against someone. 20:12.067 --> 20:14.467 And initially used by Faulkner, it actually is used 20:14.467 --> 20:15.627 against Dilsey. 20:15.633 --> 20:20.273 But as is the custom with Faulkner, quite often, we see 20:20.267 --> 20:23.567 that he is giving us both sides to the picture. 20:23.567 --> 20:29.067 That neutral, maybe even hostile view of Dilsey is 20:29.067 --> 20:30.867 quickly modified. 20:30.867 --> 20:34.967 And it's modified when sound enters the picture. 20:34.967 --> 20:37.867 So we're getting pretty much the same dynamics that we've 20:37.867 --> 20:39.797 seen in Fitzgerald. 20:39.800 --> 20:42.570 The interplay of sight and sound, the auditory and the 20:42.567 --> 20:47.597 visual registers, almost always produces a change in 20:47.600 --> 20:49.330 the visual field. 20:49.333 --> 20:51.603 And this is what happens to Dilsey. 20:51.600 --> 20:54.570 And it happens in one significant 20:54.567 --> 20:57.167 setting, the kitchen. 20:57.167 --> 20:59.697 Dilsey is preparing breakfast. 20:59.700 --> 21:02.130 "Dilsey prepared to make biscuit. 21:02.133 --> 21:05.533 As she ground the sifter steadily above the bread 21:05.533 --> 21:11.003 board, she sang, to herself at first, something without 21:11.000 --> 21:15.870 particular tune or words, repetitive, mournful and 21:15.867 --> 21:21.427 plaintive, austere, as she ground a faint, steady snowing 21:21.433 --> 21:24.973 of flour onto the bread board. 21:24.967 --> 21:28.867 The stove had begun to heat the room and to fill it with 21:28.867 --> 21:34.267 murmurous minors of the fire, and presently she was singing 21:34.267 --> 21:39.667 louder, as if her voice too had been thawed out by the 21:39.667 --> 21:41.597 growing warmth." 21:41.600 --> 21:47.570 So as voice takes over, the pronoun also 21:47.567 --> 21:48.467 changes a little bit. 21:48.467 --> 21:53.797 We're still sticking with a third-person singular pronoun, 21:53.800 --> 21:58.400 but already there's a degree of interiority emerging in 21:58.400 --> 21:59.630 this portrait. 21:59.633 --> 22:03.973 It is not just an external view of Dilsey, but the 22:03.967 --> 22:06.727 quality of sound that is coming out of her. 22:06.733 --> 22:10.533 And as the quality of sound is coming out of her, we see what 22:10.533 --> 22:14.303 she's like when she's working, when she's in a place that 22:14.300 --> 22:17.530 she's familiar with, that she's at home in. 22:17.533 --> 22:19.073 That really is her domain. 22:19.067 --> 22:21.567 The kitchen is her domain. 22:21.567 --> 22:25.267 And when Dilsey is in her domain, she turns into a 22:25.267 --> 22:28.597 different kind of person. 22:28.600 --> 22:31.500 The sound that she makes is still attached to the work 22:31.500 --> 22:32.670 that she has to do. 22:32.667 --> 22:37.327 So there's no cessation of work as she sings, but the 22:37.333 --> 22:42.333 very rhythm of work enables Dilsey to turn into a 22:42.333 --> 22:43.603 different kind of character. 22:43.600 --> 22:46.600 She's very, very different when she's singing than when 22:46.600 --> 22:52.200 she's seen as an inert object outside her cabin. 22:52.200 --> 22:56.300 And one thing that happens, one other thing that emerges 22:56.300 --> 23:01.970 about Dilsey in the kitchen is that she has 23:01.967 --> 23:03.967 a relation to time. 23:03.967 --> 23:09.027 And here, I just want to say that in section four, there's 23:09.033 --> 23:13.633 actually both something that emerges about Dilsey but that 23:13.633 --> 23:19.003 is also a backward reference to a very emblematic moment in 23:19.000 --> 23:21.400 each of the three preceding sections. 23:21.400 --> 23:24.630 So what we'll see in section four, I think this is the 23:24.633 --> 23:29.573 structure that Faulkner is working, a really very 23:29.567 --> 23:33.167 intricate and very well-crafted structure, is to 23:33.167 --> 23:39.197 give us one moment that is emblematic of Dilsey that is a 23:39.200 --> 23:45.770 response, a rejoinder, or an amendment to an earlier moment 23:45.767 --> 23:49.197 that was problematic in one of the preceding sections. 23:49.200 --> 23:55.870 So let's look at this very interesting moment, very 23:55.867 --> 24:00.467 memorable and graphic moment, although with sounds thrown in 24:00.467 --> 24:02.967 about Dilsey, also in the kitchen. 24:02.967 --> 24:08.167 "...On the wall above a cupboard, invisible save at 24:08.167 --> 24:14.467 night by lamp light and even then evincing an enigmatic 24:14.467 --> 24:19.567 profundity because it had but one hand, a cabinet clock 24:19.567 --> 24:23.227 ticked, then with a preliminary sound as if it had 24:23.233 --> 24:28.003 cleared its throat, struck five times. 24:28.000 --> 24:33.370 'Eight o'clock,' Dilsey said." 24:33.367 --> 24:37.067 So the clock is striking five o'clock. 24:37.067 --> 24:38.797 Dilsey knows it's eight o'clock. 24:38.800 --> 24:39.870 She's not up at five. 24:39.867 --> 24:41.167 Even though she's hard-working, she's 24:41.167 --> 24:42.567 not up at five AM. 24:42.567 --> 24:44.867 She's up at eight AM. 24:44.867 --> 24:46.867 She knows that this is eight o'clock. 24:46.867 --> 24:48.727 She knows the clock very well. 24:48.733 --> 24:53.633 So we are back to the notion of a knowable community. 24:53.633 --> 24:57.533 And in this case, it is a community between 24:57.533 --> 25:00.073 Dilsey and the clock. 25:00.067 --> 25:05.427 And significantly, it emerges in the course of 25:05.433 --> 25:07.803 working, hard labor-- 25:07.800 --> 25:10.000 well, hard enough-- 25:10.000 --> 25:12.570 but it's in the course of working. 25:12.567 --> 25:14.967 And it's in a very familiar setting. 25:14.967 --> 25:17.167 This is the most important thing, that the kitchen is a 25:17.167 --> 25:20.167 familiar setting to Dilsey, and the 25:20.167 --> 25:22.497 clock is also her familiar. 25:22.500 --> 25:26.700 It is a mechanical contrivance, but in this case, 25:26.700 --> 25:30.430 it is a mechanical contrivance that isn't quite working. 25:30.433 --> 25:32.503 First of all, the clock is really not 25:32.500 --> 25:34.100 doing a number of things. 25:34.100 --> 25:36.030 It is invisible in broad daylight. 25:36.033 --> 25:39.073 You can only see it at night by lamp light, and even then, 25:39.067 --> 25:42.267 you can barely see it, because it only has one hand. 25:42.267 --> 25:44.567 So it's not functioning properly. 25:44.567 --> 25:46.467 It's also not functioning properly because it's not 25:46.467 --> 25:48.327 telling the right time. 25:48.333 --> 25:53.173 But all that only makes the kitchen a more important 25:53.167 --> 25:54.127 knowable community. 25:54.133 --> 25:57.833 It's only when you have a defective instrument and you 25:57.833 --> 26:00.233 know that instrument very well that you can prove that you 26:00.233 --> 26:01.673 actually know this domain very well. 26:01.667 --> 26:06.627 So Dilsey's knowledge of this place is proven without-- 26:09.767 --> 26:13.127 it's beyond doubt that she knows this place very well. 26:13.133 --> 26:18.903 And this emblematic moment about Dilsey obviously brings 26:18.900 --> 26:24.070 back an equally emblematic moment about Quentin and his 26:24.067 --> 26:25.827 relation to his watch. 26:25.833 --> 26:29.303 This is the first thing that we know about Quentin. 26:29.300 --> 26:34.470 So let's look at this opening of his section and his 26:34.467 --> 26:37.527 relation to time, as we have seen, and especially his 26:37.533 --> 26:40.873 relation to his own watch, his grandfather's watch. 26:40.867 --> 26:45.397 "When the shadow of the sash appeared on the curtains, it 26:45.400 --> 26:48.600 was between seven and eight o'clock and then 26:48.600 --> 26:51.000 I was in time again... 26:51.000 --> 26:55.630 I went to the dresser and took up the watch with the face 26:55.633 --> 26:57.033 still down. 26:57.033 --> 27:01.103 I tapped the crystal on the corner of the dresser and 27:01.100 --> 27:05.530 caught the fragments of glass in my hand and put them in the 27:05.533 --> 27:10.933 ashtray and twisted the hands off and put them in the tray. 27:10.933 --> 27:13.103 The watch ticked on." 27:13.100 --> 27:17.670 So two points of context between the Dilsey section and 27:17.667 --> 27:18.527 this section. 27:18.533 --> 27:21.973 Eight o'clock, same time, except that they have a 27:21.967 --> 27:26.827 completely different relation to eight o'clock, to the time 27:26.833 --> 27:28.033 that is eight o'clock. 27:28.033 --> 27:29.933 For Dilsey, it's another day. 27:29.933 --> 27:33.173 And we know that there'll be many more eight 27:33.167 --> 27:34.967 o'clocks for her. 27:34.967 --> 27:40.367 For Quentin, this is the last eight o'clock he would ever 27:40.367 --> 27:41.167 experience. 27:41.167 --> 27:44.227 It is the very end of the line for him. 27:44.233 --> 27:48.833 So right then and there, that tells us fully who has a 27:48.833 --> 27:51.403 future and who doesn't. 27:51.400 --> 27:57.330 But the other thing is that Dilsey is able to make do with 27:57.333 --> 28:00.073 a broken clock. 28:00.067 --> 28:05.127 Quentin is the one who has a well-functioning watch that he 28:05.133 --> 28:10.803 smashes, twists off the hands of that watch. 28:10.800 --> 28:14.770 And of course, he hurts his hand in the course of smashing 28:14.767 --> 28:15.967 that watch. 28:15.967 --> 28:21.927 So right there, it is a capsule summary of his futile 28:21.933 --> 28:25.833 battle with time and the way Quentin gets 28:25.833 --> 28:27.073 bloodied on this day. 28:27.067 --> 28:31.527 This is finally the day when he loses some kind of 28:31.533 --> 28:36.003 virginity, loses the virginity about time, maybe. 28:36.000 --> 28:39.230 He is bloodied in his struggle with time. 28:39.233 --> 28:45.103 So it's a very eloquent rejoinder to that earlier 28:45.100 --> 28:49.270 moment, but also a rewriting of that earlier moment. 28:49.267 --> 28:51.267 It is a dead end for Quentin. 28:51.267 --> 28:52.867 There's no doubt about it. 28:52.867 --> 28:55.527 There's no way Faulkner can keep on-- although, I should 28:55.533 --> 28:59.473 say, actually, in terms of Faulkner's own novels, he 28:59.467 --> 29:01.967 actually wrote another novel, Absalom, Absalom!, 29:01.967 --> 29:04.627 resurrecting Quentin in that novel. 29:04.633 --> 29:09.433 So he actually manages to find a way to bring Quentin back as 29:09.433 --> 29:11.373 well by writing another novel about him. 29:11.367 --> 29:13.997 But within The Sound and the Fury, there's no way he can 29:14.000 --> 29:16.200 bring Quentin back alive. 29:16.200 --> 29:20.730 And instead the only way he can resurrect Quentin in some 29:20.733 --> 29:27.773 fashion is to resurrect him by way of Dilsey and her ability 29:27.767 --> 29:31.627 to make do with time, to come to terms with time, to come to 29:31.633 --> 29:36.203 terms both with a defective present, and in coming to 29:36.200 --> 29:38.530 terms with a defective present, to 29:38.533 --> 29:40.703 live on to the future. 29:40.700 --> 29:45.000 So by way of Dilsey, we can start thinking about the 29:45.000 --> 29:47.400 all-important concept of tomorrow. 29:47.400 --> 29:50.070 And it has to do with the tomorrow of race. 29:50.067 --> 29:52.867 So we know, first of all, the importance of the kitchen and 29:52.867 --> 29:55.527 what takes place in the kitchen. 29:55.533 --> 29:58.173 We also know in the rest of the section that there's 29:58.167 --> 30:01.967 another place that is as important as the kitchen, and 30:01.967 --> 30:03.397 that is the black church. 30:03.400 --> 30:07.370 So these are the two emblematic locales where there 30:07.367 --> 30:11.197 could be a tomorrow and where there could be an interesting 30:11.200 --> 30:16.030 development to that pronoun, third-person plural. 30:16.033 --> 30:19.273 And we'll see that in the church. 30:19.267 --> 30:22.727 the central figure in that church is the preacher, the 30:22.733 --> 30:25.333 Reverend Shegog, and we'll see what he does. 30:25.333 --> 30:28.103 And we know that this is Easter Sunday, so this is the 30:28.100 --> 30:29.200 resurrection of something. 30:29.200 --> 30:32.630 And we'll finally talk about the possibility of that 30:32.633 --> 30:35.733 utopian ideal, a cross-racial "we." 30:35.733 --> 30:41.003 But first of all, this is the church, the Christian 30:41.000 --> 30:46.570 Methodist Episcopal church in Oxford, Mississippi. 30:46.567 --> 30:48.867 It's a historic church. 30:48.867 --> 30:53.497 And I want to bring to your attention a figure who's 30:53.500 --> 30:57.300 written eloquently about the black church, and that is 30:57.300 --> 30:59.130 someone you might have read in another 30:59.133 --> 31:03.103 class, W. E. B. Du Bois. 31:03.100 --> 31:07.470 He was a very important author, but he also actually 31:07.467 --> 31:08.997 studied sociology. 31:09.000 --> 31:14.030 So he wrote a 1903 book called The Negro Church, basically a 31:14.033 --> 31:19.403 sociological report based on lots of field work about black 31:19.400 --> 31:21.930 churches in the South. 31:21.933 --> 31:25.573 Most of us probably haven't read The Negro Church-- 31:25.567 --> 31:28.567 probably only specialists would be reading that book-- 31:28.567 --> 31:32.867 but there's another book by Du Bois that I bet a lot you have 31:32.867 --> 31:36.097 read or heard of, The Souls of Black Folk, also 31:36.100 --> 31:38.370 coming out in 1903. 31:38.367 --> 31:41.127 And because he was doing this sociological field work at the 31:41.133 --> 31:44.273 same time as he was writing this book, not surprisingly, 31:44.267 --> 31:47.297 he had a lot to say about the black church. 31:47.300 --> 31:50.200 He has a whole chapter called "The Faith of Our Fathers" in 31:50.200 --> 31:53.000 which he talks at length about the black church. 31:53.000 --> 31:54.400 And this is what he says. 31:58.367 --> 32:00.767 And he links the black church back to the religion of the 32:00.767 --> 32:03.767 slaves, so this is another way in which there's the legacy of 32:03.767 --> 32:08.427 slavery in the centrality of the black church. 32:08.433 --> 32:11.803 "Three things characterized the religion of the slave-- 32:11.800 --> 32:16.270 the Preacher, the Music, and the Frenzy. 32:16.267 --> 32:20.667 The preacher is the most unique personality developed 32:20.667 --> 32:24.497 by the Negro on the American soil. 32:24.500 --> 32:30.870 A leader, a politician, an orator, a boss, an intriguer, 32:30.867 --> 32:32.467 an idealist-- 32:32.467 --> 32:36.927 all these he is and ever too the center of a group of men 32:36.933 --> 32:40.973 now twenty, now a thousand in number." 32:40.967 --> 32:43.227 Du Bois' account of the preacher is really 32:43.233 --> 32:44.073 interesting. 32:44.067 --> 32:49.867 Because this preacher is both someone who is a conveyor of a 32:49.867 --> 32:55.397 form of Christianity, a form of spirituality, but Du Bois 32:55.400 --> 32:57.630 also sees that he's more than that. 32:57.633 --> 33:00.073 He's a politician. 33:00.067 --> 33:02.027 He's an orator. 33:02.033 --> 33:04.803 He has to be very good at what he's doing. 33:04.800 --> 33:06.130 He's a boss to some extent. 33:06.133 --> 33:10.203 So there are all these other non-spiritual dimensions 33:10.200 --> 33:12.800 attached to the preacher. 33:12.800 --> 33:16.470 And that is indeed the case, because the black church, even 33:16.467 --> 33:20.567 though a church like this seems very local, because it's 33:20.567 --> 33:22.427 part of the Methodist church. 33:22.433 --> 33:27.073 The local Methodist church actually belongs to a national 33:27.067 --> 33:28.127 denomination. 33:28.133 --> 33:30.933 The Methodist church is a national denomination. 33:30.933 --> 33:35.033 And quite often, preachers would actually go from one 33:35.033 --> 33:36.573 city to another. 33:36.567 --> 33:40.027 The preacher is not always stationed at one place. 33:40.033 --> 33:45.503 And that turns out to be the case with the Reverend Shegog 33:45.500 --> 33:46.700 in The Sound and the Fury. 33:46.700 --> 33:50.470 This is the background to why this preacher is actually 33:50.467 --> 33:52.667 brought all the way from St. Louis. 33:52.667 --> 33:55.397 He's not the local preacher. 33:55.400 --> 33:58.930 He's brought in for the Easter Sunday service 33:58.933 --> 34:01.033 especially from St. Louis. 34:01.033 --> 34:05.173 And so there's something both very special but potentially 34:05.167 --> 34:07.267 alien about him. 34:07.267 --> 34:17.797 And Faulkner gives us once again a two-part portrait of 34:17.800 --> 34:22.070 the Reverend Shegog, a two-part portrait that is 34:22.067 --> 34:23.527 based on a reversal. 34:23.533 --> 34:27.573 As with Dilsey, we see an external view of the Reverend 34:27.567 --> 34:32.167 Shegog, and then we see a much more interior view of the 34:32.167 --> 34:32.597 Reverend Shegog. 34:32.600 --> 34:36.530 But this is the external view, looking at him strictly from 34:36.533 --> 34:41.033 the standpoint of a small-town black church, looking at this 34:41.033 --> 34:47.273 supposedly very important visitor coming from St. Louis. 34:47.267 --> 34:53.367 "The visitor was undersized, in a shabby alpaca coat. 34:53.367 --> 34:59.427 He had a wizened black face like a small, aged monkey... 34:59.433 --> 35:03.873 When the visitor rose to speak he sounded like a white man. 35:03.867 --> 35:05.967 His voice was level and cold. 35:05.967 --> 35:10.727 It sounded too big to have come from him and they 35:10.733 --> 35:14.473 listened at first through curiosity, as they would have 35:14.467 --> 35:17.067 to a monkey talking. 35:17.067 --> 35:20.667 They began to watch him as they would a man on a tight 35:20.667 --> 35:22.327 rope." 35:22.333 --> 35:24.633 So this is very much an external view of the Reverend 35:24.633 --> 35:28.033 Shegog, and it's not a sympathetic view. 35:28.033 --> 35:32.233 He's someone that the congregation for the black 35:32.233 --> 35:35.373 local church was highly suspicious of. 35:35.367 --> 35:38.197 And in fact, they were very disappointed in him, that he 35:38.200 --> 35:40.700 had come all the way from St. Louis-- he's been brought in 35:40.700 --> 35:42.600 at some expense from St. Louis-- 35:42.600 --> 35:45.170 and it turns out that he's much, much less 35:45.167 --> 35:49.597 impressive-looking than their own preacher whom they would 35:49.600 --> 35:51.330 see every week. 35:51.333 --> 35:54.533 So it was a terrible disappointment for them to 35:54.533 --> 36:01.433 look at this monkey-like, tiny, clownish figure. 36:01.433 --> 36:04.373 And even when he starts speaking, he's still 36:04.367 --> 36:05.267 off-putting. 36:05.267 --> 36:09.167 They're not warming up to him right away, because he sounds 36:09.167 --> 36:10.667 like a white man. 36:10.667 --> 36:14.367 This is a very peculiar detail on Faulkner's part, and 36:14.367 --> 36:17.327 there's no other way of accounting for it other than 36:17.333 --> 36:23.303 that he was really thinking of the preacher as Du Bois would, 36:23.300 --> 36:25.600 that he's not just a representative of some kind of 36:25.600 --> 36:29.170 spirituality, but that he's also an operator and a 36:29.167 --> 36:30.697 politician. 36:30.700 --> 36:36.630 And speaking like a black man is possibly a sign that he 36:36.633 --> 36:38.773 operates in that mode. 36:38.767 --> 36:41.827 But we get a reversal. 36:41.833 --> 36:45.573 We get a switch to a totally different view of 36:45.567 --> 36:46.567 the Reverend Shegog. 36:46.567 --> 36:49.967 And I should say that this external view of the Reverend 36:49.967 --> 36:52.627 Shegog really has to do with looking at him as an inert 36:52.633 --> 36:55.233 object, this impersonal, objective 36:55.233 --> 36:56.403 gaze directed at him. 36:56.400 --> 36:59.200 And he indeed looks like a monkey if you just look at him 36:59.200 --> 37:01.330 as a single individual. 37:01.333 --> 37:07.273 So from that alienating perspective, we now turn to 37:07.267 --> 37:12.727 another look at him, which is not as a single individual, 37:12.733 --> 37:14.503 but as a communal voice. 37:14.500 --> 37:21.070 So this is the two poles that Faulkner tries to negotiate by 37:21.067 --> 37:25.627 way of the Reverend Shegog, that he could be looked at 37:25.633 --> 37:28.703 just as a single individual, this big-shot preacher from 37:28.700 --> 37:33.770 St. Louis, or he could be fused with a community as a 37:33.767 --> 37:36.027 voice speaking for them. 37:36.033 --> 37:39.633 And he takes on a completely different set of qualities 37:39.633 --> 37:42.733 when he's seen in that light, fused with the community. 37:42.733 --> 37:47.673 "And the congregation seemed to watch with its own eyes 37:47.667 --> 37:53.267 while the voice consumed him, until he was nothing and they 37:53.267 --> 37:57.897 were nothing and there was not even a voice but instead their 37:57.900 --> 38:02.370 hearts were speaking to one another in chanting measures 38:02.367 --> 38:06.097 beyond the need for words, so that when he came to rest 38:06.100 --> 38:10.830 against the reading desk, his monkey face lifted and his 38:10.833 --> 38:16.033 whole attitude, that of a serene, tortured crucifix that 38:16.033 --> 38:20.333 transcended its shabbiness and insignificance and made it of 38:20.333 --> 38:26.073 no moment, a long moaning expulsion of breath rose from 38:26.067 --> 38:29.427 them, and a woman's single soprano-- 38:29.433 --> 38:32.873 'Yes, Jesus!'" 38:32.867 --> 38:37.097 We're beginning to figure out why the external, objectifying 38:37.100 --> 38:42.630 view of the black characters is so deliberately demeaning, 38:42.633 --> 38:46.303 is so deliberately hostile to them. 38:46.300 --> 38:52.370 Because Faulkner in fact wants to suggest that most people, 38:52.367 --> 38:55.697 if you just look at them, they're really nothing to 38:55.700 --> 38:57.830 write home about. 38:57.833 --> 39:01.773 They are very sad-looking specimens of humanity. 39:01.767 --> 39:06.227 But the most important thing is that these sad-looking 39:06.233 --> 39:11.603 specimens of humanity can be transformed under the proper 39:11.600 --> 39:13.170 circumstances. 39:13.167 --> 39:15.097 And listening to the voice-- 39:15.100 --> 39:18.770 in this case, listening to the voice of the Reverend Shegog-- 39:18.767 --> 39:24.397 in conjunction with the voice of the black congregation, 39:24.400 --> 39:28.670 that is one circumstance when we completely forget the 39:28.667 --> 39:34.227 insignificant physical appearance of this man. 39:34.233 --> 39:37.173 He becomes nothing, the congregation becomes nothing, 39:37.167 --> 39:38.397 and that's a good thing. 39:38.400 --> 39:41.930 When they become nothing, then what really does register is 39:41.933 --> 39:46.203 that voice and what that voice is able to do for the 39:46.200 --> 39:47.200 congregation. 39:47.200 --> 39:51.970 So this is without question the moment of epiphany in The 39:51.967 --> 39:55.427 Sound and the Fury, and it's by way of this initially 39:55.433 --> 40:00.333 dubious-looking preacher, who then actually transcends that 40:00.333 --> 40:05.473 and is able, in fact, to do what is supposed to be done on 40:05.467 --> 40:08.767 Easter Sunday, which is to bring about some kind of 40:08.767 --> 40:10.697 resurrection. 40:10.700 --> 40:17.970 So this is what we're already beginning to see happen. 40:17.967 --> 40:22.327 We've already seen a little bit of it in Dilsey's relation 40:22.333 --> 40:27.173 to the clock in her kitchen, and now we see something else 40:27.167 --> 40:29.667 that also happens in the kitchen. 40:29.667 --> 40:35.697 And it is the other black character, Luster, and Benjy 40:35.700 --> 40:37.170 in the kitchen. 40:37.167 --> 40:39.197 Section four, Benjy comes back in a big way. 40:39.200 --> 40:43.730 So in many ways, this is Benjy almost incorporated into the 40:43.733 --> 40:45.573 black community. 40:45.567 --> 40:51.497 We've mentioned earlier that the way in which he and Luster 40:51.500 --> 40:55.130 constitute a unit, and Luster being his significant other. 40:55.133 --> 40:59.873 And here, we once again see Benjy as Luster's significant 40:59.867 --> 41:02.467 other and the other way around as well. 41:02.467 --> 41:05.997 "Luster fed him with skill and detachment. 41:06.000 --> 41:09.570 Now and then, his attention would return long enough to 41:09.567 --> 41:13.967 enable him to feint the spoon and cause Ben to close his 41:13.967 --> 41:17.667 mouth upon the empty air, but it was apparent that Luster's 41:17.667 --> 41:20.197 mind was elsewhere. 41:20.200 --> 41:24.100 His other hand lay on the back of the chair and upon that 41:24.100 --> 41:29.430 dead surface, it moved tentatively, delicately, as if 41:29.433 --> 41:35.233 he were picking an inaudible tune out of the dead void. 41:35.233 --> 41:39.033 And once he even forgot to tease Ben with the spoon while 41:39.033 --> 41:44.103 his fingers teased out of the slain wood a soundless and 41:44.100 --> 41:49.370 involved arpeggio until Ben recalled him by whimpering 41:49.367 --> 41:51.227 again." 41:51.233 --> 41:56.533 Very odd detail about Luster. 41:56.533 --> 42:02.803 Luster doesn't play any musical instrument at all. 42:02.800 --> 42:09.800 Faulkner is counter-factually representing him as picking an 42:09.800 --> 42:12.070 inaudible tune. 42:12.067 --> 42:16.067 And not only is it an inaudible tune, not only has 42:16.067 --> 42:21.397 Luster become a musician in this moment, but he's playing 42:21.400 --> 42:25.800 a special kind of music, an arpeggio. 42:25.800 --> 42:28.030 So what is an arpeggio? 42:28.033 --> 42:34.673 It is a special musical technique, the chord not being 42:34.667 --> 42:37.897 played in unison, but played in sequence. 42:37.900 --> 42:41.470 Usually, the chord would be played together, but the 42:41.467 --> 42:43.897 arpeggio is one in which you play the chord in sequence, 42:43.900 --> 42:44.970 one at a time. 42:44.967 --> 42:53.067 So the English translation for the Italian word "arpeggio" is 42:53.067 --> 42:55.167 actually a broken chord. 42:55.167 --> 43:01.867 And this is actually a kind of music that Luster plays is 43:01.867 --> 43:07.597 that slavery and the legacy of slavery, is that broken chord. 43:07.600 --> 43:12.000 It is not the most harmonious kind of music. 43:12.000 --> 43:15.670 But as we know, Schubert actually has a great piece of 43:15.667 --> 43:18.167 music called the Arpeggione Sonata. 43:18.167 --> 43:21.067 It's a wonderful piece of music, and it's one of the 43:21.067 --> 43:24.427 most famous signature pieces by Schubert. 43:24.433 --> 43:29.533 But Luster isn't quite playing that. 43:29.533 --> 43:35.233 But his arpeggio is interesting in that Faulkner's 43:35.233 --> 43:40.473 turning this not very well schooled black character into 43:40.467 --> 43:41.897 a trained musician. 43:41.900 --> 43:47.970 So this is the reconstitution of a knowable community based 43:47.967 --> 43:50.497 on a special kind of knowledge. 43:50.500 --> 43:54.170 And we know that Luster actually does know something. 43:54.167 --> 43:54.967 He knows something. 43:54.967 --> 43:56.797 That's why he's absent-minded. 43:56.800 --> 44:00.470 His mind is fixated on something else, something that 44:00.467 --> 44:01.867 only he knows. 44:01.867 --> 44:08.167 So let's go back to what it is that Luster knows that makes 44:08.167 --> 44:11.767 him so absent-minded at this moment. 44:11.767 --> 44:17.297 This is the second reference back to an earlier moment in 44:17.300 --> 44:19.030 an earlier section. 44:19.033 --> 44:21.603 This is actually the very ending of the Benjy section. 44:21.600 --> 44:24.200 So that one is resurrected as well in the 44:24.200 --> 44:28.430 absent-mindedness of Luster. 44:28.433 --> 44:32.073 Same configuration, Luster and Benjy. 44:32.067 --> 44:33.367 "He put my gown on. 44:33.367 --> 44:36.097 I hushed, and then Luster stopped, his 44:36.100 --> 44:37.700 head toward the window. 44:37.700 --> 44:40.200 Then he went to the window and looked out. 44:40.200 --> 44:42.500 He came back and took my arm. 44:42.500 --> 44:43.900 Here she come, he said. 44:43.900 --> 44:45.630 Be quiet now. 44:45.633 --> 44:47.573 We went to the window and looked out. 44:47.567 --> 44:50.827 It came out of Quentin's window and climbed 44:50.833 --> 44:53.173 across into the tree. 44:53.167 --> 44:54.697 We watched the tree shaking. 44:54.700 --> 44:57.000 The shaking went down the tree. 44:57.000 --> 44:58.730 Then it came out, and we watched it 44:58.733 --> 45:00.233 go across the grass. 45:00.233 --> 45:03.403 Then we couldn't see it." 45:03.400 --> 45:06.800 Benjy is totally clueless at this moment. 45:06.800 --> 45:10.300 Luster is already knowledgeable about what 45:10.300 --> 45:14.700 exactly is coming out of Quentin's window, so that when 45:14.700 --> 45:19.200 we do find out in section four that Quentin has run away, 45:19.200 --> 45:22.830 that she's taken all of Jason's money with her when 45:22.833 --> 45:28.073 she runs away, that is old news to Luster. 45:28.067 --> 45:30.767 He's known all through the novel, starting 45:30.767 --> 45:33.367 from section one. 45:33.367 --> 45:36.927 That bit of knowledge is in his possession. 45:36.933 --> 45:42.633 So this is the reconstitution of a knowable community for 45:42.633 --> 45:46.233 Luster is that he is familiar. 45:46.233 --> 45:48.073 Quentin is his familiar. 45:48.067 --> 45:50.967 He knows her well enough to know that this is something 45:50.967 --> 45:52.967 that she might do. 45:52.967 --> 45:57.027 And it is that reconstitution of a knowable community that 45:57.033 --> 46:01.503 once again resurrects this previous moment from Benjy and 46:01.500 --> 46:04.030 allows it to take on a new life. 46:04.033 --> 46:08.373 So since we're already looking at the structure of two 46:08.367 --> 46:14.067 resurrected earlier moments in section four of The Sound and 46:14.067 --> 46:16.627 the Fury, let's look at the resurrection 46:16.633 --> 46:18.373 of one other thing. 46:18.367 --> 46:21.697 And not surprisingly, it is the third brother who would 46:21.700 --> 46:24.370 get resurrected in that moment. 46:24.367 --> 46:30.067 And this has to do with a landmark in Oxford, which is 46:30.067 --> 46:31.697 the Courthouse Square. 46:31.700 --> 46:35.770 And we know that Luster and Benjy are in a habit of going 46:35.767 --> 46:41.327 out for a ride with Queenie, the horse. 46:41.333 --> 46:46.173 But in this case, at the very end of The Sound and the Fury, 46:46.167 --> 46:48.527 something seems to be going wrong. 46:48.533 --> 46:52.933 Luster and Benjy go on a ride probably every day, and 46:52.933 --> 46:55.703 nothing especially happens. 46:55.700 --> 46:57.970 It's just a peaceful ride. 46:57.967 --> 47:01.697 But on this one occasion, something 47:01.700 --> 47:03.600 seems to be going wrong. 47:03.600 --> 47:10.130 And Benjy is bellowing without stopping on this ride. 47:10.133 --> 47:13.673 Something seems to be going wrong. 47:13.667 --> 47:19.127 Luster, for all his knowledge of what Quentin does, is 47:19.133 --> 47:22.433 actually incapable of controlling this situation. 47:22.433 --> 47:27.903 He's unable to stop Benjy from bellowing. 47:27.900 --> 47:32.730 It actually takes Jason's intervention to stop the 47:32.733 --> 47:34.573 bellowing of Benjy. 47:34.567 --> 47:40.027 So let's look at what it is that Jason is able to do. 47:40.033 --> 47:44.703 "With a backhanded blow, he hurled Luster aside and caught 47:44.700 --> 47:48.770 the reins and sawed Queenie about and doubled the reins 47:48.767 --> 47:51.597 back and slashed her across the hips. 47:51.600 --> 47:56.200 He cut her again and again into a plunging gallop, while 47:56.200 --> 48:00.170 Ben's hoarse agony roared about them, and swung her 48:00.167 --> 48:02.627 about to the right of the monument. 48:02.633 --> 48:06.303 Then he struck Luster over the head with his fist. 'Don't you 48:06.300 --> 48:09.470 know better than to take him to the left?' he said. 48:09.467 --> 48:12.097 He reached back and struck Ben, breaking the 48:12.100 --> 48:14.000 flower stalk again. 48:14.000 --> 48:15.500 "...Queenie moved again. 48:15.500 --> 48:20.230 Her feet began to clop-clop steadily again, and at once, 48:20.233 --> 48:23.273 Ben hushed. 48:23.267 --> 48:26.667 Luster looked quickly back over his shoulder, 48:26.667 --> 48:28.197 then he drove on. 48:28.200 --> 48:32.570 The broken flower drooped over Ben's fist, and his eyes were 48:32.567 --> 48:37.497 empty and blue and serene again, as cornice and facade 48:37.500 --> 48:43.400 flowed smoothly once more from left to right, post and tree, 48:43.400 --> 48:48.570 window and doorway and signboard, each in its ordered 48:48.567 --> 48:49.967 place." 48:49.967 --> 48:54.927 So that was what went wrong initially with the ride is 48:54.933 --> 48:59.073 that Luster, for some reason, had forgotten that they're 48:59.067 --> 49:03.227 supposed to go to the right of the monument. 49:03.233 --> 49:07.273 He makes Queenie go to the left, and so everything is 49:07.267 --> 49:09.467 happening in the wrong order. 49:09.467 --> 49:14.097 And because Benjy cannot stand anything happening in the 49:14.100 --> 49:18.370 wrong order, nothing will stop him from bellowing. 49:18.367 --> 49:22.067 So this is a very interesting moment when Faulkner has 49:22.067 --> 49:24.197 granted to Luster a lot of knowledge. 49:24.200 --> 49:27.300 He knows Quentin very well, but for some reason, he 49:27.300 --> 49:30.100 doesn't know Benjy on this one occasion. 49:30.100 --> 49:34.100 It takes Jason actually to demonstrate his knowledge of 49:34.100 --> 49:35.200 his own brother, Benjy. 49:35.200 --> 49:38.370 He doesn't love Benjy, but he knows Benjy very well. 49:38.367 --> 49:41.467 He knows that it would have to be to the right of the 49:41.467 --> 49:44.567 monument, and he's able to correct that mistake. 49:44.567 --> 49:49.127 So after all we've seen, Jason's terrible problems with 49:49.133 --> 49:54.503 the automobile, at the very end of The Sound and the Fury, 49:54.500 --> 49:58.800 Faulkner is able to resurrect Jason into a 49:58.800 --> 50:00.870 much happier fate. 50:00.867 --> 50:02.897 Automobile is gone. 50:02.900 --> 50:07.130 It's back to the world of horses and carriages, a 50:07.133 --> 50:11.573 19th-century world still lingering on and to some 50:11.567 --> 50:16.827 extent accommodating Jason even in the 20th century. 50:16.833 --> 50:18.533 It's not a pretty sight. 50:18.533 --> 50:21.603 It's not a non-violent world. 50:21.600 --> 50:24.400 Jason is still hitting Luster. 50:24.400 --> 50:26.570 He's breaking Ben's flower. 50:26.567 --> 50:29.467 So none of the obnoxious things about 50:29.467 --> 50:31.227 Jason have gone away. 50:31.233 --> 50:33.603 He hasn't turned into a sweet person. 50:33.600 --> 50:35.070 He's still a monster. 50:35.067 --> 50:39.367 But while he remains a monster, Faulkner has made his 50:39.367 --> 50:43.697 world one that he can live in and that he can be a hero of 50:43.700 --> 50:45.870 sorts in this very one brief moment. 50:45.867 --> 50:49.467 He can be the person who comes to the rescue and set 50:49.467 --> 50:53.027 everything back onto the right track, literally. 50:53.033 --> 50:56.933 So this is a way in which the very ending of The Sound and 50:56.933 --> 51:00.703 the Fury is in fact an Easter Sunday story 51:00.700 --> 51:01.970 about resurrection.