April Eight

HORRAY!! I have finally finished reading The Sound and the Fury! Although it was a long and difficult read, I grew to find myself to actually enjoy it! I can honestly say now that I like how the book was set up because it was almost like a mystery of time I was trying to solve! Anyway, back to the last chapter! This was the Dilsey chapter, a black maid. I really enjoyed Dilsey's character. She always puts others first and its obvious she cares so much about the ones she loves. Family is her number one concern; for example, she was always taking Quenton out no matter what. I enjoyed how Dilsey ended up being the only one who represented good in the Compson family. After researching about the old and new south, it was nice to see that an African American was used for a light of hope and good for once rather than being looked down upon. Overall, this was the hardest book I've ever read but I can say I enjoyed a large chunk of it!

April 6, 1928, Jason Chapter

The first thing I have to say about this chapter is that Jason is a hateful person. I almost feel bad for him because I don't understand how one person can have so much hatred and disgust in their life. He discriminates against basically every one, based on religion, skin color, and gender. However, continuing on in the Jason chapter, it was not a simple breeze. The writing was very complex and difficult to follow the story line however, the continual hatred feeling was always present. There are a few ironies throughout this chapter. Out of all Caroline's children, Jason was the worst and most unreliable. However, he ends up being the one to have to carry on the family name. Jason is also obsessed with materialistic items and his own appearance. Jason's African American servant begged him for tickets to a show but instead Jason burned them in a fire. This shows that Jason wants people to view him and only him as wealthy and seeming to have many possessions in his life. Overall, I almost feel bad for Jason and wonder how he turned out to be such a hateful and despicable person.

Quentin Chapter

Boy, oh boy, if someone told me this book was going to get more confusing, I wouldn't have believed it but man, was I wrong! Now, I do really like this book, however, I have to read everything over a few times to catch all the changes and fully comprehend what is really happening in the story. One thing I found very interesting in this chapter was the references to time. For example, I liked how Quentin recalls his father giving him a watch so he could find an occasional moment when he could forget all about the time. It seems as though this is what the author is trying to do with the whole story in general; let the readers forget about time while they piece the whole story together. I also learned that he falsely confessed to his father about having incest, when it was really Dalton Ames. It took me a little while to understand this because I was focusing so much on trying to figure out when the time would change in the book.
Throughout the chapter, I also learned some things about Quentin I didn't expect. For example, his mothers absence of love in his life really seemed to take a toll on him. I feel like that could potentially be a direct correlation of why he was always picking on Benjy. This chapter gave the readers insight to how much was going on with him and how much pain Quentin was really going through. One of the reasons why it was so difficult to follow this chapter is because Quentin's memories and fantasies were too closely interrelated, which ended up tormenting his brain. This chapter overall helped me understand that Quentin really isn't all that bad but he has been through a lot and was still going through a lot too

Chapter #1

Hello all! I am proud to say that I have successfully made it through the first chapter of The Sound and the Fury! Yes, I will admit, I am very confused, however I am beginning to understand the way the book is written! Honestly, when I began reading this book, I was extremely nervous because Ms. Oles, (my A.P. Lit teacher) informed the class that this was the hardest book we would be reading in her class! Now, I was completely terrified, I thought Moby Dick would be the hardest thing I ever read! Luckily for me, my timidness faded away when I realized the book isn't half bad. I realized that you just had to take it step by step and acknowledge that the book is designed so you don't understand everything that is going on right away. Reading the first chapter from this perspective, I learned many things about the books and characters!
Here is a list of what I discovered in the first chapter:
-Benjy has no sense of time and in the first chapter is 33 years of age
-Benjy is also the youngest son of the Compson family
-Caddy is one of the Compson sisters
-Caddy and Benjy have a close relationship with each other.
-Luster is an unfriendly black boy who bullies Benjy
-Versh is a servant
-Quentin and Jason are the other Compson brothers who seem not to like Benji.
-Disley is Luster's grandmother and the Compson's cook
-The chapter begins with Luster and Benjy on a golf course
This is all that I have discovered in the book so far but I'm sure everything will begin to piece together better soon!

Activity #1, 03/13/14

For my first activity, I viewed a website that contains the Bibliography of William Faulkner. (http://www.olemiss.edu/mwp/dir/faulkner_william/index.html). First, I learned that Faulkner was a Mississippi writer who won a  Nobel Prize. One of his greatest achievements was said to be his book, The Sound and the Furry, which I began reading today. It is a perfect read for me at this time in my life because it about a man without a college or high school degree, trying to make it through the period of the Great Depression. Currently, in World History, we are learning about the Great Depression, therefore this book directly correlates with my other studies. It was also interesting to me to read that Faulkner was a deeply private man. He kept many aspects of his life private which I find to be impressive and respectable.

Under this website: http://www.olemiss.edu/mwp/dir/faulkner_william/paris.html, I had the opportunity to scroll through old pictures of Faulkner, allowing myself to a get a feel for what he dressed and looked like.