582 (word count excludes passage from JSTOR)
"Its regressive principle we see, first, in the presence of the three Compson brothers, who recall Faulkner’s own family configuration, and second, in the use of memory and repetition as formal principles. Faulkner possessed the three Compson brothers, as he later put it, almost before he put pen to paper. He took a central event and several germinating images from the death of the grandmother he and his brothers called Damuddy, after whose lingering illness and funeral they were sent from home so that it could be fumigated. For Faulkner, as for Gertrude Stein, memory is always repetition, being and living never repetition. The Sound and the Fury, he was fond of remarking, was a single story several times told. But memory was never for him simple repetition. He used the remembered as he used the actual: less to denominate lived events, relationships, and configurations, with their attendant attributes and emotions, than to objectify them and so be free to analyze and pay with them. To place the past under the aspect of the preset, the present under the aspect of the past, was to start from the regressive toward the innovative."
Faulkner, Childhood, and the Making of The Sound and the Fury
David Minter
American Literature, Vol. 51, No. 3 (Nov., 1979), pp. 376-393
Initially Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury is difficult to follow. The constant flashbacks and convoluted train of thought in Benjy’s section begins the novel in a less traditional way, to put it mildly. Yet, as I continued reading I came to appreciate this unique stream of consciousness style. Although initially confusing and seemingly unthoughtful, the way Faulkner wrote the novel is very true to one’s true thought process. Our pasts are interpreted and deemed important by our current selves, and our past dictates how we perceive our present. Faulkner beautifully illustrates a few meaningful events in three brothers' lives and uses their recollections to reveal other characters, their own characters, and aspects of the human perception of time.
Benjy's section is very difficult to follow. Faulkner's choice to begin the novel with Benjy puzzled me. As I finished Benjy's section though and continued to Quentin's, it occurred to me: are Benjy's seemingly mindless thoughts really so far from my own moment to moment thinking? Although it may be difficult to read Benjy's section due to its random breaks in thought and flashbacks of previous events, I soon realized my own brain does the same, if not even more frequently than Benjy's. A usual daydream can often lead to memories that occurred years and years ago, and continue further and further away from the present.
So what is the importance of memory? Why does Faulkner concentrate on certain events and the various characters reaction to these happenings? I believe that Faulkner is attempting to prove that who we are able to be today is a refection of what we have lived through, yet our past is inextricably connected to the way we perceive events occurring in our present. So, in my oppinion, Faulkner is trying to explain that our past dictates our future, and more specifically that certain events have more influence than others. Quentin's narrative is marked by events demonstrating Caddy's sexual promiscuity; his thoughts appear to be almost obsessive. Benjy remembers when Caddy smelled like trees and when she didn't. He is scarred and haunted by the changes in his beloved sister. Memory serves as a way to judge the present, yet the present also effects the way one interprets the past. For Benjy, I don't think he could quite grasp the meaning of Caddy's tears in the stairway. Yet he does know there is a change in her, from the incident with the boy in the forest to her departure from the household. I am not sure how Benjy's perception of the past changes as his present progresses, but it is clear he possesses an ability to connect certain events involving Caddy together, even if he is unable to interpret them.
Quentin, on the other hand, is not able to use his present to better perceive his past because he lives in his memories. His obsession with what has happened and what was disables him from growing as a character. This inability to move on and live in the "now" is what leads to his suicide.
The recurrent memories throughout the novel for both characters is not simply a repetition of what has happened, but a flashback that each time remembered offers a new meaning, a new fear, a new obsession. The importance of memory changes since one's present is constantly changing and becoming one's past. For Benjy and Quentin, each memory brings them back to their pasts, but also sheds new light on their current thoughts as well.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Do You Wrinkle This or Did I?
Jess Ornstein
AP-1
651
Are we born the person we are today, or are we a product of our life and times? The narrator of “I Stand Here Ironing” carefully tip toes a line between attributing her daughter’s character to simply who she is and the atmosphere her mother has created. Tillie Olsen depicts a desperate mother who is struggles to place the blame upon things that are outside her control while knowing it rests upon herself. Is it the nature of Emily to have bloomed later in life, or could she only grow when her surrounding permitted such expansion? The mother eventually concludes that “[s]he is a child of her age, of depression, of war, of fear,” but I believe that the narrator knows she is the one who has done this to Emily.
The narrator describes her first- born daughter as a “beautiful baby.” Yet as she grows older she relies on her mother to repeatedly reassure her of her good looks. The narrator views her baby as a tiny miracle, yet contact with her beloved child is reduced, as her era’s economic strife requires her to work. The mother’s lovely baby becomes foreign and seems to lose her initial tenderness. As the narrator’s financial situation continues to worsen, the bond with her daughter is replaced by “parking places for children” or nursery school. When Emily is old enough to go to school, the narrator attempts to justify why she let her daughter stay home regularly. The mother claims her softness to be “all the acts of love,” yet her daughter’s absence from school only puts her at a disadvantage.
Although Emily’s nature may have been the reason she disliked school, her mother’s inability to encourage her daughter’s attendance at school puts her daughter in a weak position. She even sends Emily to a boarding school to raise her with a structure she mother cannot create. She continues to blame other factors for her daughter’s difficulties. She laments that “it was too late for Emily” and blames her daughter for not responding to her feeble efforts to help her with claims such as “as if she would let me hold and comfort her like I do the others.” Yet, behind this mask of apathy and culpability, it is evident the narrator knows she can help her daughter emerge from her deep confusion. Her guilt is subtlety revealed throughout the story as she admits, “I was a young mother, I was a distracted mother.” She continually stresses to ‘let [Emily] be,” yet I believe she knows it is this attitude that has almost destroyed her daughter.
The narrator would like to be able to believe herself when she attributes Emily’s character to her daughter’s nature and to factors outside of her control. Yet, she is covertly aware it is truly her nurturing (or lack thereof) that is responsible for Emily’s personality. Tillie Olsen may also be making a statement about the state of life during the depression; the helplessness of a mother as she tries to support her family and care for their emotional needs.
Yet, I believe that although it is true the narrator feels an internal guilt for her daughter’s situation and a desperation caused by the financial crunch facing her family, Emily’s success in comedy is Olsen’s glimmer of optimism. It may have been Emily’s mother who did not create the optimal environment in which to grow up, but it was her nature that allowed her to discover her own happiness. Perhaps her mother was too quick to label her as a troubled youth when it was her daughter’s nature to find later in her life. Her mother’s lack of action may have held her down in her childhood, yet it was Emily’s innate comedy skills that allowed her to begin to realize her potential as a young adult.
Questions for Discussion
1) What statement does Tillie Olsen make about the generation that lived through the Depression?
2) Do you think that the narrator sees the true Emily? Or do you think she does not understand the depth of her daughter?
3)What is the significance of the last line, "Only to help her know--help make it so there is cause for her to know--that she is more than this dress on the ironing board, helpless before the iron." Is this hypocritical of the mother to say?
4) Why could the narrator care for Emily's siblings better than she could for Emily?
AP-1
651
Do You Wrinkle This or Did I?
Are we born the person we are today, or are we a product of our life and times? The narrator of “I Stand Here Ironing” carefully tip toes a line between attributing her daughter’s character to simply who she is and the atmosphere her mother has created. Tillie Olsen depicts a desperate mother who is struggles to place the blame upon things that are outside her control while knowing it rests upon herself. Is it the nature of Emily to have bloomed later in life, or could she only grow when her surrounding permitted such expansion? The mother eventually concludes that “[s]he is a child of her age, of depression, of war, of fear,” but I believe that the narrator knows she is the one who has done this to Emily.
The narrator describes her first- born daughter as a “beautiful baby.” Yet as she grows older she relies on her mother to repeatedly reassure her of her good looks. The narrator views her baby as a tiny miracle, yet contact with her beloved child is reduced, as her era’s economic strife requires her to work. The mother’s lovely baby becomes foreign and seems to lose her initial tenderness. As the narrator’s financial situation continues to worsen, the bond with her daughter is replaced by “parking places for children” or nursery school. When Emily is old enough to go to school, the narrator attempts to justify why she let her daughter stay home regularly. The mother claims her softness to be “all the acts of love,” yet her daughter’s absence from school only puts her at a disadvantage.
Although Emily’s nature may have been the reason she disliked school, her mother’s inability to encourage her daughter’s attendance at school puts her daughter in a weak position. She even sends Emily to a boarding school to raise her with a structure she mother cannot create. She continues to blame other factors for her daughter’s difficulties. She laments that “it was too late for Emily” and blames her daughter for not responding to her feeble efforts to help her with claims such as “as if she would let me hold and comfort her like I do the others.” Yet, behind this mask of apathy and culpability, it is evident the narrator knows she can help her daughter emerge from her deep confusion. Her guilt is subtlety revealed throughout the story as she admits, “I was a young mother, I was a distracted mother.” She continually stresses to ‘let [Emily] be,” yet I believe she knows it is this attitude that has almost destroyed her daughter.
The narrator would like to be able to believe herself when she attributes Emily’s character to her daughter’s nature and to factors outside of her control. Yet, she is covertly aware it is truly her nurturing (or lack thereof) that is responsible for Emily’s personality. Tillie Olsen may also be making a statement about the state of life during the depression; the helplessness of a mother as she tries to support her family and care for their emotional needs.
Yet, I believe that although it is true the narrator feels an internal guilt for her daughter’s situation and a desperation caused by the financial crunch facing her family, Emily’s success in comedy is Olsen’s glimmer of optimism. It may have been Emily’s mother who did not create the optimal environment in which to grow up, but it was her nature that allowed her to discover her own happiness. Perhaps her mother was too quick to label her as a troubled youth when it was her daughter’s nature to find later in her life. Her mother’s lack of action may have held her down in her childhood, yet it was Emily’s innate comedy skills that allowed her to begin to realize her potential as a young adult.
Questions for Discussion
1) What statement does Tillie Olsen make about the generation that lived through the Depression?
2) Do you think that the narrator sees the true Emily? Or do you think she does not understand the depth of her daughter?
3)What is the significance of the last line, "Only to help her know--help make it so there is cause for her to know--that she is more than this dress on the ironing board, helpless before the iron." Is this hypocritical of the mother to say?
4) Why could the narrator care for Emily's siblings better than she could for Emily?
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