Characters intrduction

1. The Sound and the Fury

2.  Mr. Compson is the father of the family
 flat character of the novel
 He is an alcoholic but has good morals and belief
 He is a well spoken but very cynical and detached man.
 He acts indifferent to Quentin about Caddy’s
pregnancy, telling him to accept it as a natural womanly
shortcoming
 Mr. Compson dismisses Quentin’s concerns about
Caddy and tells his son not to take himself so
seriously, which initiates Quentin’s rapid fall toward
depression and suicide.

3.  Mrs. Compson is the mother of the family
 flat character of the novel
 Her negligence and disregard contribute directly to the
family’s downfall.
 Constantly lost in a self-absorbed haze of hypochondria
and self-pity
 Mrs. Compson is absent as a mother figure to her
children and has no sense of her children’s needs.
 She even treats the mentally disabled Benjy cruelly and
selfishly.

4.  Caddy is the only daughter of the family and round
character of the novel
 She represents the object of obsession for all three of her
brothers.
 As a child, Caddy is somewhat headstrong and stubborn,
but very loving and affectionate.
 She steps in as a mother figure for Quentin and Benjy in
place of the self-absorbed Mrs. Compson.
 Caddy does feel some degree of guilt about her
promiscuity because she knows it upsets Benjy so much.

5.  An idot that centers his life around Caddy
 He has no distinction between past and present
 He does not speak but instead moan ad cries when
something is wrong
 Flat character of the novel
 Benjy is one of the only characters who truly takes notice
of the Compson family’s progressing decline.
 However, his disability renders Benjy unable to formulate
any response other than moaning and crying.

6.  The oldest of the Compson’s children
 He is a very intelligent and sensitive young man
 He is paralyzed by his obsession with Caddy and tries
to convince his father that they performed incest
 He ends up killing himself in his first semester of
Harvard because of his infatuation with Caddy’s
virginity

7.  Flat character of novel
 The youngest child of the Compson’s family
 He is very cruel and resents caddy for divorcing her
husband Herbert
 He runs the household once Mr. Compson dies
 He is very mean spirted and steals from Caddy and
Quentin and plans to send Benjy to Jackson once Mr.
Compson dies

8.  The Compson’s black servant
 The only source of stability in the Compson household
 Only true mother figure in the Compson family
 She brought up and raises all the chilren
 She is very patient and selfless character