The document provides character summaries for the main characters in William Faulkner's novel "The Sound and the Fury". Mr. Compson is the alcoholic but detached father who dismisses his son Quentin's concerns about his sister Caddy. Mrs. Compson is a negligent mother who contributes to the family's downfall through self-absorption. Caddy is the beloved but promiscuous daughter who represents obsession for her brothers. Benjy is the disabled brother who witnesses the family's decline through constant crying. Quentin is the intelligent but sensitive brother who commits suicide due to his obsession with Caddy. Jason is the cruel, mean-spirited youngest brother who resents Caddy and mistreats Benjy

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