Conception Of Time

In William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, each main character has a unique conception of time, which either binds or liberates them. Because the majority of the novel is written from a stream-of-consciousness perspective, each character’s worldview and sense of time is revealed. Each section relates a different conception of time and reveals how much freedom or bondage each character experiences as a result. However, in the novel, the present is only understood in terms of the past, as the past continuously invades the present. All but one of the characters appears to have a frenzied, meaningless present with no real future. In The Sound and the Fury, Benjy, Quentin, Jason, and Dilsey all possess diverse worldviews which influence their …show more content…
Benjy cannot understand the fact that there is a past, present, and future, and therefore he lives in an endless present. This is evident when he describes the passing of night into day as “then the dark began to go in smooth, bright shapes, like it always does, even when…I have been asleep” (75). He cannot comprehend the progression of time. Because his world is fixed and firm, his section appears to be a chaos of meaningless memories, providing an unclear and confusing description of experience. Benjy’s mind works solely through automated identification. He does not remember specifics about events and categorizes exactly one word with one object. Thus whenever anything is mentioned that reminds him of something in the past, he will respond exactly the same way as he initially did. This is all a consequence of the fact that he has no sense of time. He does not recognize when something has happened in the past and thus continually relives moments whenever something triggers a memory. Since he cannot separate the present from the past, everything appear more dramatic to him. Because a sense of the future provides freedom and Benjy has no sense of the future, he is completely bound in a timeless …show more content…
Benjy is in bondage because of his complete unawareness of time and the future, which brings freedom. Quentin is overly obsessed with time and believes his life has no purpose, which ends up leading him to his death. Jason’s view of time as money hinders him from truly living and feeling emotion. Dilsey, however, completely understands time and eternity. Therefore, she is able to realize her purpose in the present and is able to live her life accordingly. While Benjy, Quentin, and Jason are all bound by their misconceptions of time, Dilsey is