The Sound, the Fury, & Time

Throughout the novel, "time" doesn't flow naturally like most stories. Instead it is mixed up sharing the past, present, and future, sometimes all in one page. Faulkner presents time in The Sound and the Fury in various different ways. Each chapter is set up for certain characters, who idividually use time differently in their stories. Some are more normal and sense time more logically than others, while others such as Benjy doesn't have much of a sense of it.

The opening chapter [Benjy] is the most difficult, because narrative time is structured by the mental shifts of Benjy, who is a mentally disabled member of the family. The shifts in time sequence and stream of consciousness narrating requires the reader to work at an interpretation. Readers of The Sound and the Fury must begin to piece together the plot by first learning to understand Benjy's character. The same goes for the other characters when it comes to interpretting and making inferences. Each character's sense of time relays their unique characteristics and are key to understanding the book overall. Faulkner has turned the relationship with time into a device that not only forces the readers to keep track of everything and to pay attention, but moreso to create characterizations and to expose important aspects of each character's personality and perspective on Caddy and other factors in their lives.