Characters

=Characters =

**Let's meet the main characters of //The Sound and the Fury//. You may seek the help of other online resources to learn more about [|all characters] in the novel, or to compare [|other readers' opinions] of characters to your own.** media type="file" key="TSAFcharacters.wmv"

**Jason Compson III** //Compson Patriarch// [|Mr. Compson] is detached from his family. He often speaks of family honor, but does not follow through with his assertions. In fact, he is so disconnected from this traditional Southern Code value that he even favors his daughter Caddy, whose promiscuity and unwed pregnancy sully the Compson name.

**Caroline Bascomb Compson** //Compson Matriarch// [|Mrs. Compson] is a proud Southern woman who also happens to be a hypochondriac and absent, self-absorbed mother. She is insecure about her maiden name, Bascomb, thanks to her brother Maury's affair with a married woman. She cares very little for her children - except for Jason, who ironically is her least-affectionate child. Caroline is particularly cruel to Benjy, her "idiot" son.

**Candace "Caddy" Compson** //Only Compson Daughter// [|Caddy] serves as a mother figure for her brothers, a headstrong but loving young woman. She causes the most overt problems for her family regarding the Southern Code with her promiscuity, which later results in a child out of wedlock and a divorce.

**Benjamin "Benjy" Compson** //"Moaning, speechless idiot"// [|Benjy Compson] is a mentally disabled son of the Compsons. He cannot speak, although he narrates the first section of the book. Despite his disabilities, Benjy is a very sensitive child. After an incident involving Benjy's interaction with schoolgirls as a teenager, the Compsons decided to castrate him.

**Quentin Compson** //Oldest Compson Child// As the oldest child, [|Quentin] feels responsible for his family - especially Caddy, over whom he obsesses. Quentin narrates the second section while at Harvard, in the last days of his life. He believes in the Southern Code and strives to adhere to it, so his family's decline harms him irreparably.

**Jason Compson IV** //New Compson Patriarch// [|Jason] is a loveless child, but he is the only child Caroline overtly loves. He grows to become a bitter, nasty man, but also a crafty man. He steals money from Caddy and Miss Quentin, but he also blames others for his own failures.

**Miss Quentin** //Caddy's Daughter// [|Miss Quentin] possesses many of the same headstrong, promiscuous qualities as her mother, but lacks the sensitivity and loving nature. Using her own modern values successfully (unlike Jason), she manages to escape the dying Compson family.

**Dilsey Gibson** //Black Servant// [|Dilsey], despite being hired help, is the only source of stability in the Compson household. She possesses the values that the Compson name grew on, but her selflessness allows her to endure beyond the family's demise. It is she who becomes the "torchbearer" of the Compson name.