Odd that I should have just posted about symbolism in reality and have come across it so cleverly wrapped with Faulkner’s novel. Or maybe not so odd; often we read without realizing what we’re seeing.
Caddy’s muddy drawers were seen by her brothers as she climbed a tree (in the first section, told by Benjy) to peek in a window at the adults. Not only does it foreshadow the feelings the brothers have toward their sister (a single girl among three brothers as well as Versh and often T.P. as playmates), and the resulting protectiveness, dependence, and for Jason, revulsion and resentment that comes back later in their lives, but the great sin she’s committed is emphasized by the "dirtied" part of her body.
Faulkner reminds me of Marquez’s techniques of repetition (the begonias for example) that are skimmed over once, noted the next few times as meaningful, and later made clear. I love it. It shows an involvement on the author’s part to carry an idea through and present it gently yet powerfully.
Another reference I’m considering as a symbol is Benjy’s insistence that Caddy "smells like trees." This is reinforced by his nature of seeing the world in his small immediate area via his senses. We need be told to stop and smell the roses; Benjy’s life is all about the smell of roses. Even Quentin cannot drive out the overpowering scent of honeysuckle as he contemplates his last day of life and its immediate recall of Caddy’s indiscretions. The tree reference not only identifies her as the most natural and earthy of the lot, but may also have been considered for its roots and its stability. Benjy’s world is rooted in Caddy; he is dependent upon her for love and for expanding his world as wide as it can be by teaching him as much as she feels he can learn. No one else cares.
Jason’s section of the novel is not written in the stream of consciousness style, but reveals so much more about the actualities in their clearer form. One’s mind constantly goes back to all the things that didn’t make much sense as told by Benjy or Quentin, yet is as telling of Jason’s personality and thought as the more direct being in the mind of the character through s.o.c. technique.
No doubt Faulkner shines as an innovative writer while still maintaining the basic elements of arc, showing, pace, narrative structure, imagery, conflict, character exposition and development, as he twists the rules to in fact make the story more real than any straighter-coursed tale could be told.
Okay. So now I like Faulkner.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology