The Sound and the Fury: memory's manipulation

#4.
Memory plays a strong role in The Sound and the Fury because memory manipulates the characters' perceptions of the same story. The shifting narration shows how multiple people describe a situation completely differently based on their memory. Faulkner suggests that depending on what's important to people, what stands out in people's minds, and what emotional attachments people have, their stories of what happened are going to change. Benjy sees the past through connections to the future. He sees something, smells something or hears something that triggers an emotion or a memory to take over his mind. Benjy's narration is told through the eyes of what seems to be a three year old; therefore, he is straight forward about the happenings without adding input or analysis on the situation. Without adding bias, the reader is able to get the basics of what happens, but details are left out because Benjy only talks about the things that are important to him: at the end of one important thought, he skips to the next important thought, leaving out the boring things that had little or no direct impact on his life. Quintin's narration is confusing, but in a different way by leaving out punctuation and having a stream of thoughts from the past intertwined with the description of his present thoughts and actions. Through Quintin's eyes, the reader is able to read deeper into the story that Benjy touched on, but emotional bias is included because he feels strongly about different situations. Jason's narration clarifies the first two chapters, but his thoughts and ideas are so clear and definite that his negative opinion overrides certain feelings that the other characters reacts completely opposite to, but his opinion is important because the reader is able to make his or her own opinion after hearing all of the different sides of the story. One person's actions may make more sense when redefined by another character. Faulkner then fills in any gaps in the last chapter with a narration that is not based on memory; therefore, the reader experiences all different aspects of the story by the end.

Blog #6: The Sound and the Fury, a new perspective

I think that the first chapter of The Sound and the Fury is extremely interesting, even though it was pretty difficult to follow at times. The interactions that people have with Benjy are so one-sided since he can hardly respond; therefore, the reader is almost getting a third person point of view written in the first person. I found this intriguing because you're inside Benjy's mind looking out at the rest of the world, but not interacting with anyone or anything. It's like you're a part of the world, but not actually a part of it. I wonder if that's how Benjy feels, since he never talks about his feelings he only reacts on instinct to them. All Benjy can do is think, and so he thinks about one thing until it leads him to his next thought, which then brings the reader on a paradoxical journey through time from Benjy's oblivion to time. He purely focuses on the important moments in his life, and never goes on about unnecessary things. This way, the reader can't get lost in unimportant information, only in confusion.
I have always wondered about people who are unable to talk, and what their voices would sound like if they could speak. I wonder if people would treat them differently if they could respond, even if their thoughts were mixed up. Maybe Jason would treat Benjy with more respect if he knew that Benjy understood what he was saying, or if Benjy's mother would stop treating him as a baby if she knew that he could think for himself. And even though Benjy has no perception of time, he is the most pure and innocent character because his actions are not thought through or tampered with, they're simply how they would be naturally. I think that Benjy's role in the book is to set up the scene, the characters and the storyline altogether exactly how is without any bias or persuasion.

Beneath the Shaddows : Blog #5

The Heart of Darkness is filled with imagery and deep descriptions of he actions and feelings that create feelings within the story. These images help capture the audience's attention; however, the text was so dense that I constantly found myself lost in the heavy use of literary devices. The use of metaphors, paradox, and imagery are meant to complicate the text in a way in which actually clarifies the meaning and purpose of the weary war, but they consequently clouded my basic understanding of the plot, and I walked away with an overload of unanswered questions. The movie "Apocalypse Now" clarified the meaning and impact of the story on the audience with the extreme use of light and dark. Each shadow held more than just darkness, it held mystery, uncertainty, and horror. By visualizing the contrast of light and dark, the movie evoked more emotion and suspense amongst the audience. What seemed unclear in the book, such as the inevitable hole that war digs into the lives of the warriors, became concrete within the movie. Although "Apocalypse Now" was more violent, the artistic set up of the scenes made the desolation more tangible.
I usually like to use my create my own images and ideas from the text, but in this case I got so distracted by the density of the text that it became too difficult to connect the images together in order to paint a picture as a whole. When Kirtz was introduced in the movie, his face was only partially exposed in the candle light, representing the duality within his character. The shadows of his insanity prevailed over the clarity of his stature, taking control of his intelligence and demonstrating his disappearance into the darkness.
Kirtz's death in the movie provided a stronger, more respectable ending because he didn't just fade away into insanity. Kirtz was a warrior and he wanted to stand up to his death rather than crippling away. Even though the end of the movie seemed open ended and sudden, it still provided a more justified conclusion. In a sense, the movie enlightened the darkness of the story, and allowed me to better understand the destruction of war.

#4 first DRAFT: concept of awareness

Underlying all critical elements of literary decives is the concept of awareness. When the audience becomes aware of that which the characters are unaware, dramatic irony arises and creates tension that is intertwined throughout the plot. This irony constitues the central core of a tree trunk from which many branches diverge, yet together comprise the tree as a whole. The contrast between what the audience knows and what the characters are aware of provides a context which gives import to the characters' thoughts, decisions, and actions. For example, conflict arises when the audience identifies Othello's blindness to Iago's intentions. His unawareness misleads him to incorrect accusations and the inevitable murder of his most prized possession, his dear Desdemona. The ultimate tragedy which is created by the paradox of killing what he loved most, is heightened by the irony of him unwitingly fulfiling his fate.
The existance of awareness itself enables literary devices such as paradox to aquire significance within the text. Without such awareness, the mere presence of a paradox, has no impact on the plot. For example in Odeipus Rex, Oedipus is paradoxically aware of his fate, yet unaware of his actions. His speach that begins with "I, Oedipus," highlights his dual nature and defines another aspect of dramatic irony. The tension built from the audience's awareness directly correlates to the conflict at hand.
As the story develops and the characters become aware of what the audience already knows, the tension alieviates and the dramatic irony then regenerates to form a situation in which the protagonist faces moral responsability. At this moment, the character is both villinous and heroic which creates the ultimate paradox that then fulfils the completion of the tragedy.

#1 quote/lyrics

"In the womb of winter summer seems a myth
In my desperation I throw my faith into the wind
Born to a world where it is a fight just to fit in
From the cradle to the grave it never ends
Someday, someday
In a cloud of grey I will
I'll make my great escape
So many ways to walk upon the earth
I traced my footsteps to the place of my birth
So what do you do with all your precious time
So many ways in which to reach for the sky"
-Brett Dennen

#2 Walkin away from Oedipus..

At the end of Oedipus Rex, I walked away with my stomach flipped upside down. The story seemed predictable, especially because Oedipus' life revolved around his fate, but instead of being bored from having predicted the end, the literary devices created depth and tension that drew me into the story and kept me interested. I questioned how different my life would be if I knew my fate, and how Oedipus tried to run away from his own fate but failed because fate is obviously inevitable. I think about it like a movie: when I watch a movie, I constantly think ahead and try to predict what is going to happen to the characters, but if someone were to blert out the ending to me, I'd be really mad at them for ruining the story and destroying the excitement. Fate's role in life is just like a movie in the sense that we attempt to control our future and predict who we are going to become, but if anyone were to find out his or her fate they would feel ruined, as if their power over their personal goals and expectations had become unchangable and uncontrolable. I know that I would either atempt to change my fate, which would be a waste of time, or I would try too hard to fulfil my fate, which is ridiculous because whatever that is supposed to happen would happen no matter what. Oedipus tried to run away from his fate, which ironically drew him closer to his fate, which made me wonder what would have happened if he wouldn't have tried to escape the inevitable. I know that I wouldn't be able to live my life normally without constantly paying attention to my fate, which is why Oedipus' awareness of his fate eventually ruined his life!