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.