Motherhood Research Paper
The Importance of Motherhood
The mother 's heart is the child 's schoolroom. – Henry Ward Beecher In William Faulkner’s 1929 novel, The Sound and the Fury, literary modernism hits its high point. Characterized by many ideas, including individualism, modernism is illustrated throughout the novel with the Compson’s loss of family unity. The Compson’s are southern aristocrats who have African American servants, the Gibson family, that take care of Benjy. Going along with the modernist style of rejecting social norms, Dilsey Gibson is the only person depicted in the novel as sane, genuine, and free of judgment; This is ironic because African American’s living in the south during the 1920’s lived in very poor conditions and had to deal with much …show more content…
“…His name’s Benjy now, Caddy Said. How come it is, Dilsey said…Benjamin came out of the bible, Caddy said. It’s a better name for him than Maury was. How come it is, Dilsey said. Mother says it is, Caddy said” (Faulkner 37). Benjy was previously named after Uncle Maury; however, Caroline thought that having a retarded boy named after him was a disgrace so Caroline changed his name. Caroline does not serve as a mother to Benjy; instead, she sees Benjy as God punishing her, exemplifying her notorious self-pitying. Whenever Benjy is around his mother he often cries, symbolizing her lack of love towards him. “She [mother] took my face in her hands and turned it to hers… She held my face to hers… Mother caught me in her arms and began to cry, and I cried” (41). This scene shows the lack of family unity, for Caroline Compson cannot tolerate Benjy; she has no respect for him. Cleanth Brooks said, “Caroline Compson is not so much an actively wicked and evil person as a cold weight of negativity which paralyzes the normal family relationships” (293). Her self-centeredness divides the family, for she completely rejects Benjy, making Caddy take care of him. Caddy is forced to live a certain life, while she wants another. Eventually, Caddy leaves even though Benjy does not want her to. His lack of a real mother even further intensifies the dissociation of the …show more content…
During the Easter Church service Dilsey says to Frony, “Tell um de good Lawd don’t keer whether he bright er not. Don’t nobody but white trash keer dat” (Faulkner 181). Dilsey is shown to be the only person in the novel free of judgment, for she doesn’t even judge Jason. However, in this scene Dilsey stands up for what is right. She knows that God does not judge people on the basis of their skin. Her faith makes her a strong person. She takes Benjy as well as her family to church, showing her family unity. On the flip side, Dilsey saw the destruction of the Compson’s. She was there through everything; she said, “I seed de first en de last” (185). The Compson family has completely disintegrated, and Dilsey feels the pain. However, her family is the one left standing, for she did not place importance on petty things nor did she get caught up in worldliness. Her faith allowed her to escape the prison bars of time, unlike any of the Compson’s. As Philip Castille says, “Dilsey represents a moral norm in the decadent Compson world and her actions set a standard of humane behavior” (Castille 1). And Dilsey’s humane behavior allows for her family to
The mother 's heart is the child 's schoolroom. – Henry Ward Beecher In William Faulkner’s 1929 novel, The Sound and the Fury, literary modernism hits its high point. Characterized by many ideas, including individualism, modernism is illustrated throughout the novel with the Compson’s loss of family unity. The Compson’s are southern aristocrats who have African American servants, the Gibson family, that take care of Benjy. Going along with the modernist style of rejecting social norms, Dilsey Gibson is the only person depicted in the novel as sane, genuine, and free of judgment; This is ironic because African American’s living in the south during the 1920’s lived in very poor conditions and had to deal with much …show more content…
“…His name’s Benjy now, Caddy Said. How come it is, Dilsey said…Benjamin came out of the bible, Caddy said. It’s a better name for him than Maury was. How come it is, Dilsey said. Mother says it is, Caddy said” (Faulkner 37). Benjy was previously named after Uncle Maury; however, Caroline thought that having a retarded boy named after him was a disgrace so Caroline changed his name. Caroline does not serve as a mother to Benjy; instead, she sees Benjy as God punishing her, exemplifying her notorious self-pitying. Whenever Benjy is around his mother he often cries, symbolizing her lack of love towards him. “She [mother] took my face in her hands and turned it to hers… She held my face to hers… Mother caught me in her arms and began to cry, and I cried” (41). This scene shows the lack of family unity, for Caroline Compson cannot tolerate Benjy; she has no respect for him. Cleanth Brooks said, “Caroline Compson is not so much an actively wicked and evil person as a cold weight of negativity which paralyzes the normal family relationships” (293). Her self-centeredness divides the family, for she completely rejects Benjy, making Caddy take care of him. Caddy is forced to live a certain life, while she wants another. Eventually, Caddy leaves even though Benjy does not want her to. His lack of a real mother even further intensifies the dissociation of the …show more content…
During the Easter Church service Dilsey says to Frony, “Tell um de good Lawd don’t keer whether he bright er not. Don’t nobody but white trash keer dat” (Faulkner 181). Dilsey is shown to be the only person in the novel free of judgment, for she doesn’t even judge Jason. However, in this scene Dilsey stands up for what is right. She knows that God does not judge people on the basis of their skin. Her faith makes her a strong person. She takes Benjy as well as her family to church, showing her family unity. On the flip side, Dilsey saw the destruction of the Compson’s. She was there through everything; she said, “I seed de first en de last” (185). The Compson family has completely disintegrated, and Dilsey feels the pain. However, her family is the one left standing, for she did not place importance on petty things nor did she get caught up in worldliness. Her faith allowed her to escape the prison bars of time, unlike any of the Compson’s. As Philip Castille says, “Dilsey represents a moral norm in the decadent Compson world and her actions set a standard of humane behavior” (Castille 1). And Dilsey’s humane behavior allows for her family to