Doc Yoder's Notes
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner (1929)

Faulkner took his title from the last act of Shakespeare's Macbeth; Macbeth has just heard that Lady Macbeth is dead:

• Macbeth: She [Lady Macbeth] should have died hereafter,
  There would have been a time for such a word.
  Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
  Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
  To the last syllable of recorded time,
  And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
  The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
  Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
  That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
  And then is heard no more. It is a tale
  Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
  Signifying nothing.
                Shakespeare, Macbeth V.v.17-28

Chapter 1: "Caddy": April 7, 1928 (Holy Saturday)

Narrative present:

• Benjy's 33rd birthday
• at the branch
• Quentin's beau (on the swing)
• Benjy's burned hand
• Benjy's graveyard
• Benjy's supper
• going to bed

• Damuddy's funeral
• Benjy's new name
• Uncle Maury's affair with Mrs. Patterson
• Caddy's developing sexuality
• Caddy wears perfume
• Caddy's first date
• Caddy loses her virginity
• Caddy and her beau on the swing
• Caddy's wedding
• Father's funeral
• "the gate" (Benjy gets out)

Chapter 2: "Did you ever have a sister?": June 2, 1910 (~38 days after Caddy's wedding)

Narrative present:

• Quentin's (19th?) birthday
• Avoiding time
• 3 boys and a fish
• Quentin "kidnaps" a little girl, gets arrested
• Quentin fights with Gerald Bland

• Quentin and Natalie / Caddy's lost virginity
• Talking to Father
• Quentin's "confession" of incest
• Confronting Dalton Ames
• Quentin and Dalton at the bridge
• Confronting Caddy about Dalton Ames
• Caddy's wedding (April 25, 1910)
• Caddy's car
• Quentin's long talk with Herbert Head
• Benjy's interruption

Chapter 3: "Once a bitch always a bitch, what I say.": April 6, 1928 (Good Friday)

Narrative present:

• Just another day at work
• Checking the mail
• Letters from:
  • Caddy (1 to Mother; 1 to Quentin)
  • Uncle Maury
  • Lorraine
• Cotton market losses
• Burning "the check"
• Chasing Quentin and the man in the red tie

• Father brings Quentin(f) home
• Father's funeral / meeting Caddy
• Jason's ongoing financial scam

Chapter 4: "I've seed de first en de last": April 8, 1928 (Easter Sunday) Narrative present:

• Discovering the robbery
• Dilsey and Benjy go to church
• Jason chases Quentin and the man in the red tie -- retribution
• Luster tries to drive Benjy to the cemetary
• Order (narrative, moral) is restored, however temporarily.