Submitted by ekp23@cornell.edu on Mon, 2018-05-21 12:32
Although Jason Compson IV has an individual entry in the "Appendix," his scorn for his family resonates throughout the second half of the text, which reflects his sense that he is the only "sane" man in an insane family (338). He is described as "logical rational contained and even a philosopher in the old stoic tradition" (338). He blackmails his sister, fears the black servant who suspects him of blackmail, and "competed and held his own with the Snopeses who took over the little town" (338).
Submitted by ekp23@cornell.edu on Mon, 2018-05-21 12:15
The fourth and youngest child of Jason and Caroline Compson is initially named Maury, in honor of "his mother's only brother" (340). But after "his mother realised what he was," i.e. cognitively disabled, she insisted his name be changed. His brother Quentin "rechristened" him Benjamin, and the "Appendix" gives a sense for Quentin's rationale: "(Benjamin, our lastborn, sold into Egypt)" (340). Benjamin shares his Biblical namesake's role as the one who is to suffer for the foolishness of the others of his family.
Submitted by ekp23@cornell.edu on Mon, 2018-05-21 11:58
Caddy's entry in the "Appendix" is by far the longest, and does more than any other to suggest a rich life for the characters beyond the bounds of The Sound and the Fury. Although the entry begins by describing Caddy as "Doomed and knew it" (332), it goes on to sketch a possible future for Caddy that is full of agency as well as doom. She is "two months pregnant with another man's child" when she marries a young man from Indiana (332). She is divorced a year later, presumably when he discovers he is not the father of her child.
