The Sound and the Fury

The third section of the novel is narrated from the point of view of Jason Compson, the third-born Compson sibling, who is named after his father. The reader is returned to the day before Benjy’s opening section, many years after Caddy has married and left home and Quentin, as well as Father, have died. Jason is now the head of the Compson household, which consists of Mother, his brother Benjy, and his niece, Miss Quentin, along with the few Black servants who still work for the Compsons.

The opening unfolds around the breakfast table as Jason is complaining to Mother about Miss Quentin’s activities. Apparently, Miss Quentin has been skipping school, though Jason hints that her exploits are more devious than that. He reproaches Mother for not allowing him to take a firmer hand with her and badgers her until she gives in. He then confronts Miss Quentin in the kitchen, where she is trying to talk Dilsey into giving her another cup of coffee. Jason accosts her, violently “dragg[ing] her into the diningroom,” as the kimono she is wearing “came unfastened, flapping about her, dam near naked” (210). Dilsey tries to defend Miss Quentin to no avail.