As per our in class/group discussions today, I thought I would post some of my simpler thoughts about Faulkner’s chosen writing style, which is definitely making all of us feel some type of way about the book;) Ironically, I wrote my notes in a stream of consciousness style, but for the sake of conciseness and clarity I will have edited a bit. :
Faulkner’s Stream of consciousness style is something I appreciate as an art form, because I think it does a good job of representing disability and mental illness. My third grade teacher taught me to “show but don’t tell” when writing, and I think that Faulkner’s style definitely does this with his characters’ emotions. For example, I find the lack of punctuation in Quentin’s section to make me feel stressed, rushed, and confused. When I say confused, I mean I feel like ideas are blurring in my head. In this way, Faulkner is showing me the way Quentin feels by imparting his emotions on to me, the reader.
Additionally, I very much appreciate how Fualkner stays with this style throughout the novel no matter what character is the “speaker.” I think this drives home a point that every character in the book is struggling with something. The fact that he starts with Benjy’s point of view, the most obviously disabled character, could imply that we as readers are suppoused to compare the other characters to Benjy. Should we/do we characterize all characters as disabled?
A main point of comparison for me so far in reading was in the italics: I thought of the italics as intrusive thoughts, interruptions to the first stream of consciousness. I think it would be interesting to do a further comparison of how these italics show up in each portion of the novel, and the emotions that each section imparts to us as readers. This style is very revealing of disability and its workings, and I think with further analysis it could show unexpected thought processes in the characters.
While I don’t necessarily enjoy reading this confusing style, I appreciate its uniqueness and layered meanings. How could this feeling in itself even connect to how we as a society could view disability? Something that may be hard to deal with, something that we may not enjoy, but something that is valuable, interesting, and meaningful.
