Alexandra\nSlaughter<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr.\nFoss<\/p>\n\n\n\n
English\n384: Disability and Literature<\/p>\n\n\n\n
April\n30th<\/sup>, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n Disability and Literature Final Paper <\/p>\n\n\n\n Autism is not always portrayed in the best way. Autism\nis a topic that many people are uneducated in. Due to the current economic\nstatus of our country, we, as a society, have begun to capitalize everything,\nwhich led to people being raised to seek out a profit in everything. On account\nof this, society has made arguments that it is a waste of money and space to\ntreat disabilities. After learning more about autism, many literary texts and\ntheir characters can be better analyzed and understood through the lens of\nautism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Disability plays a large part in the infamous novel, The Sound and the Fury<\/em>, by William\nFaulkner. The Sound and the Fury is one of the many literary texts that can be\nbetter understood when reading it through the lens of autism. As the reader\nprogresses through the novel, it immediately becomes apparent that Benjy\nCompson is different from the rest of the characters in the book. Within the\nfirst couple of pages, the reader is able to tell that the speaker of the\nsection is different, which we later learn is Benjy, who has a disability.\nAfter having a selected focus of reading and learning about autism, Benjy\nCompson can now be read as being on the autism spectrum. Throughout the novel, there\nis a variety of reactions to Benjy and interactions with him that separate and\ndivide the several family members and characters within the book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the first section of the novel, the narrative is presented\nby Benjy Compson, one of the characters discussed the most out of the entire\nCompson family. Throughout his narrative, you can distinguish fairly easily\nwhich family members treat Benjy the best and which ones want to profit off of him.\nCaddy is the one family member that goes out of her way to comfort and care for\nBenjy. Early on in the narrative, we learn that Caddy is one of the few people\nthat can calm Benjy down. \u201cCaddy put her arms around me, and her shining veil,\nand I couldn\u2019t smell trees anymore and I began to cry.\u201d (Faulkner 40) When\nCaddy goes to hug Benjy and he resists, it causes slight confusion for the\nreader. However, upon further reading, it is revealed why the one person that\ncould calm him down actually upset him, even if it was unintentional. \u201cShe put\nthe bottle down and came and put her arms around me. \u2018So that was it. And you\nwere trying to tell Caddy and you couldn\u2019t tell her.\u2026\u2019\u201d (Faulkner 42) After\nCaddy takes a bath and completely changes, we learn that it was the perfume\nthat Caddy was wearing that bothered Benjy. Benjy is used to Caddy smelling like\ntrees, so when she tries to touch him and he can not associate her with the smell\nhe considers safe, he freaks out. When Caddy finally figures out what was\nwrong, she understands that he could not have told her what was wrong and tries\nto make him comfortable again. Near the beginning of his narrative, an instance\nin which Caddy went out of her way to make Benjy more comfortable is illustrated.\n\u201c\u2018Hush, Benjy.\u2019 Caddy said. \u2018Go away, Charlie. He doesn\u2019t like you.\u2019 Charlie went\naway and I hushed.\u201d (Faulkner 47) In this instance, we see Caddy attempting to\nget rid of one of the triggers upsetting Benjy in order to calm him down and\nunderstand what is wrong and what he needs. For some people with autism, by getting\nrid of whatever is triggering them to act a certain way, it can be helpful in\ncalming them down. Caddy is sacrificing her relationship and possibly her\nsafety to make Benjy calm down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Jason Compson IV is one of the more mean and negative\nfamily members of the family. Jason IV does not care much for his brother and\nsees him as a burden. He continually makes comments about how Benjy is a waste\nof space and how he is going to send him to an institution as soon as he can. \u201cWhy\nnot send him down to Jackson. He\u2019ll be happier there, with people like him.\u201d\n(Faulkner 221) At this point, Jason IV is speaking to Mrs. Caroline Compson,\nhis mother, about Benjy and how they should send him to Jackson, where it is\nimplied that there is a mental hospital. When you first read this line, Jason IV\nseems like he is simply looking out for the family, as if he wants what is best\nfor everyone. However, we soon learn that this is not how he feels at all. \u201cBut\nit don\u2019t take much pride to not like to see a thirty year old man playing\naround the yard with a n*gger boy, running up and down the fence and lowing like\na cow whenever they play golf over there.\u201d (Faulkner 222) Jason IV immediately\nbegins to reveal how he feels about Benjy and the way he acts, which he views\nas childish. As he states, Benjy is a thirty year old man, who Jason IV views as\nacting like a child. Jason IV also believes that Benjy should be acting more\nhis age and not outside playing with one of the boys of the help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Subsequently, Jason IV reveals what he truly feels\nwith regard to Benjy being sent away to Jackson. \u201cI says if they\u2019d sent him to\nJackson at first we\u2019d all be better off today.\u201d (Faulkner 222) When analyzing\nthis statement, \u201cthey\u2019d\u201d could be a few different people. Since Jason IV is\ntalking to Mrs. Compson here, he could be referring to the hospital or the doctor\nwho delivered the baby. He might be blaming the hospital for sending a baby\nwith autism home with them. On the other hand, Jason IV is not one to shy away\nfrom how he truly feels, nor does he hold back when expressing his emotions.\nWith this outlook, Jason IV could also be using \u201cthey\u2019d\u201d in reference to his\nparents. If this is the case, then Jason IV blames his parents for all of the\nissues they have had to deal with since Benjy has been a part of the family. He\nsees it as being their fault for not immediately sending Benjy to the nearest\nmental hospital in Jackson as soon as they realized that Benjy was different\nfrom everyone else in the family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, we see Jason IV attempt to fix his\nmistake of the way he addressed the situation regarding Benjy and what should\noccur. \u201cI says, you\u2019ve done your duty by him; you\u2019ve done all anybody expects\nof you and more than most folks would do, so why not send him there and get\nthat much benefit out of the taxes we pay.\u201d (Faulkner 222) He previously said\nthat they would essentially have been better off if they had sent Benjy to a\nmental hospital earlier in his life and gotten rid of him altogether. At this\nmoment in time, Jason IV is trying to redeem himself slightly in his mother\u2019s\neyes by complimenting her. He says that she has done all she could have and more\nthan anybody would have thought she would. He attempts to make it seem like it\nwould not just be beneficial to Benjy, but it would be beneficial to the\nfamily, because they have already paid for it by paying taxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Sound and the\nFury<\/em> is novel that can be\nread on its own, and you will be able to understand it if you read carefully.\nHowever, when read again or looked back on after learning more about autism and\nautism studies, a whole new perspective is created when reading the character\nBenjy Compson. When first read, the reader can figure out that Benjy has a\ndisability. Although when looked at again through the lens of autism studies,\nthe reader is more so able to see the signs that Benjy might be autistic and\ncan better understand the book with this knowledge. Autism studies is very\nbeneficial when reading classical literature and better understanding some\ncharacters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Word Count: 1344\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I\npledge. Alexandra Slaughter<\/p>\n\n\n\n Faulkner, William. The Sound and the Fury<\/em>. Vintage International Books, 1990.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Alexandra Slaughter Dr. Foss English 384: Disability and Literature April 30th, 2019 Disability and Literature Final Paper Autism is not always portrayed in the best way. Autism is a topic that many people are uneducated in. Due to the current economic status of our country, we, as a society, have begun to capitalize everything, which … Continue reading “Alex Slaughter’s Final Paper”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[32],"tags":[61,88,89],"class_list":["post-1516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-take-home-final-examinations","tag-alex-slaughter","tag-final-exam-autism","tag-the-sound-and-the-fury"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papJgd-os","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1516"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1518,"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1516\/revisions\/1518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}