Jason Compson Timeline and Summary

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• Jason walks behind Caddy and Quentin with his hands in his pockets.
• Versh makes fun of Jason, saying that he’ll be a rich man – he’s always checking to see where his money is.
• Jason gets upset when Mr. Compson tells everyone that they have to mind Caddy on the night that Damuddy dies.
• He goes into a kite racketeering business, hiring a smaller kid to make kites.
• Jason does all the kite selling.
• Oh, and he keeps a close eye on the flour barrel (he uses flour to make paste).
• When Caddy gets married to Herbert Head, Jason’s promised a job at the bank in Jefferson.
• Unfortunately, the job never comes through.
• Herbert realizes that Caddy’s child isn’t his; he leaves Caddy.
• Jason never stops blaming Caddy for cheating him out of his future.
• As an adult, Jason works in the hardware store.
• He hates working there, so he tends to leave all the time.
• On the day that he narrates, he’s furious that Quentin (Jr.) isn’t awake.
• He yells at Dilsey and Quentin, then goes to work.
• On the way, he stops at the post office and telegraph office to check his recent stock advice.
• He receives a letter from Caddy which suggests that he’s been keeping money from Quentin.
• It turns out that Caddy’s right. Nonetheless, Jason wires Caddy that "the girl" is being taken care of.
• He blackmails Quentin into signing a check from Caddy over to him.
• Jason then goes home, fakes a check from Caddy, and forces his mother to burn it.
• She does. She thinks he’s the only caretaker of the family.
• Jason goes back to the store, where he’s almost fired.
• He reads a letter from his lover, a prostitute in Memphis.
• Then he thinks some nasty things about prostitutes in general and his lover in particular.
• Back at the store, Jason says some nasty things to his boss.
• The boss threatens to fire him. Again.
• Jason offers to quit. Again.
• Apparently, this happens often. In fact, as his boss says, Jason only has a job because his mother is such an upstanding member of the community.
• Jason sees Quentin in a car with a man from the circus.
• Furious, he tries to chase the two down in his car.
• He ends up stomping through the woods after the two.
• When he gets back to his car, Quentin and the guy have left. They’ve also left him a present, however – they flattened his tires.
• Jason goes back to work, then ducks out to check the stocks.
• His stock is down; he also didn’t get the telegram from his brokers.
• At home, he gets angry at Quentin.
• Mrs. Compson locks Quentin into her room at night.
• The next night, Jason and Dilsey notice that Quentin is not coming down from her room.
• It turns out that she’s run away.
• Jason immediately goes into his room; all the money that he’s been stealing from Caddy is gone.
• That money was supposed to go to Quentin. But really, who’s keeping track?
• Jason’s furious. He tries to get in the car and follow Quentin.
• He’s sure that she’s run away with the circus.
• Unfortunately, the smell of gas makes Jason really sick.
• As he drives, he gets a splitting headache.
• He pulls up in front of a few trailers. He’s sure that he’s found the circus.
• His head ringing, Jason enters one of the trailers and yells at the guy inside.
• The guy and Jason get in a fight.
• Jason knocks him over.
• By now, Jason’s a bit woozy.
• As it turns out, the guy Quentin was with got kicked out of the circus.
• Jason knows that he should stop, because his head’s killing him.
• He just can’t let his money go, though. He wants to keep driving after Quentin.
• Sadly, he can’t get anything for his headache. All the stores are closed.
• Finally, he gets a guy to drive him back to Jefferson.
• Quentin’s gone, and her money is gone, too.
• As he gets into Jefferson, he sees Luster driving the carriage the wrong way.
• Benjy’s bellowing. Jason rushes out of his car, furious that other people might be watching.
• He smacks Luster and begins to drive the carriage himself.
• Benjy calms down.