The Sound and the Fury Principles Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #10

Ever since then I have believed that God is not only a gentleman and a sport; he is a Kentuckian too. (2.72)

Is Quentin joking here? He’s referring to Bland here, but we’re also pretty sure that he almost believes his own joke. Faulkner’s playing with Southern piety, which seems (here, at least) to be as bound up in notions of "gentlemanlike" behavior as it does in Christian virtues. Is a Christian the same thing as a gentleman? Well, we’ll leave that particular question up to you.

Quote #11

She approved of Gerald associating with me because I at least revealed a blundering sense of noblesse oblige by getting myself born below Mason and Dixon, and a few others whose Geography met the requirements (minimum). Forgave, at least. Or condoned. But since she met Spoade coming out of chapel one He said she couldn't be a lady no lady would be out at that hour of the night she never had been able to forgive him for having five names, including that of a present English ducal house. (2.73)

Faulkner satirizes the social conventions of the South, but the novel is also deeply committed to exploring the sorts of morality which emerge from these conventions.

Quote #12

Father and I protect women from one another from themselves our women (2.103)

This is Quentin in a nutshell. The need to protect everyone from everyone leads him to suicide.