Faulker uses an interesting style of writing to start off
the novel. The beginnings seem very jumbled and almost confused. At first I
thought this was because Miss Rosa was telling the story, but I think his style
of writing is almost to try and confuse the reader at first and then gradually
explain more information as the novel progresses. His syntax is also to be
noted because he seems to use adjectives in groups of threes. Some of the
groups of three adjectives have commas but some do not. This creates confusion
for me as a reader rather than description. While Miss Rosa is speaking she
uses exaggerated words like “sweet and oversweet” and “distilled and hyper
distilled.” Faulkner may have chosen these words to illustrate Miss Rosa’s
personal bitterness about the situation. Faulkner also uses a lot of “non”
things like “not-people,” “not-language,” “un-defeat,” and “un-regret.” This
adds to the dramatic element of the stories by explain what Sutpen is not
rather than what he is. I think this is also used to show that he is not
certain good qualities, but rather negative ones. All of these elements
combined seem to create confusion for the reader since the thoughts are not
very clear.
I think it is definitely Faulkner's intent to create confusion for the reader. We talked about in class how confused the town must have been upon Sutpen's arrival, and how much fuss it may have caused. All of those people knew little to nothing about him, and therefore most likely made up things about him they believed to be true, therefore adding to the towns confusion of who Sutpen actually is. I think that Faulkner's style used is to help the reader feel that confusion, to put us in that moment so that we can connect even more to the novel.
ReplyDeleteI think the idea that Faulkner uses confusing syntax to muddle the plot line is a very interesting one. While I do agree that he may leave questions unanswered and ends untied in order to keep the book interesting, I think another reason for the confusion may be the fallibility of human memory. Many of the things Rosa are discussing with Quentin occurred before both or when she was still young. Perhaps the text seems confusing because she herself is not certain of the exact details. The next chapter, from Mr. Compton’s point of view, seems to be more clear, supporting this idea.
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