The Sound and the Fury · Chapter
April Eighth, 1928 explained
On Easter Sunday, the Compson household is disrupted by the discovery that Miss Quentin has fled.
What happens
On Easter Sunday, the Compson household is disrupted by the discovery that Miss Quentin has fled. Jason, enraged, searches her room and finds it empty, with signs of a hasty departure. He then discovers that his hidden money box has been broken into and the money stolen. Meanwhile, Dilsey takes Benjy to the Negro church, where a visiting preacher delivers a powerful sermon that moves the congregation, including Dilsey, to tears.
Themes in this chapter
Family and Decay
The Compson family's dysfunction is on full display: Jason's cruelty, Mrs. Compson's helplessness, and Miss Quentin's flight underscore the family's moral and emotional decay.
Loss and Innocence
Miss Quentin's disappearance represents the loss of the last vestige of youthful innocence in the Compson family, echoing the earlier loss of Caddy and Quentin.
Race and Class
The chapter contrasts the white Compson household's turmoil with the African American community's Easter worship, highlighting racial and class divisions.
Characters to notice
- Jason Compson IV
Jason is furious and frantic after discovering Miss Quentin's disappearance and the theft of his money. He aggressively searches her room and his own closet, and calls the police.
- Caroline Compson
Mrs. Compson is querulous and helpless, wailing about the broken window and fearing the worst. She insists on finding a suicide note, drawing a parallel to her son Quentin's death.
- Dilsey Gibson
Dilsey tries to calm the household, reassuring Mrs. Compson and protecting Miss Quentin. Later, she takes Benjy to church, where she is deeply moved by the sermon.
- Benjy Compson
Benjy is taken to church by Dilsey. He is observed by local children and experiences the Easter service, though his perception is fragmented.
- Miss Quentin
Miss Quentin is absent from her room, having fled during the night. Her disappearance triggers Jason's rage and Mrs. Compson's anxiety.
- Frony
Frony accompanies Dilsey and Benjy to church and comments on the visiting preacher's origins.
Key passages
“It was not a girl's room. It was not anybody's room, and the faint scent of cheap cosmetics and the few feminine objects and the other evidences of crude and hopeless efforts to feminize it but added to its anonymity, giving it that dead and stereotyped transience of rooms in assignation houses.”
Miss Quentin's room feels impersonal and transient, like a rented space for secret meetings, despite the cheap attempts to make it feminine.
This description emphasizes Miss Quentin's rootlessness and the failure of the Compson family to provide a nurturing home.
“I've knowed de Lawd to use cuiser tools dan dat.”
Dilsey suggests that God can work through even the most unlikely or humble people.
Dilsey's faith contrasts with the Compson family's moral decay, highlighting her spiritual depth.
“Find the note. Quentin left a note when he did it.”
Mrs. Compson insists on searching for a suicide note, comparing Miss Quentin's disappearance to her son Quentin's suicide.
Mrs. Compson's obsession with finding a note reveals her inability to see the present clearly, as she is haunted by the past.