The Sound and The Fury by William Faulkner

The Sound and the Fury is set in Jefferson, Mississippi, in the first third of the 20th century. The novel centers on the Compson family, former Southern aristocrats who are struggling to deal with the dissolution of their family and its reputation. Over the course of the 30 years or so related in the novel, the family falls into financial ruin, loses its religious faith and the respect of the town of Jefferson, and many of them die tragically.

The novel is separated into four narratives. The first, reflecting events occurring and consequent thoughts and memories on April 7, 1928, is written in the voice and from the perspective of Benjamin "Benjy" Compson, an intellectually disabled 33-year-old man. Benjy's section is characterized by a disjointed narrative style with frequent chronological leaps.

The second section, taking place on June 2, 1910, focuses on Quentin Compson, Benjy's older brother, and the events leading up to Quentin's suicide. This section is written in the stream-of-consciousness style and also contains frequent chronological leaps.

In the third section, set a day before the first on April 6, 1928, Faulkner writes from the point of view of Jason, Quentin's cynical younger brother.

In the fourth section, set a day after the first on April 8, 1928, Faulkner introduces a third-person omniscient point of view. This last section primarily focuses on Dilsey, one of the Compsons' black servants, and her relations with Jason and "Miss" Quentin Compson (daughter of Quentin's sister Caddy), as Dilsey contemplates the thoughts and deeds of everyone in the Compson family.

The Sound and the Fury is a novel by the American author William Faulkner. It employs several narrative styles, including stream of consciousness. Published in 1929, The Sound and the Fury was Faulkner's fourth novel, and was not immediately successful. In 1931, however, when Faulkner's sixth novel, Sanctuary, was published-a sensationalist story, which Faulkner later said was written only for money-The Sound and the Fury also became commercially successful, and Faulkner began to receive critical attention.