Told in four sections, TSATF follows the Compson family of Jefferson, Mississippi. The first section takes place in 1928 and is told by Benjy, the thirty-three year old youngest son who is intellectually disabled. It was a bold move on Faulkner's part to start the book out with such a confusing narrator, I know it turns a lot of folks off this book since it's not straightforward. Benjy jumps around in time, often in the middle of a sentence, and it can be daunting to stick with it. Well worth it, though. Benjy was very close to his older sister, Candace, known as Caddy. He keeps searching for her, day after day.
The next section goes back in time to 1910, and is told by Quentin, the oldest son. Quentin's parents sold a pasture to send him to Harvard. Quentin was in love with his sister but couldn't bring himself to commit incest and the fact that his sister had to hastily marry a man she didn't know because she was pregnant with another man's child haunts him to the point where he kills himself.
The third section is back in 1928 and is told by Jason, my favorite character. Jason was the third Compson child (after Quentin and Caddy). His brother went to Harvard, his sister got married, and Jason was supposed to get a job in a bank Caddy's husband owned, only he divorced her when he discovered she'd tried to trick him into giving her bastard child a name. Caddy sent her daughter, named Quentin after her brother, back home for her parents to raise. A year later her father died, leaving Jason to try to raise her with the help of his mother, who suffers from severe martyr issues, and Dilsey, the Negro cook. I have to admit, I feel sorry for Jason. He got screwed. Dilsey and his mother won't let him discipline Quentin at all, even though she needs it, so she runs wild. Of course Jason does obsess a little, trying so hard to catch her sneaking around. Oh, and he's been stealing the money Caddy sends for her upkeep, so there's that. Still, poor Jason.
The fourth and last section is told by an omnipotent narrator (it's frequently referred to as the Dilsey section). It's Easter Sunday, 1928, and Jason has discovered that he's been robbed. Someone broke the window in his room and made off with his money and Quentin is missing. Not hard to put two and two together on that one. While he's running around, trying to get the sheriff involved, Dilsey takes Benjy and her grandson, Luster (who is Benjy's current minder) to church. Dilsey reluctantly allows Luster to drive the carriage so Benjy can have his once a week outing, but when Luster doesn't turn the right way Benjy freaks out in the middle of the square. Jason sees it and comes running over, appalled that his brother is acting out in public. He rights the carriage, going the correct way and Benjy immediately calms down. All is right in his world again. And that's the end :)
Years later, Faulkner wrote an appendix which sort of tied some things up. A librarian finds a picture in a magazine of Caddy, in Europe with a Nazi officer. She shows it to Jason, who doesn't care, and then tracks down Dilsey in Memphis at her daughter's house, but Dilsey is nearly blind and can't see the picture. Caddy was always doomed, right from the start. We learn that Caroline died in 1933 and Jason shipped Benjy off to the state hospital in Jackson and sold what was left of the family house, moving into town. And thus ended the Compsons.
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