Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary
devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.
Time
Faulkner’s treatment and representation of time in this
novel was hailed as revolutionary. Faulkner suggests that time is
not a constant or objectively understandable entity, and that humans
can interact with it in a variety of ways. Benjy has no concept
of time and cannot distinguish between past and present. His disability
enables him to draw connections between the past and present that
others might not see, and it allows him to escape the other Compsons’
obsessions with the past greatness of their name. Quentin, in contrast,
is trapped by time, unable and unwilling to move beyond his memories
of the past. He attempts to escape time’s grasp by breaking his watch,
but its ticking continues to haunt him afterward, and he sees no
solution but suicide. Unlike his brother Quentin, Jason has no use
for the past. He focuses completely on the present and the immediate
future. To Jason, time exists only for personal gain and cannot be
wasted. Dilsey is perhaps the only character at peace with time. Unlike
the Compsons, who try to escape time or manipulate it to their advantage,
Dilsey understands that her life is a small sliver in the boundless
range of time and history.
Order and Chaos
Each of the Compson brothers understands order and chaos
in a different way. Benjy constructs order around the pattern of
familiar memories in his mind and becomes upset when he experiences something
that does not fit. Quentin relies on his idealized Southern code
to provide order. Jason orders everything in his world based on potential
personal gain, attempting to twist all circumstances to his own
advantage. All three of these systems fail as the Compson family
plunges into chaos. Only Dilsey has a strong sense of order. She maintains
her values, endures the Compsons’ tumultuous downfall, and is the
only one left unbroken at the end.
Shadows
Seen primarily in Benjy’s and Quentin’s sections, shadows
imply that the present state of the Compson family is merely a shadow
of its past greatness. Shadows serve as a subtle reminder of the
passage of time, as they slowly shift with the sun through the course
of a day. Quentin is particularly sensitive to shadows, a suggestion
of his acute awareness that the Compson name is merely a shadow
of what it once was.
