The fool : character as technique in the novels of William Faulkner

Abstract

A close analysis of the fool characters in William Faulkner's novels clearly establishes the importance of this character type in Faulkner's work. Focusing on Benjy Compson in The Sound and the Fury, Ike Snopes in The Hamlet, Tommy in Sanctuary, and Jim Bond in Absalom, Absalom!, this study asserts that these fools exemplify a clear use of character as technique, which is central to Faulkner's work. Each of these fools functions simultaneously on several levels. First, each functions within his individual novel to provide for manipulation of point of view, narrative traditions and conventions, style, structure, form, and theme. Benjy Compson and Ike Snopes serve the greatest number of these technical purposes, while Tommy and Jim Bond serve fewer; all four, however, serve similar thematic purposes. Second, each functions within the cross-cultural tradition of the fool, in which the fool, usually retarded and often deformed, was kept in a household to protect others from evil, since he was considered to have some supernatural immunity from evil; additionally, the fool was considered to have some kind of divine wisdom; finally, serving at times for entertainment, the fool was independent of societal restriction about behavior or speech. Considered within such a tradition, Faulkner's fools assume and imply deeper thematic possibilities, specifically as they reflect and measure the humanity and morality of those around them. Third, each of the last three fools--Ike, Tommy, and Jim--extends Faulkner's first fool, Benjy. Finally, each fool functions within the entire Faulkner canon, establishing a technique repeatedly explored and developed. Within this context, a study of these four fools reveals a variety of progressions in Faulkner's techniques and themes. Through such close study, it becomes clear that with the fool character, form becomes content in a typically intricate Faulknerian design.