The Sound and the Fury Guilt and Blame Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #7

Well, Jason likes work. I says no I never had university advantages because at Harvard they teach you how to go for a swim at night without knowing how to swim and at Sewanee they dont even teach you what water is. (3.147)

Jason spends his life blaming just about everyone in his family for his own situation in life. Give the guy credit, though – he can be pretty funny. Hmm. That’s a good point. What do you make of the fact that the most despicable guy in the novel is also the funniest?

Quote #8

Mother says. "I know I’m just a troublesome old woman. But I know that people cannot flout God’s laws with impunity." (3.168)

Jason appreciates his mother’s willingness to blame her family’s fate upon herself – if only because it allows him to agree with her.

Quote #9

"But she must never know. She must never even learn that name. Dilsey, I forbid you ever to speak that name in her hearing. If she could grow up never to know that she had a mother, I would thank God." (3.170)

The fact that Mrs. Compson is willing to cut Caddy completely out of her daughter’s life allows us to see just how deeply she believes in her own sense of divine "justice."