Although Faulkner employs flower symbology concerning the narcissus and the cornflower, one immediately recognizes a particular role behind Faulkner’s use of the jimson weed in The Sound and the Fury: to calm and soothe Benjy—it is his toy. Yet it was not until I had read Charles D. Peavy’s article concerning Faulkner’s employment of folklore in The Sound and the Fury that I discovered the dark underlying symbolism associated with this seemingly soothing weed.
The jimson weed is quite common in the Arkansas-Louisiana-Mississippi area and has a multiplicity of meanings in the folklore of the region. A course, ill-scented plant, the jimson weed is…quite poisonous. Children have been poisoned by eating its seeds or by taking its flowers into their mouths. Indeed, that Benjy is allowed by his Negro keepers to play with so dangerous a plant is surprising. The poisonous aspect of the plant is perhaps used symbolically by Faulkner: in the last chapter the bottle holding Benjy’s jimson weed flowers is an empty poison bottle.
…The jimson weed is odoriferous and produces a heavy and oppressive perfume. Because of this, the jimson weed is sometimes called stinkweed, and Edmond Volpe has suggested that Benjy’s stinkweed is an ironic symbol of the loss of Caddy, who ‘smelled like trees.’
...During most of the day, they [the jimson weed flowers] are closed into an erect, trumpet-shaped form, from six to seven inches long, resembling somewhat a large, closed morning glory. The buds, like the flowers, occur solitary and erect in the forks of the branches and closely resemble okra in fruit. This characteristic of the closer flower, and particularly the suggestively phallic appearance of the bud, has caused the jimson weed to be considered a symbol of the male sex organ by both white and black inhabitants of the hill country…Faulkner was doubtlessly aware of the phallic implications of the closed jimson flower clutched in the fist of castrated Benjy. (Peavy 438)
This passage revealed an entirely new facet of the jimson weed, which in my eyes was purely representative of a sort of pacifier to Benjy. Upon reading this article, I myself noted that Faulkner only uses the jimson weed as this “pacifier” after two distinct events: Caddy’s losing her virginity and Benjy’s castration. The foul-smelling weed is thus undeniably linked to the impurity of sexuality, a link that I had not noted until I had read Peavy’s article.
Furthermore, Faulkner’s Southern foundation is once again manipulated to add the element of prophecy, of foreboding, and of death. From his Southern home base, Faulkner draws a series of Negro folk beliefs that he attaches to each of Benjy’s African American keepers and indeed Benjy himself. These Southern folklore and superstitions are used to foreshadow the death.
In the first section of The Sound and the Fury, the Negroes read the “signs” of approaching death. Damuddy, the grandmother, and Quentin Compson, the son, have died, and Roskus prophesies yet another death.
‘They been two, now.’ Roskus said. ‘Going to be one more. I seen the sign, and you is too.’
‘I heard a squinch owl that night.’ T.P. said. ‘Dan wouldn’t come and get his supper neither. Wouldn’t come no closer than the barn. Begun howling right after dark. Versh heard him’
The squinch owl, or screech owl, is regarded by the Negro as a death omen. If an owl screeches at a house where anyone is sick it will make him worse and probably cause him to die.
Also, it is a widely accepted belief that a howling dog is a sign that someone is dying, or will die soon. (Peavy 441)
These Southern superstitions were unapparent to me before I had read Peavy’s article—yet, Faulkner’s use of Negro folklore concerning death omens drew my curiosity towards the fact that Benjy was somehow able to “smell” death or sense its imminence, a question that was further addressed by Peavy’s article.
When Benjy’s father Jason Compson III dies, Benjy ‘smells’ it. T.P., another in the series of Benjy’s Negro keepers, thinks that Benjy has sensed the death because of the howling of Dan, the hound. Benjy’s interior monologue, however, reveals that he smells the death long before he hears Dan howl. (Peavy 431)
This particular portion of Peavy’s article seemed only to intensify my curiosity, rather than quench it. Peavy continues on to reference the passage from The Sound and the Fury during which Benjy approaches his father’s room and can “smell it.” He begins to holler and simply cannot stop. Several lines further in the text, Benjy’s interior monologue indicates that he has acknowledged Dan’s howling. Therefore, Benjy sensed his father’s looming death long before Dan the hound had. My inquiry lies here: does Faulkner mean to lower Benjy’s humanity to that of a dog who, according to Southern superstition, is able to sense approaching death and project this omen through its hollering? Or does Faulkner mean to elevate Benjy’s being to one that is greater than both the animal and the human in light of the fact that he seems to be divinely endowed with a gift to sense that something is not right, or that death is approaching? My interpretation is that Benjy is gifted. He is a symbol of something that is divine, perhaps an angel, who is merely cloaked behind a disguise that makes him appear deaf and dumb. This disguise has been purposefully imposed upon him by nature and, I believe, is used as a tool to expose the true spirit, moral fiber, and superficiality behind each character in The Sound and the Fury. Although Caddy is portrayed as promiscuous to a fault, is she not also the character who treats Benjy with the most love, and care, and warmth, and compassion?
Peavy’s article, “Faulkner’s Use of Folklore in The Sound and the Fury” did much to open my eyes to the innumerable facets and layers of hidden meaning associated with Faulkner’s work. There is truly a veiled purpose behind nearly every line, every quotation, and every character in The Sound and the Fury, and one cannot truly savor its true depth without unearthing each one.
Word Count: 1,152 with quotations; 710 without quotations
Citation:
Peavy, Charles D. "Faulkner's Use of Folklore in The Sound and the Fury." The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 79, No. 313 (Jul. - Sep., 1966). University of Illinois Press. Pp. 437-441. 26 October 2008. http://www.jstor.org/stable/537508
