The Sexuality of Quentin
Texts: William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury


A prevalent and interesting recurrence in the Quentin chapter of The Sound and the Fury (‘June Second, 1910’) is sexuality, as well as Quentin’s paradoxical obsession with it. It seems that, simultaneous with his incessant mentioning of virginity, sex, impurity, and the like - always in reference to Caddy and himself - is also a need to be rid of the whole notion, to cast away sex as something troublesome and frightening. Such an inner contradiction contributes somewhat, if not substantially, to Quentin’s mental instability - for the chapter makes it clear that Quentin Compson is not the most well-adjusted individual.

A reading of Quentin’s section reveals multiple examples of sexual imagery and contemplations of virginity. Given the situation that his sister Caddy has found herself in (pregnant and unmarried), it might not be unnatural for Quentin to be fixated on such subjects, as well as on Caddy herself: ‘Roses. Not virgins like dogwood, milkweed. I said I have committed incest, Father I said. Roses.’ (49) As referenced in the quote, Quentin is apparently also obsessed with the idea of sharing Caddy’s sin - in his mind, through incest - and ending up in purgatory with her. Still, in addition to this, there are noticeable moments during which Quentin’s consciousness dwells on the image of sex itself, such as when he is talking to Caddy, or having the conversation that he imagines with her, about their incest: ‘I fooled you all the time it was me you thought I was in the house where that damn honeysuckle trying not to think the swing the cedars the secret surges the breathing locked drinking the wild breath the yes Yes Yes yes’ (94). Perversion could be at work, but the imagery of the double suicide on page 96, when taken out of context, is extremely sexual. Although he attempts to push them out, these images are imbedded in Quentin’s brain.

But there is another division of Quentin, what he perhaps sees as the ‘logical’ part, that has been trained to view all aspects of sexuality as perverse and ultimately terrifying. On page 73, he describes the story of a man who castrates himself with razors, but then goes back on this thought and decides that that is not what he means at all, that what he truly wants is ‘not not having them. It’s never to have had them’ - ‘them’ being his genitalia and, more ideologically, his sexuality. This seems to be in complete contrast to his apparent obsessiveness with sexuality in general. Perhaps, in the previous quote from page 94, the ‘trying not to think’ is this asexual half of Quentin’s mind trying (without success) to stop the sexual half from imagining what must have gone on during Caddy’s escapades with men.

This may bring one to the exploration of Quentin’s subconscious, which is a confusing task indeed. He appears to be constantly in distress about his own virginity, as seen in a conversation with Caddy during which he asserts that he has done it ‘lots of times with lots of girls’ and then proceeds to cry (96). And yet, this is the same evening when he suggests double suicide to Caddy simply to rid her and himself of the burden of her sins. Maybe Quentin has a double standard for men and women when it comes to sex, but this would not explain his own aversion to it. One can only assume that these paradoxical feelings of an integral part of human nature contribute to his hopelessness and eventual suicide, other factors of which are the inescapability of time and other torturous stresses of family. His paradoxical consciousness is eventually resolved in the fact that the only way to reconcile such an extreme compulsion and revulsion is to die.


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