The Sound and the Fury

Narrator: The Compson domain, as it was called by the locals,

once consisted of 640 acres of forests, open fields

and the land that would one day be the center

of the town of Jefferson, Mississippi.

The Compson home would become known as the governor's house in the 1850s

when Quentin Maclachlan Compson

rose to that position of prominence.

He would be the last Compson,

as fate or blood would have it,

who would not fail at everything he touched.

The governor's son would become a general.

It was Jason II who failed at Shiloh in '62,

and failed again at Resica in '64.

It was Jason II, failed brigadier,

who would spend the next 40 years

selling off fragments of the family land to keep up

the mortgage on the remainder.

His son, Jason Lycurgus Compson III,

would be the one to oversee the final stages

of the family's long fade into irrelevance.

What was left of the 640 acres

was now known merely as the Compson place,

the once vast property encroached upon by nature,

neighbors and the expanding town of Jefferson itself.

Caroline Bascomb Compson, his wife, married him

for the Compson name and all that it promised,

and would then curse that same name for the rest of her days.

He would father four children.

He would sell the last of the surrounding pasture land to finance

his daughter's wedding

and his eldest son's Harvard education,

and then he would die, killed by drink and grief.

Caddie!

Caddy. Caddy smelled like the trees.

Caddie!

She smelled like the trees.

Listen to you. Now ain't you somethin'.

Thirty-three years old and goin' on that way.

If you don't hush up, Grammy ain't gonna throw you no birthday for you,

and I'm gonna eat that cake all up, including the candles.

Now, come on. Help me look for my quarter.

Come on, you old lump.

Wait a minute.

You snagged on that nail again.

Every damn time.

Oh, Benjy, you got snagged on the nail again.

You got your hands all dirty.

Here, wipe 'em off.

There, like that. See?

Hey, Caddy, not too far, now.

She smelled like the trees.

I need that quarter. We were down here yesterday.

It's gotta be here somewhere.

Come on, Benjy.

She smelled like the trees.

Here, you big baby. Take this.

Stop, Benjamin. Stop, Benjamin!

Give him a flower. He wants it. It'll quiet him up.

Poor baby.

Why is you callin' him a baby?

He's a man, big as Versh.

We're goin' to the cemetery.

I know you won't come, but if you did...

What?

I'd feel safe.

Safe from what?

Stop it, Mother, before you start the damn loony bawlin'

while you drive down the middle of the street.

- Stop, Benjamin. -

Get on, Russell.

Caddy, Quentin, Father.

Dilsey said they were gone. Where'd they go?

Any one of y'all seen a quarter down here?

Quarter?

Yeah, the one I had here yesterday.

If I don't find it, I ain't gonna be able to go to the show tonight.

Caddie!

What's he moanin' about?

Who knows with him. He been at it all mornin'.

- - Worse than usual.

Probably 'cause it's his birthday, I reckon.

How old is he?

Thirty-three.

You mean he's been three for thirty years.

I don't know. I just go by what my grammy say.

Come on, Benjy. Let's get you in the water.

Maybe that'll shut you up.

Yeah, that's right.

Weird old man.

You just stare at those feet a bit.

The water was cold. We were small.

Caddy said the water made everything better.

Jason, come on!

Yeah, come play with us.

Uh-uh. I hate swimmin'.

Jason was always alone.

Now Caddy, you know your mama gonna whip you you get that dress wet.

- Is not. - How do you know?

I know 'cause I know, Quentin. What do you know?

I know 'cause I'm older and I go to school.

Well, I'm seven and I'm goin' to school next year, ain't I, Versh?

Quentin!

Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!

Hope you're happy. Now we'll both get whipped.

I don't care. I'll run away.

Sure you will.

That's right, I'll run away and never come back.

Hush, now. I'm not gonna run away.

I'm gonna stay with you forever. Okay, Benjy?

She smelled like the trees.

Quentin.

Quentin!

Where'd Quentin go?

He's poutin' down at the tree.

Quentin! Come on!

Oh, let the old skizzard stay there if he wants.

Quentin loved the shadows.

Come on, Benjy, have another.

- - Come on.

There's plenty more in the cellar.

We'll just say Dan drank it. He a smart dog.

Maybe he drink champagne.

Have another.

You know what this weddin' need, Benjy?

It need one of them dancin' bears.

Now, think about it, Benjy.

One of them bears walk right in this barn.

Benjy, be a bear for me. Come on, Benjy. Be a bear.

Come on. Come on, Benjy. Up. Get up, Benjy.

Come on, Benjy.

Come on, Benjy. Have fun with me, Benjy.

Come on. Be a bear.

Versh.

Quentin. Why you look so sad?

A man's supposed to be happy at his sister's wedding.

Shut up! You shut your mouth, Versh.

You shut up! You shut your mouth!

Have some champagne.

Shut up, Versh. I'll kill you, Versh.

Versh! Get on out here before I whip you.

Come on, now. Come on, you big ox.

Let me get you on your feet. There you go.

Come on, Benjy.

Now, child, you have to be real quiet tonight.

- Why? - Never mind you why.

You's gonna know why in the Lord's own good time.

Come on, now. Eat up.

- Dilsey. - Yes, honey?

When did I start talkin'?

Seem like you been talkin' all the time.

What about Quentin?

What are you up to? Why is you askin'?

When will Benjy start talkin'?

Well, don't you worry about Benjy, Miss Caddy.

Now, he's gonna be talkin' in his own sweet time.

Y'all's all talks enough, anyway.

Benjy don't talk, maybe, but knows all the same.

How? How does he know?

I'm not sure how he knows, Mr. Quentin, but knows he does.

Mother cried while Grandma slept.

Benjy, I can't go to the show if I don't find that quarter.

How'd y'all get back out?

We've got company.

Is that stoddy old grandma's funeral yet?

- Frony. - What's a funeral?

It's where they moan and sing and stuff.

Oh, that's just for coloreds. White folks don't have funerals.

- White folks-- - Frony.

Mama say we not supposed to say nothin'.

White folks die, too.

What's she talkin' about?

Where are we goin'?

To the tree. Come.

Caddy, what we doin' here?

Shh! Versh, push me up.

Caddy, be careful.

I am, silly goose.

I'm gonna tell on her.

Caddy, what do you see?

Nothin'. Mother's cryin' again.

Grandma's sleepin'.

Why won't she wake?

Mother slept but would not wake.

Father slept but would not wake.

Come on.

Can you take him out, please?

Man can't work with all that hollerin' a goin' on.

That's what I'm tryin' to do.

Someone's makin' the bed so he can sleep down in--

Now, you hush, Benjy, okay? Go on downstairs.

Come on, Benjy. It's gonna be all right.