One Topic

The classic novel, "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner has many diverse topics, but one topic that stood out was order within chaos. At the very end of the novel, Luster and Benjy were in a carriage heading back to their home in Jefferson, Mississippi. Luster, a teenage black servant, was driving the carriage then deviated from his regular course. Benjy, a mentally disabled 33-year old man, took notice of the unfamiliar surroundings then started bawling. Once Luster turned back to the familiar course, Benjy saw "post and tree, window and doorway and signboard each in it's ordered place." The word "ordered place" emphasizes the familiarity and neatness of the surroundings and how Benjy immediately recognizes the path they are headed and are leading even though the carriage was full of moaning and yelling seconds before. The return to familiarity could signify how the Compson family was still heading in the same direction, their downfall. Therefore, in the midst of disarray, uniformity comes and changes the problem until it's back on course.