The Sound and the Fury

“We climbed the fence, where the pigs were grunting and snuffing. I expect they're sorry because one of them got killed today, Caddy said. The ground was hard, churned and knotted.”

Benjy remembers he and Caddy at Christmastime when they were children, playing outside beyond the reach of disapproving or interfering adults. The pigs are agitated, Caddy believes, because one of their group has been slaughtered; the pigs are pining for their missing member, she suggests. This foreshadows Caddy’s eventual exile from the family and Benjy’s agitation over her absence.

“’Go on.’ T.P. said. ‘Holler again. I going to holler myself. Whooey.’ Quentin kicked T.P. again. He kicked T.P. into the trough where the pigs ate and T.P. lay there. ‘Hot dog.’ T.P. said. ‘Didn’t he get me then. You see that white man kick me that time. Whooey.’”

T.P. has discovered Mr. Compson’s stash of alcohol in the cellar, and he and Benjy are now drunk. This scene takes place during Caddy’s wedding, which will lead to her leaving and eventual exile from the family home. The reappearance of the pigs emphasizes the motif of loss.

“It kept on making it and I couldn’t tell if I was crying or not, and T.P. fell down on top of me, laughing, and it kept on making the sound and Quentin kicked T.P. and Caddy put her arms around me, and her shining veil, and I couldn’t smell trees anymore and I began to cry.”

Benjy recalls the scene again, this time from his personal perspective. His confusion is exaggerated by the alcohol, but it is also due to the ominous nature of Caddy’s wedding itself. To him, Caddy has always smelled of trees—she is always climbing up or down them—so, the smell is symbolic of comfort, shelter, and home. Now that Caddy no longer smells of trees, Benjy begins to mourn the loss. Not only has she lost her childhood innocence via her sexual maturation, but she will be leaving Benjy behind.