A Study of Stream of Consciousness Writing Technique in William Faulkner's Novel, The Sound and the Fury

William Faulkner's novel, "The Sound and The Fury" takes place in a fictional region of the South. Furthermore, the story is situated in a time directly after the Civil War. It is obvious that the loss of the Civil War has had a profound impact on the psyche of the South and its people. The region not only lost the war, but their entire way of life as well. In an attempt to capture the graveness of the situation, Faulkner uses the technique of "stream-of-consciousness." In doing so, he is able to tell a tale of the decline of a post-Civil War Southern family through the eyes of the characters who are experiencing the situation first-hand.

The loss of the Civil War completely altered the every day life of the South. The institute of slavery crumbled, but many of its social values remained. It was a confusing time in which blacks were legally emancipated, but socially unequal to whites, still unable to pursue either an education or equal economic opportunities. Due to the loss of slavery as a business, as well as the rapid growth of industry and manufacture, the South lost its place as an economic influence on the nation. Agriculture, the staple of Southern economy, became significantly less lucrative. It became almost impossible for small family farms to continue functioning. Faulkner creates the Compson family to manifest the economic troubles of the South and their effects on the people of the region. The economic degeneration of the family worsens throughout the years, until Mr. Compson is eventually forced to sell the last of his land to fund Caddy's wedding and Quentin's education.