William Faulkner presents Caddy's story in The Sound and the Fury in a unique and precise way, showing how her family sees it. Caddy's life becomes the central conflict in the Compsons' lives, and her story, paralleling the ultimate demise of the family and its members, is portrayed in the novel's four separate narratives. Although Caddy remains voiceless throughout Faulkner's book, it is her absence that characterizes her importance in the novel and her brothers' obsession with her purity that reveals her character and her influence on the decline of the Compson family. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Benjy's section, composed mostly of childhood flashbacks, reveals Caddy's initial innocence. Benjy sees his sister as a living mother figure and always turns to her for comfort. He associates her with all the love and goodness he has ever known. Benjy can "smell" Caddy's purity, which he associates with the clean, pure smell of trees. He gets very angry when she seems impure to him. For example, when Benjy catches Caddy and a boy kissing on the swing, he cries and drags her away. He remembers: "Caddy took the kitchen soap and washed his mouth in the sink, forcefully. Caddy smelled like trees" (48). Benjy is comforted when he can smell her purity again. In the same way that Benjy depends on Caddy's purity for comfort, Caddy also finds comfort from her life of shame in Benjy's innocence and faithfulness. Benjy remembers Caddy once saying, "'It's still raining. I hate the rain. I hate everything.' And then her head fell into my lap, and she was crying, holding me, and I started crying" (57). When Caddy leaves, Benjy has lost his one true source of love and comfort. TP tells Benjy, "You can't do any good by looking through the gate. Miss Caddy's gone a long way... You can't do any good by crying... She can't hear you" (51). Benjy's life becomes sadder after his departure, and he is often upset, thus increasing the burden on the family. Benjy's section is the only section where Caddy is shown in an innocent light, due to the ironic fact that the mentally retarded Benjy is the only one able to see his goodness. Faulkner exploits Quentin's obsession with Caddy's purity, which ultimately leads to her suicide, to further illustrate its central importance. Quentin, like Benjy, needs his sister's purity as comfort. He becomes very upset when she begins her promiscuous behavior. In his anger he often asks his college roommates, "Did you ever have a sister? Really? Really?"(78) Quentin cannot understand why he is losing his sister. He develops a hatred for all men who "take" Caddy away from his family and himself. Partly out of wanting to protect the "purity" of the ironically shameful Compson name, Quentin develops the idea that he should have Caddy all to himself. He tells his father, “Father, I have committed incest” (79). As he looks out from the bridge he thinks of Caddy and wishes, "If it could be a hell beyond that, then you'll only have me, then only me" (116)2E Quentin's need to save Caddy's purity evolves into an anxious state of depression which is only intensified by his father's philosophical advice. Mr. Compson tells Quentin that life is meaningless and that "time is dead as long as it is sprung by little wheels" (85). Mr. Compson, a convicted alcoholic, repeatedly tells Quentin that nothing matters, that virginity (Caddy's) is "just a word" (116). Quentin, who refuses to accept that his sister's purity isn't important, does.