Faulkner's Faux Pas: Referring
to Benjamin Compson as an Idiot
Sara McLaughlin
Although in William Faulkner's novel The Sound
and the Fury "most of the characters view Ben as a disgrace, a menace,
or at least as a slobbering idiot,"1
Benjamin Compson's behavior is incongruous with that of an idiot. "Idiot,"
a term now obsolete, was used during Faulkner's era to denote mentally
retarded persons to whom experts refer today as "profoundly retarded."
"Idiots" or the profoundly retarded are often, by definition, "completely
inaccessible, do not feed themselves or help themselves in any way and
are quite incontinent."2
Benjy's behavior varied throughout the novel, but despite inconsistencies,
he was rarely, if ever, depicted as absolutely and totally helpless.
Critics themselves even disagree about Benjy's mentality;
for instance, Frederick J. Hoffman describes Benjy as a "thirty-three-year-old
idiot who stopped growing mentally in 1898 at the age of three."3
On the other hand, John Lewis Longley, Jr., comments that Benjy is a "thirty-three-year
old man with a mental age of five."4
Another intriguing discrepancy can be found in the attitudes of certain
characters in the novel who especially love Benjy. Characters such as Dilsey
and Caddy, for example, insist Benjy has "certain particular and extraordinary
powers of perception. As Roskus phrases it, 'He [Ben] know a lot more than
folks thinks,'"5 There is
sufficient evidence to believe Roskus was right: even though Benjy was
retarded to a degree, he did not act consistently like an "idiot," by the
accepted definitions. Moreover, Benjy displayed many characteristics that
typify a person afflicted with autism.
Perhaps the supposition that Benjy is autistic is
unique; however, the theory that he is not an idiot is not original. At
least one critic agrees. Winthrop Tilley, Ph.D., commented:
All things considered, Benjy seems to turn out a fabricated literary
idiot whose correspondence to any idiot, living or dead, would be not only
coincidental, but miraculous.6
Tilley's conclusion is based on many episodes in the novel. One example
is Ben's attempted sexual attack on a schoolgirl after which Benjy is castrated.
Another manifestation of his sex drive is seen in his crying when he notices
his testicles are gone, according to Tilley. Alley points out that "idiots
are as low-geared sexually as they are intellectually," and "practically
are incapable of sexual intercourse."7
Tilley further notes two inconsistencies in Benjy's behavior:
He is referred to more or less indiscriminately as an idiot and a
loony by a number of people. Most of me time he has to be fed, but at least
once he can manage solid food pretty well. ... Sometimes he has to be carried,
sometimes he can walk, and at least twice, he can run.8
Also, Tilley believes it is difficult to "place credulity in other feats
of memory and association he performs."9
For instance, Benjy's chapter in The Sound and the Fury involves
remembering a great number of events. Similarly, Benjy's violent reaction
to the carriage turning left at a monument one day results from his memory
of turning left there the day of his operation fifteen years earlier, according
to Tilley. For an idiot to remember such details is totally unbelievable.
Many of Benjy's reactions to particular stimuli
as well as much of his behavior in general share striking similarities
to the behavior of autistic individuals. "Autism" comes from a Greek word,
autos, which means "self."10
The label, autism, is used because many autistic persons are withdrawn
and overly self-centered, although these traits do not always appear as
predominate ones. Autism has only been recognized since 1943 when Professor
Kanner first described autistic children as a special group.11
Thus, Faulkner, writing in 1929, would not have been familiar with this
condition. He, like countless others, would have been too quick to label
peculiar individuals as mentally retarded or, worse, idiots. Autistic individuals
vary greatly because their condition may range from mild to severe. Of
course, because autistic persons are individuals, each case is unique.
Nevertheless, one may examine several characteristic symptoms and pair
them with Benjy's traits.
Regarding speech, for example, many autistic children
are mute; they produce no recognizable words. Others' expressive speech
is minimal.12 Benjy was mute,
although the reader gets the rare opportunity to read Benjy's mind in a
sense, in the chapter he narrates figuratively. This device enables readers
to see how Benjy might talk if he could. One characteristic of autistic
persons is that they seem unaware speech has a meaning.l3
The way in which Faulkner punctuates the quotes in Benjy's chapter leads
one to believe that speech to Benjy was rather meaningless. Periods appear
in place of commas after tags such as "Caddy said," and "Quentin said."
This ploy creates the impression the speech is disjointed and fragmented.
Benjy also "thinks" in choppy sentences with as few words as possible,
as in the sentence, "The room went black, except the door."14
Normal people tend to use more words than are necessary while the autistic
are economical.15 Autistic
persons tend to be literal and concrete:
The speech of autistic children has teen described as similar to that
of a computer translating from a foreign language, and this does give an
idea of the kinds of mistakes they tend to make.16
For this reason, the autistic often make mistakes with words, such as the
noun "sheet," which have two meanings. In the same way, Benjy understands
words literally, the best example being the word "Caddy." To him, that
word signifies his sister, and therefore, he cannot perceive what golfers
mean when they use the word differently. Benjy seldom substitutes pronouns
for names of speakers. He is incapable of ascribing identities to Luster's
friends, also, and thus their speech seems to come from thin air.17
Lastly, a fascinating characteristic of autism in Benjy's speech is his
refraining from telling lies:
Autistic children never tell lies. They do not understand why it should
ever be necessary to avoid the truth, and in any case, lack the skill with
language and ideas needed to invent lies.18
Autistic persons have excellent memories, in most cases. They usually have
warped perceptions of reality, however.19
Benjy evidently has a good memory, certainly a much better one than any
idiot would have, as Tilley pointed out earlier. Benjy reacts to sensory
conditions which spark a memory of an earlier similar occurrence. For example,
once Benjy snags his pants, and Luster says, "You snagged on that nail
again. Cant you never crawl through here without snagging on that nail"
(p. 3). This episode is followed immediately by Benjy's recollection of
a similar episode in which "Caddy uncaught me and we crawled through" (p.
3). The past and present are inseparable in a way in Benjy's mind. The
reader finds himself in a "curious kind of fixed world."20
Likewise, of the autistic, Bruno Bettelheim writes:
Their thoughts move exceedingly slowly, without inherent connection.
It is as if, in Piaget's terms, they view single frames one at a time,
one thought at a time and not a comprehensive story.21
Autistic persons have trouble perceiving more than a small thing or a scene
at a time; this problem explains why they remember one frame at a time.
Elaborating on this symptom, Dr. Lorna Wing notes that autistic children
tend to focus on one small piece of the whole while looking at picture
books. They do this "because they cannot take in the meaning of the whole
scene. Very complicated and rapidly changing, environments like crowded
shops may upset a young autistic child , and bring on a temper tantrum."22
Many times in The Sound and the Fury, Benjy gets upset and cries;
perhaps in some of these circumstances, he cries because he is overwhelmed
by the complexity of a changing environment.
Overall, most autistic children are aloof and unaffectionate;
however, the exception to this rule is that they will respond to a few
special people in trusted environments.23
This trait is seen in Benjy: he is close to Caddy and a few others in his
own home. Benjy does tend to be egocentric; everything described in his
section is done so in relationship to him. Similarly, "(s)ince the autistic
child is inhibited from acting on his own and hence from interacting with
the world, he cannot leave his egocentric position."24
Another characteristic of autism is that autistic
persons rely more heavily on sense data than do normal people, seeming
"to recognize other people through these senses."25
Benjy repeatedly comments that Versh smells like rain and Caddy smells
like trees. When Caddy ceases to smell like trees, Benjy howls - his way
of registering a complaint.26
Autistic persons possess many acute senses, especially the senses of
sight and touch. They are fascinated by light and by anything, that twinkles.27
The reader will note Benjy's preoccupation with fire and with the "sparkles"
in this scene:
Caddy got the box and set it on the floor and opened it. It was full
of stars. When I was still, they were still. When I moved, they glinted
and sparkled. I hushed. (P. 50)
Benjy, like the autistic, also loves to feel of certain objects. The autistic,
it has been noted, "loves the feel of smooth wood, plastic or soft fur."28
Benjy was furnished with:
pleasurable moments of touching, tasting, smelling, seeing and hearing.
She [Caddy] had often soothed him by calling his attention to the bright
shapes of the dancing flames in the fireplace, and to the attractive colors
of red and yellow in a cherished cushion, and to the soft texture of a
satin slipper . . . and to the music of rain on the roof.29
Benjy also exhibits a classic symptom of autism: that is, he is obsessed
with a fear of change. Autistic persons insist on the repetition of routines,
and if a "routine is upset, there are screams and temper tantrums."30
Caddy evidently recognized this characteristic, and she assured Benjy she
would not go away (p. 51). In fact, Benjy's reliance on Caddy for a preservation
of order and for sensual gratification may have been more important than
his love for her. Olga Vickery theorizes, and perhaps correctly, that because
Benjy
is concerned with preserving the pattern, rather than any single one
of its parts, there is little he can lose. Even Caddy has no existence
for him except as she forms part of that pattern.31
Luster, unlike Caddy, could not care less whether he disrupts Bets routine,
and Luster hears about it in the scene in Which Luster changes the route
to the graveyard. The route is important to Benjy, who is "overwhelmed
with horror and agony when Luster takes the wrong turn only to subside
the minute the mistake is corrected."32
Benjy becomes upset by Luster's removal of a bottle at a grave. Benjy's
initial silence is "succeeded by a roar of protest. It is not that the
bottle has any intrinsic value for Belay, but merely mat it forms part
of the pattern which must not be disturbed."33
Benjy's rebellion against change is hard to miss in the novel. Likewise,
the autistic place so much importance or resisting change that it seems
as if change poses a threat to them:
Without a concept of the permanence of objects and human relations,
the universe lacks order and appears totally chaotic and unpredictable.
The only principle by which order can reign is to make sure that everything
always remains the same."34
Ironically, the autistic feel threatened by things that are not dangerous:
however, they are often unaware of real dangers, such as extremes in temperature.35
Benjy "lets his hands almost freeze, and burns them in the fire."36
In the novel, Benjy is depicted as a "big man who
appeared to have been shaped of some substance whose particles would not
or did not cohere to one another or to the frame which supported it" (p.
342). This description matches J. K. Wing's observation that the musculature
of the autistic often seems very limp.37
A final parallel between Benjy and autistic children
is that mothers of autistic children are often like Mrs. Compson. In one
study, researchers discovered that many mothers of autistic children were
silent, mechanical, resentfill, gloomy, and lacking in any spontaneity.
Most significantly, there was a minimum of interest expressed in eliciting
any emotional response from the children and a maximum interest expressed
in keeping the child quiet and inactive.38
Mrs. Compson continually insists that Benjy be kept quiet. For example,
in one scene she says, "Why won't you let him [Benjy] alone, so I can have
some peace" (p. 49). Mr. Compson says, "You all must be good tonight....
And be quiet, so you won't disturb Mother" (p. 76). Perhaps Mrs. Compson's
uncaring, attitude brought out Benjy's autism and caused mental retardation.
Benjamin Compson is more complex to analyze than
one quick reading, of The Sound and the Fury might suggest. He displays
many different types of behaviour, some of which are inconsistent. Although
Faulkner labels him an "idiot," the diagnosis cannot be correct; Benjy
iust does not behave in a manner characteristic of an "idiot" or a profoundly
retarded person. He instead behaves like an autistic person suffering from
a milder degree of mental retardation than idiocy. Benjy looks, acts, thinks
and "speaks" (figuratively in his narration) in a manner characteristic
of an autistic person. Faulkner has unknowingly presented of the earliest
pictures in American literature of the devastating effects autism can have
on a human being Ñ Benjy Compson.
NOTES
1. LawranceThompson, "Mirror Analogues
in The Sound and the Fury," in English Institute Essays, 1952
(New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1953), pp. 83-106; rpt. in William
Faulkner: Three Decades of Criticism, ed. Frederick J. Hofflnan and
Olga W. Vickery (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc., 1963), p. 214.
2. R.F. Tredgold and K. Soddy, Tredgold's
Mental Retardation, 11th ed. (Baltimore: The Williams and Wilkins Co.,
1970). p. 258.
3. Frederick J. Hoffman, William
Faulkner (New Heaven: College and Univ. Press, 1961), p.52.
4. John Lewis Longley, Jr., The
Tragic Mask (Chapel Hill: Univ. of H. Carolina Press, 1957). p. 221.
5. Thompson, p. 214.
6. Winthrop Tilley, Ph.D., "The Idiot
Boy in Mississippi: Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury," American Journal
of Mental Deficiency, 59 (1955), 376.
7. Tilley, p. 376.
8. Tilley, p. 375.
9. Tilley, pp. 375-376.
10. Lorna Wing, M.D., D.P.M., Autistic
Children (NewYork: Brunner/Mazel, Inc., 1972), p. 4.
11. Lorna Wing, p.7.
12. Ivar 0. Lovaas, The Autistic
Child (Hew York: Indng,ton Pub. Inc., 1977), p. 30.
13. Lorna Wing, p. 15.
14. William Faulkner, The Sound
and the Fury (New York: Random House, 1929), p. 92. Subsequent references
to this novel will appear in parentheses in the text of this paper.
15. Lorna Wing, p. 19.
16. Lorna Wing, p. 18.
17. Olga W. Dickey, The Novels
of William Faulkner (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Univ. Press,
1961), p. 34.
18. Lorna Wing, p. 27.
19. Bruno Bettelheim, The Empty
Fortress (New York: The Free Press, 1967), p. 390.
20. Hoffman, p. 53.
21. Bettelheim, p. 454.
22. Lorna Wing, p. 19.
23. J. K. Wing, ed., Early Childhood
Autism (Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1966), p. 14.
24. Bettelheim, p. 453.
25. Lorna Wing, p. 21.
26. Hoffman, p. 53.
27. Lorna Wing, p. 12.
28. Lorna Wing, p. 21.
29. Lawrance Thompson, Willam
Faulkner, 2nd ed. (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1963),
p. 33.
30. Lorna Wing, p. 25.
31. Vickery, p. 36.
32. Vickery, p. 35.
33. Vickery, p. 35.
34. Bettelheim, p. 453.
35. J. K. Wing, p. 11.
36. Tilley, p. 375.
37. J. K. Wing, p. 12.
38. Bettelheim, p. 397.
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