William Faulkner in The Sound and the Fury suggests that idealism in the modern world is fatal, with his portrait of Quentin Compson.
             As Faulkner reveals more of the character of Quentin, in the second narrative, we begin to see, not so much clearer but, more of, the many layers that make up this pensive young man. Quentin, a freshman at Harvard, is in a state of constant reflection throughout his narration. "Quentin cannot escape either his memories of the past or his involvement in the present" p.37 This makes it a bit difficult for the reader to discern what is present, what is past, what is imaginary and what is a memory. Appropriately relative is the subject of time: a theme almost exhausted through Quentin's narrative. But obviously there most be some sort of root to the fruit of his obsessive behavior; and there is, it's revealed in his obsession to protect the family code.
             Quentin's sister Caddy, seems to be the pivotal in which "The Sound and The Fury" turns. In almost every narrator in the novel, she is an enormous influence to their behavior. To Quentin, she represents a fissure in the family code, a crack in the glass of idealism that Quentin takes shelter in. "Quentin has... constructed for himself a private world to which Caddy is essential, a world which is threatened and finally destroyed by her involvement in circumstance." P. 36 WILLIAM FAULKNER "A CRITICAL STUDY" BY IRVING HOWE. Quentin must now defend his sister's honor by confronting Caddy's violator, Dalton Ames. After the incident on the bridge,(Quentin giving Dalton the ultimatum to leave town, attempting to punch Dalton, and passing out in the process) Quentin begins to realize that his attempts to live up to his family's pseudo family code is pointless. "The total experience [regarding Dalton Ames] is emasculating. Quentin has had it proved to him that he cannot live up to...