The Old South versus Modernism in William Faulkners The...

Internal family issues send a powerful message. Faulkner knew that his time was a time of change and he utilized that fact very well. He knew that many others would relate to the Compson’s due to the modernist movement coming about. The power struggle between agrarian ways and modernist ideals was coming to a peak. William Faulkner pits Southern tradition against emerging modernism in The Sound and The Fury through the Compson family’s struggles. Faulkner utilizes Quentin Compson, who strives and fails to be the textbook Southern Gentleman, to demonstrate retaining the old ways of the South. Quentin attempts to be the Southern Gentleman his mother wants him to be. Thomas Nelson Page tells of the Southern Gentleman’s nature when he writes, â€Å"There was the foundation of a certain pride based on self- respect and consciousness of power† (Page 43). This is the closest to being the ideal Southern Gentleman that Quentin ever comes, as his main only sense of pride comes from his heritage and protecting his name with his life. While Quentin ultimately fails in saving Caddy’s honor, he constructs a plan to save her from her own actions. Quentin shows that he will give up his own good name to make Caddy seem virtuous. William Faulkner displays Quentin’s sense of honor and control when he writes, â€Å"†¦and I’ll tell you how it was I’ll tell Father then it’ll have to be because you love Father then we’ll have to go away amid the pointing and the horror the clean