The term "motif" refers to recurring ideas or thoughts that act as a unifying idea, and it sometimes develops as a commentary on characterization or on the central ideas in the work. Sometimes motifs recur so frequently that they enhance the meaning of the novel and often rise to symbolic importance. The recurrence of a motif also acts as a unifying idea in the work. Each reading of the novel should suggest additional motifs for the experienced reader, but the purpose here is to suggest only a few of the most dominant motifs.
One of Faulkner's chief concerns in all his works is that of time and timelessness. Often this concern is connected with his view of how often and how much of the past intrudes upon the present. Faulkner's use of time in this novel is startling, new, and highly effective. Essentially, time concepts are used differently in every section.
In Benjy's narration, clock time is almost totally disregarded. Benjy is completely oblivious of time. Events of the past are constantly juxtaposed with various events in the present or some other time in the past. For Benjy, all time blends into one sensuous experience. He makes no distinction between an event that happened only hours ago and one that occurred years ago. The memory of the episode at the branch (1898) is as recent and as vivid as an episode in 1914 or the morning of April 7, 1928. For Benjy, there is no distinction between the past and the present and there is no such thing as future time. If he stands at the gate waiting for Caddy in 1928, it is because he has performed the same act since 1902. He is as anxious for Caddy to return in 1928 as he was years earlier. The many years that he has waited in vain are non-existant to him because he remembers basically only those events that gave him pleasure. Faulkner violates traditional time narrative in order to emphasize Benjy's rejection of the distinction between various times and, more important, to show how actions of the past are important to Benjy because they gave him pleasure. The involved use of time is highly stimulating when we realize that Faulkner is writing about Benjy in 1928, and the event that Benjy remembers in 1898 foreshadows events that occur in 1906-10. That is, in the present time, Benjy remembers a past event (Caddy's getting her drawers muddy) that foreshadows a future event (Caddy's promiscuity in 1906-10).
