P. 12, Scene 8 (1928) Cry baby, Luster said.
P. 12, Scene 9 (1902) "Keep your hands in your pockets."
P. 13, Scene 10 (sometime later) Mr Patterson was chopping . . .
The barn that Benjy sees in Scene 8 (1928) carries his memory back to a continuation of the earlier scene, when he and Caddy are delivering a letter to Mrs. Patterson. This event then causes Benjy to correlate that time with another time, when he tried to deliver a letter by himself. The time of this event has to be in the spring, some months later, because by now Mr. Patterson has intercepted a letter, and the affair must come to an end. Benjy's reactions here are also important. He was doing fine with his task until he looked at Mrs. Patterson's eyes and saw hostility and fear in them. Then he became frightened and could not move. Had Mrs. Patterson not been so hostile and frightened, Benjy would not have become so rigid and frightened. The results of this event will be narrated later on inside the house (Scene 46).
P. 14, Scene 11 (1928) "They aint nothing . . ."
As Luster leads Benjy down to the branch, or stream, Faulkner is preparing us for the most signicant jump back in time in the entire section, the one that occurs by the branch. This long section in the present time gives us the rationale for Luster and Benjy's journey. In the Jason section (Section III), we learn that Jason maliciously burned two tickets Friday night rather than give them to Luster, who is now searching for his lost quarter so that he can attend the minstrel show. The show itself becomes a dominant motif in the present since Miss Quentin will later become involved with some of the show people. Important also is the fact that Benjy's age is finally stated, and that the golfers calling for their caddie reminds him of his sister, Caddy.
P. 17, Scene 12 (1898) . . . and Roskus came . . .
P. 17, Scene 13 (1898) She was wet.
In dating these two parts, we should again be aware of the time shift. Scene 12 consists of only two and one-half lines and occurs about an hour or so later than does Scene 13. The arrival at the branch then evokes scenes associated with this branch back in 1898, which are the easiest to date because the children talk about their ages. Also, throughout the Benjy section, this branch episode conforms most accurately to a chronological order.
The scenes at the branch present symbolically most of the themes and ideas of the novel in miniature. These scenes show symbolically the fate and characteristics of the characters in later life. First, Caddy's actions here are extremely significant. That she falls down and gets her drawers muddy symbolically suggests her later sexual promiscuity. Her utter disregard for her own appearance and her willingness to remove her clothes in front of the blacks are correlated with her later acts that defy accepted social behavior. Second, Quentin is seen as the rather quiet and taciturn person who is more concerned with Caddy's actions than he is with his own. Even this early in life, he tries to prevent Caddy from soiling herself. When Quentin slaps her and she falls down again, we could suggest that, symbolically, Quentin is partially responsible for Caddy's sin.
Aspects of Jason's character are suggested here also. He is seen playing by himself down the creek. His isolation foreshadows his later rejection of all the family ties and his total disregard for any family feelings. Finally, when Benjy sees that Caddy has a muddy behind, he begins to cry. Later in the novel when Caddy has actually been promiscuous, Benjy is able to sense her immorality and cries about it. Basically, then, the adult characteristics of all the Compson children are suggested here in miniature—Caddy's muddy behind, Quentin's intense concern over Caddy's behavior, Jason's rejection and disregard for the family, and Benjy's ability to intuitively sense deviations from the norm.
P. 19, Scene 14 (1928) What is the matter . . .
Often Benjy's thoughts of the past are only temporarily interrupted by Luster's comments in 1928. This scene is a good example, for Benjy is thinking about the branch scene and Caddy's comforting him when Luster interrupts to ask why he is moaning. As soon as Luster is quiet again, Benjy's thoughts return to the branch scene, set in 1898.
Luster's remarks about Benjy's thinking the pasture is still his comes from the fact that once the pasture did belong to the Compsons, but Mr. Compson had to sell it to pay for Quentin's year at Harvard. This is our first knowledge of this fact, another one of the many facts that have to be held in abeyance until a later point in the novel when they will become clearer.
P. 19, Scene 15 (1898, same as Scene 12) Roskus came and said . . .
Note that the beginning words of this scene are almost identical to the entire Scene 12; it now fits into its proper chronological order. This scene further illustrates certain characteristics in miniature that will become dominant motifs later on. First, Caddy and Quentin are both concerned over whether Jason is going to tell on them. Apparently, Jason is different from the other children even at this early age, and he is not in their confidence. Quentin is more concerned over Jason's telling than is Caddy in spite of the fact that it is Caddy who is at fault. Again, this suggests Quentin's over-sensitive concern for Caddy's welfare. Quentin even goes so far as to try to bribe Jason not to tell. Caddy's later disregard for what her family thinks of her actions is foreshadowed here in her disgust at Jason and her pretended unconcern over whether or not he will tell. A further confusion is that Benjy is called "Maury," and during the first reading of the novel this creates a certain difficulty since we are not aware of his name change until later in the novel.
P. 20, Scene 16 (1928) See you all . . .
P. 20, Scene 17 (1898) "If we go slow . . ."
Again, Benjy's thoughts, set in the past, are temporarily interrupted by Luster's comments; afterward, Benjy's thoughts immediately return to the earlier scene, a scene in which one small characteristic of Jason is shown—Jason is characterized as a boy who always walks with his hands in his pockets. Symbolically, this gesture suggests Jason's later mania for money, his various attempts to accumulate and hide sums of money, and his unnatural secretiveness.
