For most of the day while Quentin is with the little Italian girl, he thinks about Dalton Ames, who has no sister, and Gerald Bland, who has no sister. Then, suddenly, Quentin is exceptionally kind to a little girl, and he is accused by her brother of molesting or kidnapping her. The irony of it makes Quentin laugh. Here, among poverty and ignorance, he finds the loyalty and love for a sister that he has always felt. But among his own class and relations, Quentin's feelings are ridiculed.
While riding through the country (pp. 146-168), Quentin's thoughts continually return to Caddy's sins. His thoughts and remembrances give us clues to the motivations behind Caddy's promiscuity and reveal Quentin's desperate love for his sister. Caddy feels the need to reject all that the Compsons stand for, especially the world of Mrs. Compson and Jason IV. Even though she loves her father, his cynicism and nihilism are destructive to any type of significant relationship. Therefore, in order to reject everything connected with the false Compson world, Caddy commits acts of sexual promiscuity. She is searching for ways of rejecting and escaping from this awful world. Her method is to enter into sexual relationships with various men; to her, her sins are only more forms of disorder. In contrast, Quentin's driving impulse is to bring order into the world and into his life. Later in this section, we discover that he thinks that if he can convince his father that he, Quentin, committed incest with Caddy, the disorder of Caddy's sin will fade away. Ultimately, however, he realizes that incest would only contribute to the disorder rather than solve it.
Quentin's memory of the other branch scene (pp. 155-96) connects his section with that of Benjy's. Again, Caddy's lying in the branch, letting the water run over her, is her symbol of purification. Since her sexual indulgences are all forms of rejection, she feels the need for cleansing or purifying herself after each encounter. Then each new encounter is a new rejection.
The latter part of the scene is significant since Quentin is offering Caddy a double suicide pact. Caddy is quite willing because suicide would be a complete rejection of her parents, but finally it is Quentin who cannot bring himself to complete the pact.
The knife is also a Freudian phallic symbol. Consequently, on a symbolic level, we may say that Quentin is suggesting incest and that Caddy is again quite willing, but it is Quentin who is unable to carry through the plan. Caddy, who believes that there is a curse on the entire Compson family, is quite willing to commit either suicide or incest since both acts would be violent rejections of the Compson world. But for Quentin, who searches for a meaning in life through an ordered existence, both acts would only lead to further disorder by being violations of accepted behavior.
While Quentin is riding with the Blands, he remembers all the episodes involving Caddy and Dalton Ames. In Quentin's futile encounters with Dalton Ames in the past and with Gerald Bland in the present (pp. 158-68), we see that everything Quentin attempts to do results in failure. Quentin is disturbed by the response of both men when he asks whether either of them has a sister, but he is too weak to handle Dalton Ames and is soundly beaten by Gerald. Gerald's beating is the final indignity of the day. Now Quentin is ready for his final act of suicide.
As Quentin prepares for his suicide (pp. 169-79), the memories become more devastating and horrible. The neurotic mother, the bellowing brother, the fatalistic father, and the sinful sister all combine with Quentin's futile and ineffective attempts to restore order to make him realize that suicide is the only way in which he can escape from himself.
Faulkner ends the Quentin section on an ironic note. The fact that Quentin is so terribly concerned about the order of things in life is the main cause of his present dilemma. His attempts to put life in order have failed. As he goes to his suicide, he makes sure that all the little, insignificant aspects of his life are in order. Mr. Compson said earlier that man is incapable of tragedy. By the same token, man is also incapable of putting his whole life in order. Therefore, all that man can do before he commits suicide is to see that his hat and teeth are brushed.
