P. 9, Scene 6 (1928) Cant you shut up . . .
Again, Benjy's memory of Caddy causes him to start moaning, and the moaning annoys Luster. We should be aware that the two, Luster and Benjy, are moving about the environs of the Compson estate and certain objects evoke early memories for Benjy.
P. 9, Scene 7 (April 1913) "Git in, now, and set still . . ."
The exact time of this section is difficult to determine. Most critics assign it to sometime (a week or so) after the death of Mr. Compson. (For example, see Stuart and Backus, "Each in its Ordered Place," American Literature 1958, pp. 453-54.) Evidence drawn from other parts of the novel indicates that the scene must take place at least a year after Mr. Compson's death, probably on the first anniversary of his death. We know that Mr. Compson died less than two years after his son Quentin committed suicide in 1910, making Mr. Compson's death occur in the spring of 1912. We also know that Jason did not start to work in the hardware store until after his father's death and after Mrs. Compson used a thousand dollars of her inheritance to invest in Jason's job. Since this scene presents Jason as already working at the hardware store, it is unlikely that the scene occurs only a week or so after the funeral. And since Mrs. Compson is carrying fresh flowers, we may assume that the scene is in the springtime. Furthermore, Miss Quentin, as a young girl, is down at Dilsey's house playing with baby Luster, who was born about 1912 and would have to be about a year old, again suggesting that the scene should be set in 1913. It is difficult to assign it a later date (such as Spring 1914) because Roskus is still alive and it is suggested that he did not live long after the death of Mr. Compson.
The reader should now become aware of a developing pattern. The things that Benjy remembers are correlated with the day's activities in 1928. These scenes in the earlier part of the section are evoked as a result of Luster's taking Benjy to the same place where an earlier event was initiated. For example, in the preceding scene in 1928, Luster carries Benjy by the carriage house, and Benjy remembers another event that involved the carriage house — that is, the trip to the graveyard. Therefore, all the scenes in the first part of the section occur as a result of Benjy and Luster's actions outside the house, in 1928. In contrast, the scenes that Benjy remembers about his name being changed from Maury to Benjy occur in the last part of the section because Luster carries Benjy into the house, and events inside the house evoke these other memories.
