June 2, 1910
This entire section is told from within Quentin's mind on the day that he commits suicide. Like Benjy, Quentin constantly returns to memories of scenes from the past. Quentin is at Harvard, but his mind, like Benjy's, roams in memory around the Compson place. But Quentin's mind is more intricate than Benjy's. Whereas Benjy's section only recorded sense impressions that had symbolic significance, Quentin's section plunges into the depths of motivation and into the causes and effects of certain actions. Throughout the section, Quentin's chief concern is with Caddy's sins and her loss of virginity.
The section opens with Quentin's concern over time and his remembrance of his father's comment about time. Interestingly, the entire section is interspersed with various comments that Mr. Compson makes about many aspects of life. Mr. Compson's philosophy is couched in terms of cynicism and determinism. He believes, for example, that there are no significant values in life and that time cures all things. This is the philosophy that Quentin strives to deny but is unable to do so. Quentin's concern with time and with his father's cynical view of life will become clearer as the section progresses.
Though Mr. Compson is not particularly upset when he discovers Caddy's pregnancy, Quentin is horrified. He cannot understand Compson's pragmatic view that virginity is an "invention" of men and of very little concern to women. Quentin, still a virgin himself, is hurt by his father's attitude.
Quentin cannot accept what he feels is Caddy's dreadful sin, and neither can he accept his father's indifference to it. His father believes that all human experience is absurd and therefore Caddy's sin and Quentin's grief are both absurd. If this is so, then all of Quentin's values are meaningless, and Quentin cannot live without a system of values.
