Constantly, Quentin's thoughts are interrupted by remembrances of Mr. Compson's statements. He can find no answer for some of his father's negative comments about life. Mr. Compson's view that virginity and purity are negative states and therefore contrary to nature causes Quentin to experience a dark sense of tragedy. However, his father's view won't even allow Quentin to feel tragedy since Mr. Compson believes that man can experience tragedy only through someone else. All of these cynical remarks that Mr. Compson makes are in support of Caddy's sins, but Quentin still objects. His dilemma is that while rejecting his father's point of view, he cannot argue effectively against his father's views. Quentin knows that his father is partly correct since he himself feels someone else's sin (or tragedy) more than he feels his own plight.
The meeting with the little Italian girl (pp. 125-33) evokes many more memories of Quentin's relationships with Caddy. All through these scenes, the little girl remains perfectly quiet and accepts Quentin's gifts. The pathetic condition of the little girl also makes Quentin recall many of his father's disparaging remarks about women. Furthermore, the presence of the "little dirty girl" recalls to Quentin his first innocent encounter with a girl. Caddy called her a "dirty girl." The implication here is that even though Caddy is promiscuous, she is also jealous of any girl who is attracted to Quentin in the same way that Quentin is jealous of the men who are attracted to Caddy. Thus, there are implications in the actions of both Caddy and Quentin that each wants the other to feel a sexual jealousy over their individual escapades. The mud that Quentin smears all over Caddy suggests, as it did in the branch episode, that Quentin is partly responsible for Caddy's sexual promiscuity.
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.
