Student Question
Why does Jason Compson represent the modern south's dilemma in The Sound and the Fury?
Quick answer:
Jason Compson represents the dilemma of the modern South in that he somehow has to carve out an identity for himself in a world that is rapidly changing. That he is unable to do this could be seen as a metaphor for Southern society as a whole. Southern society stagnated during the early part of the twentieth century, and the character of Jason Compson is a reflection of that.
Society was changing rapidly during the period in which The Sound and Fury is set. Yet, Southern society was slow to adapt. It existed in a kind of time-warp in which developments in science, the economy, and the arts, were fiercely resisted by a large segment of the population. Hostile to contemporary developments yet unable to go back to the so-called glories of the past, Southern society stagnated, unable to carve out a distinct identity for itself that wasn't steeped in a romanticization of the old antebellum South.
To a large extent, Jason Compson embodies the Southern dilemma of how to move forward in an ever-changing world. On the one hand, he pays lip-service to the old Southern traditions. But at the same time, he doesn't really believe in them, instead preferring to lead a life of materialistic selfishness.
Even so, Compson is in the modern world, but not of...
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it. He doesn't get with the times so much as see them in fatalistic terms as all part of the inevitable unfolding of history. Among other things, this means he's caught between two stools. Unable to exist in the present yet also unable to retreat into the past, he cannot deal with life in contemporary society. Like the modern South that he represents, he's neither one thing nor the other. Like the modern South, he stagnates and decays.
How does Jason Compson represent the modern South's dilemma in The Sound and the Fury?
Faulkner is typically considered a modernist writer, though some themes in The Sound and the Fury are decidedly postmodern. Jason's experience of trying and failing many times to reinvent himself is a symbol of the post-bellum South. He fails not because he lacks intellect or opportunity, but because he lacks the tools and introspection necessary to transform his circumstances; those tools are typically denied to anyone on the losing side of a war, whether justly or unjustly, and the effects will ripple through many generations.
Of the Compson children, Jason is unarguably the most affected by his family's changing fortunes and by the changing South in general. In the antebellum South, Jason would have inherited his family's fortune and land—due to his brother Benjy's disabilities and his brother Quentin's suicide—and been viewed as a respectable gentleman. Due to his family's loss of fortune and status, Jason bears the brunt of his family's failings, yet must continue to bear the Compson standard.
Jason is portrayed as abusive, bitter, and scheming. As a symbol of the old order, he is physically, emotionally, and financially impotent. He is filled with rage, but has no means by which to transform that rage. Therefore, he sets about destroying all of the things in his life that could restore meaning, such as the relationships with his mother and siblings or the opportunity to obtain honest work for honest pay. He thinks himself superior to everyone in his sphere, but everyone else is able to experience empathy, something he is incapable of.