What happened to the Compson family in The Sound and the Fury?

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In William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, the Compson family represents the decline of the Southern aristocracy, and their story is one of disintegration and loss of honor. The family’s downfall is precipitated by the disgrace of the daughter, Candace (“Caddy”), who was disowned after becoming pregnant out of wedlock.12

The fates of the individual family members are as follows:

  • Quentin: Overwhelmed by the burden of family honor and his sister’s perceived loss of purity, he commits suicide by drowning in 1910 while attending Harvard University.31
  • Caddy: After being divorced and disowned, she leaves the household in 1911. According to the novel's appendix, she eventually moves to Paris.23
  • Miss Quentin: Caddy’s daughter, raised by the Compsons, eventually rebels against her uncle Jason. In 1928, she steals the money Jason had been embezzling from her and flees, never to return.31
  • Benjy: The Compson son with an intellectual disability is committed to an asylum in 1933.3
  • Jason: The failed businessman remains in Yoknapatawpha County, eventually moving into an apartment above his workplace.3