Symbolism of water in Faulkner's the Sound and the Fury

Abstract

One of Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha novels and short stories that pays special attention to the production of water symbolism is his The Sound and the Fury. Water in all its physical conditions and manifestations (branch, river, rain, tears, ice, wet drawers, wet clothes, bathing, bathroom, dropsy, mud, etc.) is present in Benjy's, Quentin's, Jason's and Dilsey's discourses and, consequently, acquires different symbolic meanings. They can be read in the context of purity, restoration, female sexuality, resistance/subversion and control/manipulation.