In the following excerpt, Longley states that the novel is about "the death of a family and the corresponding decay of a society," and explores how the character of Caddy is central to the actions of all three of her brothers.
The subject-matter [of Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury] is the death of a family and the corresponding decay of a society. More narrowly, the novel is about the various Compson's—parents and children, brothers and sisters—and how they are able or not able to love each other, and how the failure of love destroys them all. The central focus is the beautiful and doomed Candace Compson. We never see her full-face or hear her speak in her own persona. She lives for us only in the tortured and highly subjective recollection of her three.....
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