Caddy: An Erased Stain

#8. By the end of the novel, Mrs. Compson has forbidden the mention of Caddy’s name. What is significant about the fact that Caddy does not have her own chapter (and that she is nameless by the end of the novel)?

Although Caddy does not have a chapter of her own in which to convey her portion of the deterioration of the Compson family, she is present in all the other stories. In the eyes of her brothers, Caddy seems to be the root of evil so to speak. In each brothers’ telling of the story some wrong has been inflicted on their lives from something Caddy has done. In actuality, the brothers’ own insecurities and ignorance allow Caddy’s actions to affect them more than they in fact do. Each chapter told by a brother illustrates in what way Caddy has tormented their existence. Caddy does not need a chapter to tell how she tormented her own existence and can not tell how she ruins her brothers, for really it was not her that ruined them but themselves. Also, the chapters in The Sound and the Fury help to characterize each the person telling the story. Because Caddy becomes the central theme in each chapter, she is indirectly characterized by each brother. Each one offers one more piece to the puzzle that is Caddy to the extent that she becomes the character best described and known. She is not in need of a single chapter to characterize her for she has been characterized throughout the novel.
By forbidding Caddy’s name to be mentioned, Mrs. Compson is hoping to erase Caddy from the family history. Because she has been such a shame and disappointment as well as causing the family so much grief, Mrs. Compson hopes to forget that she ever existed. Also, Caddy is nameless by the end because she has in many ways disappeared. The ties to which she was connected to family have been severed. Her mother has disowned her, she has broken Benjy’s heart, Quentin has killed himself, Jason despises her, and Miss Quentin, Caddy’s last connection to her family has fled. Every person who holds some key to Caddy’s past or future has detached themselves from her in some way, so in a way the memory that she was alive is dead, therefore she is gone, nameless.