Shadows

The passage on page 80 is one of those that added to the hypnotic effect of the novel. It is beautiful, and above all it’s true. In many ways the reflection on this page about the shadows of the past are a perfect snapshot of the novel in general. Rosa tells her story to Quentin, Jason tells his stories to Quentin and Quentin tells stories to Shreve and in doing so they keep the Sutpens alive. But they aren’t real anymore, they’re no more real than a fictional character because their existence has been reduced to faded words on crumbling bits of paper. They depend entirely on the memory of the living to keep them from fading into the past, forgotten forever. Faulkner once again attacks time, showing it as the crashing waves wiping footprints away on the beach wiping away all traces of a person’s life.  “We have a few old mouth-to-mouth tales; we exhume from old trunks and boxes and drawers letters without salutation or signature, in which men and women who once lived and breathed are now merely initials or nicknames out of some now incomprehensible affection…”People fade, their stories become legend and they are no longer humans but shadows, ideas, lessons to be learned, and a name to be remembered.