Summary of 1910 Encyclopedia Britannica "European Reaction to Leopold's Abuses" and Leopold II's letter "The Sacred Mission of Civilization"

        -- In the late 19^th Century the Belgian parliament had passed controversial decrees. These decrees made all vacant land in the Congo the domain of the state and created a state monopoly on ivory and rubber. This monopoly was amended to allow for private companies to trade in the Congo but those companies were either influenced by the state as a major shareholder or gave a percentage of their profits to the state.

 

       -- Several major powers brought many charges against the state, the major player being Great Britain. These countries accused The Congo government of monopolizing and treating the natives harshly. A British official made a trip through the Congo in 1903 and wrote a report about the conditions there, greatly strengthening the British accusations. Leopold was forced to create a commission of inquiry to go to the Congo and “investigate the condition of the natives, and if necessary recommend reforms.

 

        -- The commission of inquiry published a report on its findings in 1905. They found that while the condition of the natives was less than satisfactory, forced labor was the only possible way to reap the benefits of the natural resources. They did acknowledge as well that there was no trade between the natives themselves and that a law be passed limiting the amount of labor per native be kept to 40 hours a month. As this report was published a commission to “study the recommendations contained in the report and formulate detailed proposals” was formed.

 

        -- King Leopold passed several decrees to rectify the problems which fell far short of serious reforms. The Belgians however viewed the decrees as restriction of Belgium’s liberty of action in the Congo. Britain on the other hand was not happy with the reforms and threatened that they would have to reconsider their treaties in the Congo if things did not change.

 

         -- Britain and America became increasingly hostile to Belgian reforms after this and demanded that something be done to improve the Congo system. In 1907 Belgium signed a treaty announcing the cession of the Congo to Belgium. This move aggravated even the most loyal Belgian politicians.

 

            -- Leopold gave up the Foundation in the Congo but he got a very generous compensation package. He retained most of his personal land in the Congo and was to be paid by the conony two million pounds in debt. Belgium also respected the concessions granted to the companies that held large amounts of land.

 

           -- Leopold states in his letter that, “When our directing will is implanted among [the natives] its aim is to triumph over all obstacles.” He believed that philanthropic influence could achieve the results that he wanted.

 

           -- He also states that action is a necessary option. To him war does not mean destruction it only serves as a means to implant that directing will. His agents “feel profoundly reluctant to use force” on the natives.

 

     --  The soldiers who are recruited from the natives are of the belief that an enemy is only defeated when he is destroyed. They must follow the influence of the White Officer to find the true way. These natives must find their civilization through their European leaders.

 

             -- The officers, volunteers from the Belgian army, all have a strong sense of honor and patriotism. They will spare the natives and teach them the benevolent ways of civilization.

The Collapse of the Comptons

In the last chapter of The Sound and the Fury we see the end of the Compson family. This depiction of the end of the family provides a clean ending to the story as a whole. By this time in the story: Father is dead from his alcoholism, Quentin the elder is dead by his own hand, Caddy is banished, Mother is to feeble to run the household, and Quentin the younger has run away. The family is collapsing in on itself; every member is either dead, gone, or unable to support the rest. Jason actively steals from his mother and sister, mother is stuck in her room all day, and Benjy is Benjy. The last chapter presents the end of their way of life. Quentin escapes the family she never belonged to with all of Jason’s ill-begotten money. Jason loses his stolen assets that keep him financed in his various shady dealings. They all lose that which kept them tied to the family and in doing so the family dies. The only one who is not adversely affected by this downfall, at least within the scope of the story, is Benjy. We are left with the image of him serenely sitting in a carriage bound for home holding a broken flower, much as we found him. (217)

Folklore in The Sound and the Fury

Peavy, Charles D. “Faulkner's Use of Folklore in The Sound and the Fury” The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 79, No. 313 (Jul. - Sep., 1966), pp. 437-447

 

In his article Peavy talks about the use of folklore by Faulkner in The Sound and the Fury and his focus is mainly on Benjy and plants. Benjy is usually depicted with some kind of “security blanket” in the novel and more often than not it is a flower of some sort. Peavy talks about the significance of these flowers in relation to folklore and superstitions. His comfort flower is usually a jimson weed, which conveys a sinister meaning to the reader.

 

“One of the most recurrent uses of folk belief in the book is the identification of Benjy with the jimson weed: on the fourth page of the novel Benjy is given a jimson weed to prevent his crying and he continues to play with jimson weeds throughout the book. The jimson weed . . . has a multiplicity of meanings in the folklore of the region. A coarse, ill-scented annual plant, the jimson weed is a member of the nightshade family and is, of course, quite poisonous. . . . Indeed that Benjy, an idiot, is allowed by his negro keepers to play with such a dangerous plant is surprising.”

 

Indeed the fact that Benjy is almost constantly holding his jimson weed is in fact symbolic of the poison that flows through the Compson family. Benjy himself, being simple and unassuming, seems unaffected by the jimson weed, much as he is unaffected by the bickering of the family. He bears the weight of the poison on the family as he bears the flower but he feels no worse for it. He is the focus of most of the family’s pain, with his constant need for attention and even events as drastic as his castration. The family all have their arguments dripping with venomous words which generally involve Benjy in some way. He carries their problems unknowingly and he carries the flower oblivious to its deadly secret.

 

In his article Peavy also points out the part of the novel when Benjy’s jimson bottle is empty. “The poisonous aspect of the plant is perhaps used symbolically by Faulkner: in the last chapter the bottle holding Benjy’s jimson weed flowers is an empty poison bottle.”

 

The symbol of the empty bottle of poison is a grim commentary on the Compson family. The fact that the family has been in a downward spiral throughout the book leads the reader to expect their downfall. The empty bottle could symbolize that there is just no poison left and that the family has simply dried out and gone. Over the years they have all taken their dose of the poison they produced until every last drop was gone and they were no more. In the end the Compson family is dying if not already dead; and the image we are left with is just the idiot, Benjy, serenely holding a flower. (504)