"The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner presents a challenging read due to its non-linear narrative and shifts in perspective. The novel is divided into four sections, each with a different narrator or focal character, and the events are not presented in chronological order. To understand the chronological sequence of events, you must piece together the details from each disparate section. Here is a simplified timeline of the major events as they would have occurred in chronological order: 1. **The Compson family history (late 19th century):** The novel provides glimpsorial background on the Compson family's past, including the Civil War service of the patriarch, the acquisition of their land, and the building of their family home. 2. **Caddy's childhood (1898-1902):** The novel presents the early childhood of the Compson siblings—Quentin, Caddy, Jason, and Benjy. These include episodes of their play and misadventures, setting up the dynamic between the siblings. 3. **The Compson children grow up (early 1900s):** As the children age, Caddy becomes sexually active, which disrupts the family dynamic, given the moral values of the time. Quentin, who is deeply troubled by Caddy's behavior, heads to Harvard. 4. **Caddy's marriage and Quentin's suicide (June 2, 1910):** Caddy becomes pregnant by a man named Dalton Ames. She then marries Herbert Head in the hopes of giving her child a name, but Herbert leaves her when he discovers that the child, whom Caddy names Quentin after her brother, is not his. On the same day Caddy marries, Quentin, unable to cope with his sister's fall from purity and his own incestuous feelings for her, commits suicide by drowning. 5. **Caddy's divorce and Miss Quentin's childhood (1910-1928):** Caddy is soon divorced by Herbert Head. She has her daughter, Miss Quentin (also called Quentin), who is raised within the Compson household, although Caddy herself is banished. 6. **Benjy's castration (1913):** After several incidents where Benjy acts out because of his intellectual disability, he is castrated to prevent any potential sexual misbehavior. 7. **The decline of the Compson family (1910-1928):** The Compson family's fortunes and status deteriorate over the years. Mr. Compson dies in 1912, and Mrs. Compson becomes increasingly self-absorbed and ineffective. 8. **Jason's embezzlement (1920s):** Jason Compson IV, the most bitter and cynical of the Compson children, takes control of the family finances and begins embezzling the money Caddy sends for the support of her daughter. 9. **Easter weekend - the present of the novel (April 6-8, 1928):** The remaining three sections of the novel take place over Easter weekend in April 1928. Benjy's section (April 7) reflects on his fragmented memories. Quentin's section (April 6) follows her as she rebels against Jason's control. Jason's section (April 6) details his perspective on the family's downfall and his attempts to control Miss Quentin. The final section, often attributed to the family's black servant Dilsey, takes place on Easter Sunday (April 8) and shows the continuing decline of the family and Miss Quentin's escape with her boyfriend and the money she has stolen from Jason. Mapping these events chronologically can help readers make sense of the fragmented and complex narrative Faulkner created. Through this structure, Faulkner explores themes of time, memory, and the decline of the Old South. Remember that the beauty of "The Sound and the Fury" lies not just in the story it tells, but in how the story is told, and the novel's disjointed timeline is a crucial element of its literary significance.