Benjy's Chapter

Benjy is an extremely symbolic character to this novel, from what I can gather so far. As we can tell from the reading so far, living with someone  who is "mentally retarded" does not higher the status of the family.  Unfortunately , it is viewed to be a burden and tarnishes the family name and also often perceived as a punishment. However, I believe that Faulkner purposely uses this "mental retardation" of Benjy to begin the book because Benjy is actually quite insightful and provides a perspective on the books events that we wouldn't receive otherwise. Benjy is seen as a burden in the Compson household because there must be someone there to constantly take care of him, examples of this can be seen with the Mother's attitude concerning Benjy. She blatantly questions why she must deal with her son, and what she has done to receive such punishment. The family even changes his name from Maury to Benjamin after learning of his retardation, fearing that it may soil the reputation of Uncle Maury. Ironic because Uncle Maury is a drunkard, and that doesn't seem to affect his beloved reputation. 

Another significant thing about Benjy, is the date his chapter is recorded on and his birthday. Benjy was 33, the same age as Jesus was when he was crucified. The date on which this chapter is recorded, April 7, 1928 was the Saturday right before Easter. This is significant because April is a month of life and growth. However, historically the day of Benjy's birth is significant  because it is in-between Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, thus making it  one of the darkest days. Much like Christ himself, Benjy suffers immensely but unlike Christ he can not put a stop to it. 

Not only is Benjy seen as a burden in the Compson family, but he is also the only who seems to recognize the pitfalls of the family. He is not able to do anything about these pitfalls and discrepancies and therefore he simply wails and moans. Benjy's unique perspective of the family provides with different use of the senses. Benjy is able to smell, see, and hear things differently than others in the family. This power is something nobody else in the family has, and therefore it shows us the not so pretty parts of the rest of the family members. 

Benjy is extremely dependent on consistency in his life because that's all he has to keep him afoot throughout the crazy emotions of his family. He cannot rely on himself and therefore must rely on everyone else around him. When turmoil strikes the family, Benjy feels helpless and cannot form his own opinions/emotions on the matters and as a coping mechanism he retreats into the extreme nostalgia that brings him comfort. This speaks about the concept of the family and the South because it says that they don't deal with turmoil well and it reflects poorly on them but they aren't able to see this. It also says that the culture of the South can somewhat be ignorant at times, in this case concerning Benjy's mental retardation. 

Benjy plays a huge symbolic role in the novel, he symbolizes the failure of the Compson family and also seen as a burden to the family in general. He silently symbolizes  every problem the family goes through because they consider him a scapegoat due to his disability. He symbolizes the incredible amount of turmoil the Compson family is in.