Rhetorical devices in the sound and the fury

In many of his novels William Faulkner explores human perceptions of time and memory. In his play Requiem for a Nun he writes: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” And early on in his novel A Light in August he writes: “Memory believes before knowing remembers. Believes longer than recollects, longer than knowing even wonders.” Considering the recurring images and symbolism of both time and memory in The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner demonstrates his exploration of time and memory through several recurring rhetorical strategies.

Prompt:
Write a 1500 word or less essay in which you, using The Sound and the Fury as your primary text, identify one major rhetorical strategy that Faulkner employs in order to achieve his exploration of time and memory and track it throughout the text, while analyzing how the chosen rhetorical strategy shifts and changes through each chapter as it continues to elucidate his purpose.

Please include examples and analysis from at least three of the four chapters of The Sound and the Fury AND examples or ideas from at least two of the following sources, which I have provided for you:

Faulkner, William. "An Introduction to The Sound and the Fury" The Sound and the Fury: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Contexts, Criticism. New York: Norton, 1994. 225-228. Print.
Sartre, Jean-Paul. “On The Sound and the Fury: Time and the Work of Faulkner” The Sound and the Fury: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Contexts, Criticism. New York: Norton, 1994. 265-271. Print.
Vickery, Olga. “The Sound and the Fury: A Study in Perspective” The Sound and the Fury: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Contexts, Criticism. New York: Norton, 1994. 278-289. Print.
This essay is combination of a rhetorical analysis essay and a synthesis essay. Please treat it as such, and support a unifying argument with the evidence and examples from your sources. As always, MLA format and citation is required, including a comprehensive works cited page.

You will be graded on three criteria: Content, style and language mechanics, and organization. See the rubric.

Example:
Thesis:
In The Sound and the Fury Faulkner’s syntax (Benjy’s simplicity, Quentin’s complexity, and Jason’s pragmatism) is a window into each character’s perception of memory and time while reflecting each character’s obsession with Caddy; ultimately, the syntactical structure of the text allows for multiple interpretations of plot and perceptions of characters, reflecting human inconsistencies of interpreting memory and time.

Criteria for The Sound and the Fury Rhetorical Analysis Essay Junior AP Multi-Source Literary Analysis
The following is a modification of the Middle Years Program Scoring Criterion A, Content; Criterion B, Style and Language Mechanics; and Criterion C, Organization Maximum: 30

Applying the Criterion:
Since good reading requires interpretation based in an individual student’s engagement with the text and constructing purpose for Faulkner’s exploration of time and memory, earning high marks for this criterion should not depend on a student’s offering a “right” choice of rhetorical device and identification of author’s purpose and effect in relationship to time and memory. There can, nevertheless, be “wrong” interpretations of any text; thus, the quality of the interpretation will depend upon the student’s intelligent use of textual support to substantiate his or her claim about how the rhetorical device influences Faulkner’s exploration of time and memory.
The difference between a satisfactory essay and an excellent one will lie in the degree of sophistication of understanding that the student demonstrates. A satisfactory to good essay might, for example, identify a clear purpose in relationship to time and memory and explain how one rhetorical device influences the interpretation and argument of author’s purpose. Furthermore, a satisfactory to good essay may comment on how rhetorical device reflects a perception of memory or time, and with varying degrees of success, unite all texts mentioned under one cohesive argument. A good to excellent essay might offer the more sophisticated illustration of the rhetorical device and apply it with nuance and subtlety to analysis of perspective, character, motive, and theme, and may offer a sophisticated view of how rhetorical device illustrates human perception and experience. Sophisticated essays may go beyond to discuss the reader’s role as an active participant in making meaning and interpreting texts, constructing plot, and progressing through a well evidenced argument to come to greater understanding of human nature’s difficulties with reconstructing truth.

B: Style and Language Mechanics
Maximum 10

C: Organization (HL) How well organized and coherent is the presentation of ideas?
Maximum: 20

Applying the Criterion: A variety of organizational strategies are possible, and so the awarding of high marks for this criterion should not depend upon a student’s successfully using any particular organizational strategy. Satisfactory to good essays will follow a clear organization that makes it easy for the reader to follow the logic of the argument. They will not digress in any significant way, or interpolate irrelevant information. Satisfactory essays might offer a range of observations about rhetorical device and purpose, but treat all of them as equally important in creating the overall effect. Good to excellent essays will be structured in a way that is purposeful, rather than simply functional. They may, for example, build to an effective climax through the choice of the order of arguments and examples. For this task, an excellent essay might, for instance, employ a point-by-point structure for the comparison rather than a block-by-block structure, and might further structure the argument in such a way as to leave the most compelling argument about the relationship between rhetorical device and purpose, or produce a sophisticated progression of argument that provides the reader with a road map through argument, while also surprising with some of the conclusions drawn. The choice to leave the most sophisticated observation to the end of the essay and creatively progressing the idea would demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the relationship between form and function.

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