Quention and His Shadow

As I went through Quentin’s section, I noticed the constant reference to shadows. Quentin is concerned with upholding the Compson family tradition, and his shadow may represent his family heritage: he wants to leave something substantial behind him, but all that is left of him and his family line are shadows, the imprints of something great that had once been. He seems to associate shadows with nostalgia for the past when he describes how he walks into a dark entrance that was empty, “just the stairs curving up into shadows echoes of feet in the sad generations like light dust upon the shadows, my feet waking them like dust, likely to settle again.”

Numerous times, Quentin describes his attempt to trick his shadow. For instance, he says: “my shadow leaning flat upon the water, so easily had I tricked it that would not quit me. At least fifty feet it was, and if only I had something to blot it into the water, holding it until it was drowned.” Quentin is obsessed with time, and defeating his shadow can be understood as his attempt to free himself from the constraints of time, for shadows reflect the position of the sun in the sky. He is relieved when his shadow is no longer following him, viewing darkness and the disappearance of his shadow as his own victory: “I walked upon my shadow, tramping it into the dappled shade of trees again.” Quentin is searching for his own identity and must harmonize that with his familial expectations. It is also possible that he views his shadow as his family baggage, and while he wants to uphold his family honor, he also desires to defeat it and find his unique identity. Quentin additionally discusses shadows in relation to the many women who are not virgins, depicted in his mind as “walking along in the shadows and whispering with their soft girlvoices lingering in the shadowy places.” Shadows can possibly represent Quentin’s guilt about his inappropriate sexual feelings towards his sister, which he wants to subdue.

Quentin’s chapter concludes with much imagery of light and darkness. He closes his section by describing how he is “turning off his light” and drifting off into the darkness of death, never having to face his shadows again.