"Caddy and I ran. We ran up the kitchen steps, onto the porch, and Caddy knelt down in the dark and held me. I could hear her and feel her chest. 'I won't.' she said. 'I won't anymore, ever. Benjy. Benjy.' Then she was crying, and I cried, and we held each other. 'Hush.' she said. 'Hush. I won't anymore.' So I hushed and Caddy got up and we went into the kitchen and turned the light on and Caddy took the kitchen soap and washed her mouth at the sink, hard. Caddy smelled like trees."
Page 48
This, in my opinion, is one of the more powerful passages in what I have read thus far in the book. Preceding this event, Caddy had a sexual experience with a boy named Charlie, who was very harsh toward Benjamin, that ended in something similar to rape. While on the outside it shows the frailties of both characters, it paints Caddy as one of the only 2 characters that genuinely cares for Benjamin and provides a maternal model for him, as opposed to his Mother, who is more of a rigid Matriarch. The idea that Benjy describes emotion in the smell of a person is also a very important reoccurring element that shows Benjy having an ability to read people that one wouldnt expect from someone in his situation. It gives him a power and an understanding that many of the other characters lack
C
ReplyDeleteLate