Quentin Compson: An In-depth exploration

Although I have read only a few works by William Faulkner (two, to be exact), one common theme that his stories seem to possess is the decay of the Southern aristocratic family. In The Sound and the Fury, the character who this decay affects most severely is the thoroughly unbalanced narrator of the second section, Quentin Compson. Quentin is the eldest of the Compson children and, arguably, the most interesting character in the novel. However, to understand the inner workings of Quentin's warped mind, the reader has to wade through about one hundred pages of fractured syntax, absent punctuation, and sudden narrative leaps from present to past. Fortunately, I was aided by a helpful scholarly article, cited below, that took my general sentiments about Quentin and expounded upon them.
The Language of Chaos, by May Cameron Brown, examines Quentin's character by looking at a number of common themes within the section, some that I noticed and others that I did not pick up on. One opinion that Brown posits in her piece refers the symbolic importance of doors in the section. Brown mentions that most of Quentin's "adventures" in the morning are introduced by doors, and suggests that when he closes the door to the jeweler's shop, "the imagery foreshadows his...suicide which will kill time." Another interesting observation that Brown makes connects Faulkner's novel to the passage from Macbeth for which it was named. In doing so, she connects the tale "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing," to Quentin's suicide. For example, she connects the "recorded time" referenced in Macbeth to Quentin's feeling of claustrophobia regarding time in general and she considers Quentin to be the "poor player" mentioned by Shakespeare.
Although I agree with the vast majority of the ideas in Brown's article, I have one minor nitpick with the way they are presented in her novel. She treats the various idiosyncrasies of Quentin's character as separate entities, the most important of which being his relationship with time. However, at least in my interpretation of the section, most of Quentin's most important characteristics can be understood as manifestations of an more important theme: Quentin's burning desire to live up to his heritage. This theme seems apparent from the beginning when he smashes his watch, a family heirloom that had been passed down from his grandfather, against his dresser. To me, this symbolized Quentin's frustration at being unable to live up to his family's legacy. In addition, his obsession with sexuality and virginity, both Caddy's and his own, can be attributed to Quentin's desire to become a complete Southern gentleman, as he remarks, "In the South you are ashamed of being a virgin (78)." Likewise, his obsession with Caddy can be interpreted as a mixture of jealousy (never overtly stated but heavily implied) of her sexual experience, and protectiveness that seemingly comes from Quentin's warped interpretation of the chivalric code. The latter can be found in Quentin's interference with almost all of Caddy's relationships, ranging from him interrupting her when they are both kids to his fighting Dalton Ames later in life.
Quentin is a complex character, and his section of narration is somewhat resistant to in-depth analysis due to the unorthodox format. However, Brown's article does an excellent job of examining all aspects of his personality. While I may agree with the thesis slightly, this is a difference of interpretation only while looking at the one of the most complicated characters in the novel: Quentin Compson.