Throughout all of our class discussions, we have always spoken of Caddy as a headstrong and rebellious character who is incapable of being restrained by anybody; however, this image we hold of her is shattered in Part 3 of the novel. In this section, Caddy allows herself to be controlled and tormented by her emotionless brother Jason. He directly handles all of the money which she sends to her daughter Quentin, he is the only character who he permits her to have any communication with, and he tells her what she can and can’t do. Unlike the Caddy that Benjy idolizes who would have reacted to such treatment with defiance, the present-day Caddy only responds to Jason’s tyranny with compliance. In many ways, this is the moment during which the reader witnesses the true downfall of Caddy. Although getting pregnant and marrying to cover up her promiscuity is a low point for her, the greatest tragedy in her storyline is that she loses herself. By the end of this section, we see Caddy as nothing more than an empty shell of her former-self.
I was wondering what triggered this change in Caddy’s character. Perhaps it is related to Quentin’s suicide, is that why she loses her spirit? Was Mr. Coon right to assume that Herbert was a wife-beater and therefore has robbed Caddy of her rebellious fire? Or, did Caddy simply appear strong and fearless because we were witnessing her youth through Benjy’s eyes (245)?
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