A tale told by an idiot, the Benjy section is. Unfortunately for us, the idiot happens to be one who has no perception of time. Benjy's mind works so formulaically that things he sees or hears triggers memories from the past, memories that he remembers perfectly. As a result, his mind zooms, uncontrollably, back and forth, from past to present. As hard as navigating the story is, once untangled, Benjy tells an unbiased and unprejudiced account of all the important events in the Compson household. Only by seeing what happens through a mind too simple to judge things can we understand the straight facts. However idiotic he may seem on the surface, Benjy is among the most perceptive characters in the story. .
Benjy's mind is practically mechanic. Patterns are all that he sees and recognizes. Everything around him fits into some pattern, something he is familiar with. For example, when Dilsey is putting him to bed, Benjy says that the bed smells like T.P. He associates his bed with T.P. and feels secure because it is familiar to him. The same happens with the pigs: he is comfortable because "the pig pen smelled like pigs" (35). It is also interesting to note that he makes no judgments on the pigs, as he simply states that they smell pig-like. His view on the world is so objective that he does not even hear intonations when others ask questions. He makes no judgments because he is unable to. .
However, patterns break down when something unexpected occurs. Order turns into chaos. For Benjy, chaos means wild moaning and slobbering. For so many years Caddy had been such an integral part of his life. Everyday he would wait for Caddy at the gate, and she would greet him there. But when she did not come back one day, he knew that something was amiss. Every time he is reminded of Caddy he cries because she is supposed to be with him but is not. When Caddy puts perfume on, Benjy gets upset because she, who up until now always smelled like trees, suddenly does not.
