In The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner places Dilsey into the mammy role, which is a stereotypical role for a black servant in Southern society. The stereotypical characteristic of a black woman helping a white family is a stereotypical depiction, but Dilsey is not a stereotypical character because she genuinely loves both her family and the Compson family. Faulkner deliberately pushes the Gibson family, especially Dilsey, into the background to show that the Gibsons’ are the backbone of the Compson family. Since Faulkner places the Gibson family has a supportive crutch to the Compson family, many readers come to the conclusion that the black help is a stereotypical characteristic; however, this is not the case in this novel. The novel …show more content…
Davis states that Faulkner’s novel The Sound and the Fury, “disintegration of a white southern family with the survival of a black family” (396). This an accurate statement because the Gibson family is the only family in the novel that remains in order. After Dilsey gets out of church, she realizes, "I've seed de first en de last ... I seed de beginning, en now I sees de endin" (297). Dilsey has always been there for all the Compson family members. She is the constant structure that the Compson family needs, but the family never acknowledges. Thus, readers acknowledge Dilsey’s words when comparing to the disorderly Compson family structure, that none of the Compsons’ can physically say nor can mentally handle the disorganization. In the end, the Compson family deteriorates. Cleanth Brooks says, “All are dead or departed except the whining hypochondriac Mrs. Compson, the cold and sterile bachelor Jason, and the uncomprehending Benjy” (297). Dilsey understands that the Compson family is withering away. If Dilsey is only portrayed as a stereotype then she would fail to realize the collapse of the Gibson family; however, Dilsey is a human being, who truly cares about the Compson