William Faulkner

summary

Jason Compson rages through a day of petty cruelties and anxieties—arguing over money, burning a check, chasing his niece Quentin when he suspects her with a showman, and finding his car sabotaged while telegrams about the cotton market cost him.
Quentin then vanishes; Jason denounces her, drags the sheriff into a fruitless hunt, assaults a showman and returns frantic and violent, more obsessed with reputation and money than with mercy.
Meanwhile Dilsey and the servants keep the household, soothe the disturbed Ben and Luster, attend a fiery revival, and bear the family’s burdens with quiet, pained devotion.