Toward the end of the novel, Caroline even remarks, with stark irony and insensitivity, to Dilsey: " 'You're not the one who has to bear it... It's not your responsibility... You don't have to bear the brunt of it day in and day out..." (p. 272).

While Caroline is unable (and/or unwilling), to cope with, or even cease denying to herself, the realities of present life for the Compsons, a family in decline in the post-bellum South,

Dilsey, offers stability and reliability. Since both Caroline and Jason III are emotionally bereft, Dilsey substitutes as a parent for both of them. However, since Dilsey is not really a Compson family member, it is Dilsey who remains objective enough to state, near the end of The Sound and the Fury: " 'I've seed de first en de last... I seed de beginnin, en now I sees de endin' " (p. 297), in...
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