Mary Rubi
Dilsey saw the beginning and she now sees the end. Dead, buried, mad, old and defeated, the Compsons are near extinction. The image of Caddie and her soiled underwear climbing up a pear tree is replaced by her daughter Quentin climbing down the pear tree from her bedroom window. The round fertile pear tree becomes a symbol of duality, of feminine fertility and loss. Caddie climbs up the tree to annoy her brothers, to rebel, and to see a better view of the farm. The view wasn’t very good, so Caddie climbs down and runs away. With Quentin gone, the Compson clan is finished. The family is barren, like a dried up well in the dessert. Their death, however, will return Dilsey back to life. Dilesy has seen the power and the glory, tears run down her worn out face as she listens to the preacher give his Easter sermon. (297) She has remained faithful, catering to the whims of those she served, baking biscuits in exchange for rudeness. With little room for justice, the pain she has endured as the servant to the Compsons will be rewarded through death. Like the pear tree, death for the wicked is different than death for the loyal servant. Death is the only way to cleanse the earth of the Compsons, ending the line ends the continuous cycle of pain. Dilsey will get her reward in heaven. She looks upon the world, and the Compson family with prudent eyes. She knows when Luster is doing mischief, she knows when Jason is going to storm down the stairs, and she knows when Benjy is upset.
When Dilsey returns home, she enters Quentin’s room and picks up the ripped undergarment from the floor. (299) She has spent a lifetime trying to remove the stain of the Compson clan, but to no avail, the window remains open. Returning to the destitute matriarch, Dilsey stands at her bedside and asks whether she needs anything. In a moment of maddening irony, Mrs. Compson bitterly asks for her bible, angrily telling Dilsey that she wants the book within arm’s reach. The bible has always been at the foot of the bed, then kicked off and left on the floor. Mrs. Compson isn’t any more a lady than Candace, and her denial is as caustic as Jason’s behavior. Mrs.Compson has always had the bible within reach; she’s always had the power to curtail her family, and to bring harmony to all the disheveled personalities. But first she would have to have humility, by recognizing her own faults and see that she is more responsible for the demise of her family than anyone else. Dilsey knows this, sees this, and is aware of her role in the Compson family. But the end has come. Dilsey has done her best. And now she can find refuge in knowing she can die to wake up in the Great Gettin’ Up Morning.
