Quentin in Harvardland

Is Quentin a distraught Alice in a haunted Wonderland?

There is no question that Quentin himself is distraught, or that nearly everything in the world haunts him. But the parallels between Quentin's and Alice's experiences run deeper than that. Alice literally tumbles into her Wonderland by chasing a white rabbit down a hole: she falls because of her desires and her proximity to the hole. Quentin's world is also a combination of personal and situational factors. He was unfortunate enough to have been born into the Compson family, which seems a recipe for disaster, and then worsens his situation by insisting on chasing after the elusive white rabbit of the Old South.

Like Alice's Wonderland, Quentin's life is dominated by inexplicable characters to whom he cannot relate. Mrs. Bland could be the Queen of Hearts, garrulous but darkly mean-spirited. Benjy could be the hookah-smoking caterpillar, distant and inscrutable. And, like Alice, Quentin is an utter victim of his circumstances. He doesn't try to change what will happen to him because he cannot understand why any of it is happening. Alice's Wonderland disappears when she wakes up; for Quentin, death is the only available exit.