The Novels of William Faulkner.

'"'I couldn"'"t smell trees anymore'"' The title of The Sound and the Fury is based on lines in Macbeth, by William Shakespeare; '"'Life"'"s just a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more; it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury Signifying nothing.'"' According to this Benjy, the narrator of …

…preceding clauses to build up to it. Now the reader can see that the first clause was a form of false hope. Caddy gave Benjy the sense that she was going to protect him, but she was getting married and leaving. She had also gotten pregnant outside of wedlock and this caused Benjy great sadness. He was not fooled by the hug because he could smell that the scent of trees was no longer there.