Jason Sucks.

I’m pretty sure that when Jason so blatantly points out that “Once a bitch, always a bitch,” he’s definitely referring to himself. Even from the cradle, he’s known to be a little tattle tale--making sure to tell on Caddy every chance he gets. He also starts swindling his friends at an early age which isn’t exactly the nicest thing to do. And then? Well, he grows up to be a holier-than-thou buttface who’s racist, sexist, and uncomfortably creepy towards his niece, mother, and the rest of his family.

Alright, so let’s go along with my super exciting Hamlet analogy! After giving this some more serious thought, I realized that Caddy isn’t actually Ophelia or Gertrude in this situation--she’s Hamlet, herself. Because of her forbidden tastes of life, she figures that she has to rebel against her own family in order to fulfill her own sense of justice. Even though Quentin goes on long, spiralling rants about time, suicide and sexuality, he’s actually a lot more like Ophelia: after being rejected by the person he loves most in the world (in a non-sexual way--I’m pretty convinced that he has no incestuous feelings towards Caddy) and while losing the respect of his father, he realizes that the only way to escape his own madness and fear is to jump into a river and kill himself. After this, we forget about Laertes--the man who has a sword with a poison tip in hopes of killing Hamlet. Laertes is certain that Hamlet is the one who causes the death of both his father and sister (whom he loves very dearly), and this drives him to turn against Hamlet who he had always admired. Boy, who does this sound like? Definitely Jason. Although, Jason is a lot less relatable than Laertes as a character, considering he sucks. Which, in this little analogy, uncomfortably enough, makes Missy Q Gertrude. But wait a minute! She didn’t come into the story until much later!!!

Hamlet is completely overprotective of Gertrude but is unable to really be there for her since she was taken away from him by Claudius (or Miss Cah-line--or maybe time itself? I’ll think about this more). In a way, Missy Q is the largest downfall of the Compson family--she’s proof that they’re turning into the impoverished white trash family they’ve always feared of becoming. Therefore, everyone is trying to decide what is best for her, instead of letting her mother take care of her. And whoops--she’s actually left in the hands of her creepy, sexist and aggressive uncle, Jason, who is personally stealing the money her mother sends her every month to use for his own enjoyment. But wait a minute, hold the phone, this is seriously starting to sound like Scar’s song from The Lion King as he tries to take over more of the Animal Kingdom! Well, Elton John confuses some of the lines there. But here’s a link for background music as we dive into Jason’s character a little bit more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkU23m6yX04 .

As I mentioned before, Jason’s always been known to be the least liked of the four Compson children. Caddy always felt extreme love for Benjy, Quentin and Caddy shared an extremely special bond, and Quentin could put up with Benjy for Caddy’s sake: but where did that leave poor little Jason? Absolutely nowhere. He had to begin to find new friends by himself, beginning to rely on money to bring him the happiness he craved from his family. However, even as he grew to become the favorite of his parents (especially his mother), he began to crave the attention of his siblings. Due to his own personal neurotic and obsessive complexes when it came to his self-image and the image of the family, his most important idol naturally became his older brother, Quentin. However, after losing the only person that he really looked up to (and realizing that the money the Compsons spent on Quentin’s Harvard education--or the education that could have potentially been Jason’s), it seriously made him grow bitter. But that’s really no excuse for the terrible person he is. He’s really just a spoiled brat when it all comes down to it--he hates everyone around him and refuses to do anything for them, even though he knows they’re in trouble.

His treatment of his elderly mother and teenage niece are prime examples of how Disney-esque Jason really is--from being verbally to physically abusive, the reader is immediately aware of his rotten nature. Like Quentin, he is constantly living in the past, and regretting the decisions of the family. However, unlike Quentin, he’s always got someone else to blame for all of his problems. Honestly, I’d rather never talk or think about Jason again, so I’m gonna leave it here, until I can scrounge up more info on the subject.