“Caddy smelled like trees in the rain” (page 19)

Benjy uses this statement multiple times throughout the book, thus far, to communicate that Caddy and Benjy have a very strong relationship. This relationship is so meaningful to Benjy that it makes an impact on the comfort level of Benjy’s general environment. Every time that Caddy and Benjy have a good interaction, Benjy says this phrase. Benjy communicates the comfort that Caddy offers Benjy by associating her with warmth that she brings to nature. Before Benjy says this, on page 19, Benjy describes a fight between the siblings in which Caddy showed this unwillingness to back down to comply with the way that her authority, Versh, wanted her to act. In this scene, Benjy draws a parallels by associating the fact that Caddy stays firm against the other siblings with this idea that she is the only family member so far that consistently treats Benjy with kindness. This is Benjy’s way of communicating that Caddy brings this sense of comfort to his surroundings, and makes him feel as though he can conquer the others who constantly view him as really inferior. Caddy happiness and life to Benjy, in the same way that nature soothes the soul, in times that the others discourage him.