Quentin loses all hope in the future and in turn drives himself to the point of suicide. Dilsey, in stark contrast, is characterized by the Christian values of faith, hope and love. Her section takes place on Sunday and is charged with Christian images and the idea of forgiveness and rebirth. Quentin’s section was a downward spiral into the despair of his ever collapsing mind. Adamson draws the contrast of Quentin to Dilsey with their assessment of time.
	Dilsey is the only character in the story that has a healthy grasp on the future. Quentin understands the future but cannot come to terms with it; he is helplessly stuck in the past. Dilsey is willing to redefine roles, willing to forgive, willing to move on into the future. Quentin cannot give up what once was for the possibility of what may be. He is stuck in this code of honor from which he cannot release himself or his sister Caddy. This role reversal is the major cause of the downward spiral that leads to Quentin’s death.  Miller goes on to say, Quentin cannot change and it is that simple thing that separates him from Dilsey. 
	The way that Quentin and Dilsey view time differs as greatly as their perspectives on the future. Quentin views time as something that he must escape. He cannot cope with the inevitability. This fact is shown in the images that both Dilsey and Quentin see when they look at a clock. Time is something that Quentin cannot escape and he cannot forget. His sister Caddy has defied the moral code of the south, destroyed the family, and is the symbol of a social change. 
Quentin begins to see time everywhere. The social change that he fears with the progression of time is even using Quentin himself, without his consent. He attempts to both control and stop time by smashing his watch. However, Quentin has failed to stop time; he has failed to prevent the digression of his family name, of the south. 
Dilsey, as an African American woman, is the embodiment of change in the south. Dilsey is the amendment to the code of the south. Quentin cannot bring himself to see that this movement is not the death of the south but its rebirth. Caddy and Dilsey are not causing the collapse; the illegitimate moral codes of the south did that. Caddy and Dilsey only hope that there is for a future. 
	Time moves through Dilsey’s section of the story in the most coherent manner of the entire novel; there is a much better understanding of past and present. The flow of time is smooth in this unlike it has been in any other part of the book. There is a resolution introduced through forgiveness and unification that is communicated quite vividly through the message of Reverend Shegog. 
	This resoluteness from Quentin is the tragedy. He cannot adapt, grow, or function apart from his fixed image of the traditional south. 