William Faulkner - Absalom, Absalom!

Context
William Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi, in September 1897; he died in
Mississippi in 19!" Faulkner a#hie$ed a reputation as one o% the &reatest Ameri#an no$elists o%
the !'th #entury lar&ely based on his series o% no$els about a %i#tional re&ion o% Mississippi
#alled (oknapatawpha )ounty, #entered on the %i#tional town o% *e%%erson" +he &reatest o% these
no$els,,amon& them The Sound and the Fury, Light in August, and Absalom, Absalom!,,rank
amon& the %inest no$els o% world literature"
Faulkner was espe#ially interested in moral themes relatin& to the ruins o% the -eep South
in the post,)i$il War era" .is prose style,,whi#h #ombines lon&, uninterrupted senten#es with
lon& strin&s o% ad/e#ti$es, %re0uent #han&es in narration, many re#ursi$e asides, and a %re0uent
relian#e on a sort o% ob/e#ti$e stream,o%, #ons#iousness te#hni0ue, whereby the inner e1perien#e
o% a #hara#ter in a s#ene is #ontrasted with the s#ene2s outward appearan#e,,ranks amon& his
&reatest a#hie$ements" .e was awarded the Nobel 3ri4e %or 5iterature in 1969"
Absalom, Absalom! is perhaps Faulkner2s most %o#used attempt to e1pose the moral #rises
whi#h led to the destru#tion o% the South" +he story o% a man hell,bent on establishin& a dynasty
and a story o% lo$e and hatred between ra#es and %amilies, it is also an e1ploration o% how people
relate to the past" Faulker tells a sin&le story %rom a number o% perspe#ti$es, #apturin& the
#on%li#t, ra#ism, $iolen#e, and sa#ri%i#e in ea#h #hara#ter2s li%e, and also demonstratin& how the
human mind re#onstru#ts the past in the present ima&ination"
Summary
7n 1888, a wild, imposin& man named +homas Sutpen #omes to *e%%erson, Mississippi,
with a &roup o% sla$es and a Fren#h ar#hite#t in tow" .e buys a hundred s0uare miles o% land
%rom an 7ndian tribe, raises a manor house, plants #otton, and marries the dau&hter o% a lo#al
mer#hant, and within a %ew years is entren#hed amon& the lo#al aristo#ra#y" Sutpen has a son and
a dau&hter, .enry and *udith, who &row up in a li%e o% un#ulti$ated ease in the northern
Mississippi #ountryside" .enry &oes to #olle&e at the 9ni$ersity o% Mississippi in 18:9, and
meets a sophisti#ated %ellow student named )harles ;on, whom he be%riends and brin&s home %or
)hristmas" )harles meets *udith, and o$er time, an en&a&ement between them is assumed" ;ut
Sutpen reali4es that ;on is a#tually his own son,,.enry and *udith2s hal%,brother,,%rom a
pre$ious marria&e whi#h he abandoned when he dis#o$ered that his wi%e had ne&ro blood" .e
tells .enry that the en&a&ement #annot be, and that ;on is .enry2s own brother; .enry rea#ts
with outra&e, re%usin& to belie$e that ;on knew all alon& and willin&ly be#ame en&a&ed to his
own sister" .enry repudiates his birthri&ht, and he and ;on %lee to New <rleans" When war
breaks out, they enlist, and spend %our hard years %i&htin& %or the )on%edera#y as the South
#rumbles around them" At the end o% the war, Sutpen =a #olonel> %inds his son and re$eals to him
that not only is ;on his and *udith2s hal%,brother, he is also, in part, a bla#k man"
+hat knowled&e makes .enry re$olt a&ainst ;on in a way that e$en the idea o% in#est did
not, and on the day ;on arri$es to marry *udith, .enry murders him in %ront o% the &ates o% the
Sutpen plantation" Sutpen returns to a broken house, and be#omes a broken,,thou&h still
%or#e%ul,,man; he slides slowly into al#oholism, be&ins an a%%air with a %i%teen,year,old white &irl
named Milly, and #ontinues in that $ein until, %ollowin& the birth o% his and Milly2s dau&hter, he
is murdered by Milly2s &rand%ather Wash *ones in 189"
-e#ades later, in 19'9, ?uentin )ompson is a twenty,year,old man, the &randson o%
Sutpen2s %irst %riend in the #ountry =@eneral )ompson>, who is preparin& to lea$e *e%%erson to
attend .ar$ard" .e is summoned by Miss Aosa )old%ield, the sister o% Sutpen2s wi%e Bllen =and
brie%ly Sutpen2s %ian#ee hersel%>, to hear the story o% how Sutpen destroyed her %amily and his
own" <$er the %ollowin& weeks and months, ?uentin is drawn deeper and deeper into the Sutpen
story, dis#ussin& it with his %ather, thinkin& about it, and later tellin& it in detail to his .ar$ard
roommate Shre$e" +he story is burned into his brain the ni&ht he &oes with Miss Aosa to the
Sutpen plantation, where they %ind .enry Sutpen,, now an old man,,waitin& to die" Months later,
Aosa attempts to return %or .enry with an ambulan#e, but )lytie, +homas Sutpen2s dau&hter with
a sla$e woman and now a withered old woman hersel%, sets %ire to the manor house, killin&
hersel% and .enry, and brin&in& the Sutpen dynasty to a %iery end"
Characters
Thomas Sutpen , <wner and %ounder o% the plantation Sutpen2s .undred, in (oknapatawpha
)ounty, near *e%%erson, Mississippi" Married to Bllen )old%ield; %ather o% .enry, *udith, and
)lytemnestra Sutpen, also o% )harles ;on" An indomitable, will%ul, power%ul man, who a#hie$es
his ends throu&h shrewdness and darin&, but who la#ks #ompassion" Murdered by Wash *ones in
189"
Charles Bon , Son o% +homas Sutpen and Bulalia ;on, the part, bla#k dau&hter o% the
owner o% the .aitian plantation on whi#h the youn& +homas Sutpen was o$erseer" A%ter Sutpen
renoun#ed his wi%e and son upon learnin& o% Bulalia2s ne&ro blood, ;on and his mother mo$ed to
New <rleans, where ;on li$ed until de#idin& to attend the 9ni$ersity o% Mississippi in 18:9" A
la#oni#, sophisti#ated, and ironi#al youn& man"
Ellen Coldfield Sutpen , +homas Sutpen2s se#ond wi%e, mother o% .enry and *udith Sutpen" A
%li&hty and e1#itable woman"
Rosa Coldfield , Bllen )old%ield2s mu#h,youn&er sister, youn&er aunt o% .enry and *udith
Sutpen" ;rie%ly en&a&ed to +homas Sutpen %ollowin& Bllen2s death, but le%t him a%ter he insulted
her" Spent the rest o% her li%e as a bitter spinster, obsessed with her an&er and hatred o% +homas
Sutpen"
Mr. Coldfield , A middle,#lass Methodist mer#hant and %ather o% Bllen and Aosa"
Henry Sutpen , +homas Sutpen2s son with Bllen" @rew up on Sutpen2s .undred, then attended
the 9ni$ersity o% Mississippi be&innin& in 18:9" +here he be%riended )harles ;on, whom he later
murdered" A well, meanin& and romanti# youn& man, with his %ather2s stren&th o% purpose but
la#kin& his %ather2s shrewdness"
Judith Sutpen , +homas Sutpen2s dau&hter with Bllen" @rew up on Sutpen2s .undred, where
she was en&a&ed to )harles ;on in 18'" Stron&, indomitable, and, like her %ather, swi%t to
a#tion"
Clytemnestra Sutpen ("Clytie" , -au&hter o% +homas Sutpen and a sla$e woman" @rew up
on Sutpen2s .undred as subser$ient to *udith and .enry; remained at the plantation until burnin&
the manor house down in 191', an e$ent whi#h #aused her death"
!ash Jones , A low,#lass s0uatter li$in& in the abandoned %ishin& #amp at Sutpen2s .undred"
3er%ormed odd /obs %or and drinks whiskey with +homas Sutpen" Milly2s &rand%ather; murdered
Sutpen with a rusted s#ythe in 189"
Milly Jones , Wash *ones2 youn& &randdau&hter, who at %i%teen &a$e birth to +homas Sutpen2s
#hild" Murdered, alon& with Sutpen and the baby, by her &rand%ather shortly a%ter the birth"
Charles Etienne de St. "alery Bon , Son o% )harles ;on and his o#toroon mistress, wi%e"
+aken by )lytie to Sutpen2s .undred in 1871" Married a ne&ro woman in 1879" A tormented,
$iolent man"
Jim Bond , Son o% )harles Btienne de St" Calery ;on and his ne&ro wi%e" Aaised by )lytie on
Sutpen2s .undred, %rom whi#h he disappears %ollowin& the %ire in 191'" A sla#k,/awed, oa%ish
man"
#uentin Compson , A youn& man %rom *e%%erson, Mississippi, who is preparin& to attend =and
later does attend> .ar$ard in the %irst part o% the !'th #entury"
$eneral Compson , ?uentin2s &rand%ather and +homas Sutpen2s %irst %riend in (oknapatawpha
)ounty" A ;ri&adier @eneral %or the )on%edera#y durin& the )i$il War, and a distin&uished
#iti4en o% *e%%erson, Mississippi"
Mr. Compson , ?uentin2s %ather and @eneral )ompson2s son, a man who belie$es in the power
o% %ate to destroy human li$es" Aelays to ?uentin many o% the stories he heard %rom his %ather
about +homas Sutpen"
Shre%e , ?uentin2s roommate at .ar$ard, a youn& man %rom Bdmonton in Alberta, )anada"