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Absalom Absalom

An Offprint from

BEACHAMï¿½S

GUIDE TO

LITERATURE

FOR

YOUNG

ADULTS

Absalom, Absalom!

THOMSON

--------------*---------------

GALE

Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults, Volume 15

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Scot Peacock

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Anne Marie Hacht, Julie Keppen, Lisa Kumar, Michael L LaBlanc Thomas McMahon, Ira Mark Milne, Pam Revitzer, Kathy Sauer, Jennifer Smith, Daniel Toronto, Carol Ullmann

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ISBN 0-7876-5835-9 ISSN 1529-7446

Printed in the United States of America 10 987654321

Introduction

♦

Since the first three volumes of Beacham's Guide to Literature far Young Adults were published in 1989, selecting which literary works to cover has been a long and difficult process. The series editors originally began with a list of over four thousand titles; we then pared this list to about one thousand titles. In paring this second list even further, we had five main considerations: 1) Is the title a popular one that young people like to read? 2) Does the work possess literary merits or social themes that warrant calling it to the attention of young readers, their parents and teachers? 3) Is the work a classic that had over time won a permanent place in young adult literature? 4) Is the title a critically acclaimed work that had won awards, such as the Newbery Medal? 5) Is the book appropriate for a junior high or high school audience?

Scholars, teachers, and librarians offered practical advice about what books were of particular interest to young adults, and each of the titles included in this series meets at least three of the criteria mentioned above. The titles included in the series represent a cross-section of the complex world of young adult literature. Volumes 1-3 cover mainstream novels and short story collections, historical novels, classics, biographies, autobiographies, and nonfiction. Volume 4 covers science fiction, adventure novels, myths, epics, and mysteries. Volume 5 covers fantasy and gothic novels. Volumes 6-8 include novels, biographies, autobiographies, and other nonfiction published since 1980. Volume 9 continued the focus on contemporary fiction and nonfiction.

Beginning with Volume 10, the series returned to its basic tenet of covering works of fiction and nonfictionï¿½both contemporary and classicï¿½that have been widely recognized as important books for young adult readers. The titles we have included vary in reading difficulty and maturity of subject matter, so that there are many titles appropriate for junior high, as well as high school students. We have included titles that have been widely recognized and reviewed, including Newbery Award and Honor Book recipients, but have also included some authors who have been overlooked in the review process. We hope that by including them here, they will begin to gain the recognition they deserve.

Since the publication of the first volumes of Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults, we have discovered that the audience for the series is large and diverse. It includes involved readers who want to know more about their favorite books and authors; students who are researching term papers and book reports; teachers preparing classes; librarians building collections and selecting books for their patrons; parents seeking appropriate reading material for their children; and college students and professors developing ideas for curriculum designs. An easy-to-follow format had to be devised that provides the clarity

that younger readers require, while providing detailed information and depth of thought to satisfy the interests of more experienced readers. Especially useful to teachers planning thematic segments, and to students writing papers and reports, is the appendix that groups titles by themes. There are thematic appendices at the end of Volume 3, in Volumes 4 and 5, and at the end of Volumes 8 to 15. The cumulative index in the current volume provides easy access to authors and titles for the entire series. Each formatted article is divided into the following sections.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The basics of the author's life are laid out here, with particular attention to the events that shaped the writer's work or sensibilities. This section also discusses the author's critical and popular success.

OVERVIEW

This section, which provides a snapshot of the plot and characters, is intended to generate student interest in reading the book, and to give teachers and librarians a quick guide to the subject matter.

SETTING

Many books for young adults are intended to acquaint them with places they have never been and cultures they have never experienced. Novels about faraway lands, futuristic worlds, historical times, the inner city, and the farm all serve to transport readers into the unfamiliar, helping them to broaden their outlook and to understand similarities and differences of other cultures. The "Setting" section acquaints readers with the special aspects of the setting (including additional historical background to explain the merits or weaknesses of a historical novel), as well as showing how the author uses place and rime to develop themes and characterizations.

THEMES AND CHARACTERS

This section explains how the themes and characters are woven together to create a unified work of art, and it establishes the groundwork for understanding the characters' motivation and actions. Because some books are more thematically complex than others, the length of the "Themes and Characters" section varies accordingly. The object of this section is to give insight into a work's literary merits by taking an in-depth look at how well rounded the characters are, how plausible they are, and how well they fit into the work's themes. This section is intended to provide serious critical treatment, thereby enriching a reader's appreciation of the literary work.

LITERARY QUALITIES

The "Literary Qualities" section analyzes the techniques authors use to communicate with their readers. It also introduces students to literary devices such as foreshadowing and

archetypes. In explaining the skill behind the artistry, this section shows the reader how to become a more thoughtful critic.

SOCIAL SENSITIVITY

Often books for young adults are controversial. For instance, some old classics for young readers contain racist undercurrents that were overlooked in less enlightened times. On the other hand, since the 1960s the subjects that books for young adults treat have broadened to include topics that were once thought to be strictly for adults, such as sex, drug addiction, and hatred toward one's parents. Some young adult books are very violent, others are intensely frightening, and still others express doubts about the morals and ethics of religion, science, or society. The "Social Sensitivity" section analyzes the social context and explains how the sensitive aspects of the book fit in with its setting, themes, characters, and plot. The "Social Sensitivity" section may alert adults to sensitive issues, but it does not attempt to judge or censor material, including "reality" topics like nuclear war, sexuality, broken homes, racism, religious faith, and a host of other "real world" issues.

TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION

This section provides a list of topics and questions designed to stimulate classroom discussion. For students conducting research on their own, these questions serve to guide the reader toward the most important elements of theme and character.

IDEAS FOR REPORTS AND PAPERS

This section is designed to lead readers toward ideas for additional reading assignments, writing assignments, and in-class presentations. Its purpose is to help students think about their topics and to offer them some guidance as to what approaches to the book could be effective. It provides suggestions for simple reports as well as complex term papers. Librarians will find this section useful in guiding students who are searching for report topics.

RELATED TITLES/ADAPTATIONS

This section discusses books by the same author that share similarities with the main title, or by other authors dealing with the same themes or characters. Often these books form part of a series, such as the Tillerman cycle by Cynthia Voigt. This section is useful to students who are writing a comparative analysis paper, or who are seeking another title by an author they liked. If a title has been adapted to stage, radio, television, or film, this section compares the adaptation to the original title.

FOR FURTHER REFERENCE

In some cases, there is a wealth of published material on a particular author or a particular title; in those cases, the "Further Reference" section guides the reader to the most helpful sources. On the other hand, some of the titles have not been widely reviewed, which limits the bibliography.

RELATED WEBSITES

This section lists websites that contain information about a particular author or title. Each citation includes a brief summary of the website's contents. In some cases, the date that the site was last known to be active is provided.

It is heartening that Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults provides much new material that cannot be found elsewhere, but it also serves as an indication of how very much more work needs to be done in studying the many meritorious works in young adult literature.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

♦

ALEXIE, SHERMAN. Minor, Wendell, illustrator. From a cover of The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, by Sherman Alexie. HarperPerennial, 1994. Cover illustration copyright (c) 1993 by Wendell Minor. Reproduced by permission of The Atlantic Monthly Press. / Alexie, Sherman, photograph by Rex Rystedt. Reproduced by permission.

BAUER, JOAN. Minor, Wendell, illustrator. From a jacket of Hope Was Here, by Joan Bauer. G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2000. Jacket art (c) 2000 by Wendell Minor. Reproduced by permission G. P. Putnam's Sons, an imprint of Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers, a division of Penguin Putnam Inc. All rights reserved. / From a jacket of Squashed, by Joan Bauer. Laurel-Leaf Books, 1992. Copyright (c) 1992 by Joan Bauer. Reproduced by permission of Random House Children's Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

BOOK, RICK. From a cover of Necking with Louise, by Rick Book. Red Deer Press, 1999. Reproduced by permission. / Book, Rick, photograph by Helen Stanley Photography. Reproduced by permission.

CALHOUN, DIA. Calhoun, Dia, photograph, (c) Dia Calhoun 2001. Reproduced by permission of the author.

CHOPIN, KATE. Chopin, Kate, photograph. The Library of Congress.

COULOUMBIS, AUDREY. Schoenherr, Ian, illustrator. From a cover of Getting Near to Baby, by Audrey Couloumbis, Puffin Books, 1999. Cover illustration copyright (c) 1999 by Ian Schoenherr. Reproduced by permission of G. P. Putnam's Sons, an imprint of Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers, a division of Penguin Putnam Inc. All rights reserved.

CRUTCHER, CHRIS. Volkmann, Roy, photographer. From a cover of The Crazy Horse Electric Game, by Chris Crutcher. Laurel-Leaf, 1987. Cover photograph by Roy Volkmann. Copyright (c) 1987 by Chris Crutcher. Reproduced by permission of Dell Publishing, a division of Random House, Inc. / Hiroko, illustrator. From a cover of Chinese Handcuffs, by Chris Crutcher. Laurel-Leaf Books, 1989. Copyright (c) 1989 by Chris Crutcher. Reproduced by permission of Dell Publishing, a division of Random House, Inc. / Crutcher, Chris, photograph by Tony Omer. Reproduced by permission.

DICAMILLO, KATE. Sheban, Chris, illustrator. From a cover of Because of Winn-Dixie, by Kate DiCamillo. Candlewick, 2001. Cover illustration copyright (c) 2000 by Chris Sheban. Reproduced by permission of Candlewick Press. / DiCamillo, Kate, photograph. Reproduced by permission.

DREISER, THEODORE. Dreiser, Theodore, photograph by Pirie MacDonald. The Library of Congress.

FAULKNER, WILLIAM. Faulkner, William, photograph. Getty Images. Reproduced by permission.

FRIEDMAN, INA R. Lenn, Michael, illustrator. From a cover of Flying against the Wind: The Story of a Young Woman Who Defied the Nazis, by Ina R. Friedman. Lodgepole Press, 1995. Reproduced by permission. / Friedman, Ina Rosen, photograph. Toledo Blade. Reproduced by permission.

GAVIN, JAMILA. Ambrus, Victor, illustrator. From a jacket of Coram Boy_t by Jamila Gavin. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001. Jacket art (c) 2001 by Victor Ambrus. Reproduced by permission. / Gavin, Jamila, photograph by Anthony Moth. Reproduced by permission of Jamila Gavin.

HANDLER, DANIEL. Handler, Daniel, photograph by Jeff Geissler. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

HEMINGWAY, ERNEST. Hemingway, Ernest, photograph. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

HOLT, KIMBERLY WILLIS. Holt, Kimberly Willis, with Oprah Winfrey, Ai, Ha Jin, and John W. Dower, photograph by Diane Bondareff. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

HUDSON, JAN. From a cover of Sweetgrass, by Jan Hudson. Scholastic, 1991. Cover illustration copyright (c) by Scholastic Inc. Reproduced by permission. / Hudson, Jan, photograph.

HUGHES, MONICA. Deines, Brian, illustrator. From the jacket of The Refuge, by Monica Hughes. Doubleday Canada Limited, 1989. Copyright (c) 1989 by Monica Hughes. Reproduced by permission of the illustrator. / Call, Greg, illustrator. From a cover of The Keeper of the Isis Ught,by Monica Hughes. Aladdin Paperbacks, 2000. Cover illustration copyright (c) 2000 by Greg Call. Reproduced by permission of Greg Call. / Hughes, Monica, photograph by Russ Hughes. Reproduced by permission of Monica Hughes.

KNIGHT, ERIC. Knight, Eric, photograph. Bettmann/Corbis. Reproduced by permission.

LEWIS, C. S. Lewis, C. S., photograph. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

viu

LEWIS, WENDY. From a cover of Graveyard Girl, by Wendy Lewis, Red Deer Press, 2000. Cover photograph by FPG International. Reproduced by permission of Red Deer Press. / Lewis, Wendy, photograph by Richard Eastman. Reproduced by permission of Red

Deer Press.

LYNCH, CHRIS. Lynch, Chris, photograph by Jeff Thiebauth. Reproduced by permission.

MALAMUD, BERNARD. Feininger, Andreas, photographer. From a cover of The Assistant, by Bernard Malamud. Perennial Classics, 2000. Cover photograph copyright (c) 2000 by Andreas Feininger. Reproduced by HarperCollins Publishers. / Malamud, Bernard, photograph. The Library of Congress.

MAT AS, CAROL. Henry, Paul, illustrator. From a cover of Daniel's Story, by Carol Matas. Scholastic, 1993. Illustration copyright (c) 1993 by Paul Henry. Reproduced by permission of Scholastic, Inc. / Matas, Carol, drawing by William Bourne. Gale Research,

MCKISSACK, PATRICIA AND FREDRICK. From an illustration "Peche de la Balein Whale-Fishery," in Black Hands, White Sails, by Patricia C. McKissack and Fredrick L. McKissack. Scholastic, 1999. Illustration by the New Bedford Whaling Museum. Reproduced by permission of New Bedford Whaling Museum. / McKissack, Fredrick, and Patricia McKissack, photograph. Reproduced by permission.

MORPURGO, MICHAEL. Morpurgo, Michael, photograph by James Ravilions. Reproduced by permission of Michael Morpurgo.

PORTER, KATHERINE ANNE. Porter, Katherine Ann, photograph by George Platt Lynes. NYWTS/The Library of Congress.

REES, CELIA. Rees, Celia, photograph, (c) Terence Rees. Reproduced by permission of Celia Rees.

ROBINET, HARRIETTE GILLEM. Colon, Raul, illustrator. From a cover of Walking to the Bus-Rider Blues, by Harriette Gillem Robinet. Aladdin Paperbacks, 2002. Reproduced by permission of Raul Colon. / Robinet, Harriette Gillem, photograph by McLouis Robinet. Reproduced by permission of Harriette Gillem Robinet.

RYAN, PAM MUNOZ. Selznick, Brian, illustrator. From an illustration in Riding Freedom, by Pam Mufioz Ryan. Scholastic Press, a division of Scholastic Inc., 1999. Illustration copyright (c) 1998 by Brian Selznick, Reproduced by permission. / Ryan, Pam Munoz, photograph. Scholastic, Inc. Reproduced by permission.

SPRINGER, NANCY. Springer, Nancy, photograph (c) Bison Studio. Reproduced by permission of Nancy Springer.

STAPLES, SUZANNE FISHER. Staples, Suzanne Fisher, photograph. Reproduced by permission.

THOMAS, ROB. Wilson, Brad/Photonica and AB Bildhuset/Photonica, photographers. From a cover of Doing Time: Notes from the Undergrad, by Rob Thomas. Aladdin Paperbacks, 1999. Cover photographs copyright (c) 1999 by Brad WUson/Photonica and AB Bildhuset/ Photonica. Reproduced by permission of Photonica. / Thomas, Rob, photograph by Stanley W. Hensley. Reproduced by permission of Rob Thomas.

TRUEMAN, TERRY. Trueman, Terry, photograph courtesy of Terry Trueman. Reproduced by permission.

WESTALL, ROBERT. Bikadoroff, Roxanna, illustrator. From a cover of Demons and Shadows, by Robert Westall. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997. Copyright (c) 1993 by Robert Westall. Reproduced by permission. / Westall, Robert, photograph. MacMillan Children's Books, London. Reproduced by permission.

WHELAN, GLORIA. Whelan, Gloria, photograph. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

WILDE, OSCAR. Zwerger, Lisbeth, illustrator. From an illustration in "The Canterville Ghost," by Oscar Wilde. North-South, 1996. Illustration copyright (c) 1986 by Michael Neugebauer Verlag AG, Gossau Zurich, Switzerland. Reproduced by permission of North-South Books. / Wilde, Oscar, photograph. The Library of Congress.

Contributors

Without the expertise and generosity of the hundreds of contributors to this series, the depth of critidsm now available to young adult readers, their teachers, Librarians, and parents would not have been possible. To all of our contributors, past, present, and future, we gratefully acknowledge your contributions.

Contributors whose analyses appear in this volume are:

Emily Alward Tamra Andrews Karl E. Avery Kirk H. Beetz Sheryl Ciccarelli Allison DeFrees Sylvia W. Iskander

David Jenkinson

Faculty of Education, University of Manitoba

Paula Johanson

Jeani A. John

Patrick Jones

Michelle Prebilic

Sandy F. Richardson

Central Carolina Technical College

Dominique Sandis

Elizabeth D. Schafer

Gretchen Schwarz

ABSALOM, ABSALOM!

Novel

1936

Author: William Faulkner

Major Works for Young Adults

Soldiers' Pay, 1926

Mosquitoes, 1927

The Sound and the Fury, 1929

As I Lay Dying, 1930

Sanctuary, 1931

Light in August, 1932

Pylon, 1935

Absalom, Absalom!, 1936

The Unvanquished, 1938

The Wild Palms, 1939

The Hamlet, 1940

Intruder in the Dust, 1948

Requiem for a Nun, 1951

A Fable, 1954

The Town, 1957

The Long, Hot Summer, 1958

The Mansion, 1959

The Reivers, a Reminiscence, 1962

♦ ABOUT THE AUTHOR ♦

William Faulkner was bom on September 25,1897, in Albany, Mississippi. His family had roots in Mississippi, and Faulkner remained in the state for most of his life and became a renowned writer of Southern literature. Faulkner was not much of a student, however, and dropped out of high school. He then worked in various clerical positions and as a painter, a carpenter, and a coal shoveler. He attended the University of Mississippi for just one year, from 1919-1920, then launched into the writing career that he pursued for the rest of his life. Faulkner wrote poetry and held positions as a screenwriter for Metro-Goldwyn-

Mayer and for Warner Bros, before becoming widely acclaimed for his novels. When Faulkner's third novel, The Sound and the Fury, was published in 1929, it established his reputation and he enjoyed a prolific career during the 1930s and 1940s. He won numerous literary awards, including the Nobel Prize for literature in 1949, the National Book Award for Collected Stories in 1951, the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for A Fable in 1955, and the gold medal for fiction from the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1962.

Today Faulkner is hailed as one of the greatest novelists of the twentieth century. Volumes of literary criticism exist on his

Absalom, Absalom!

William Faulkner

works. Much of Faulkner's work, however, has received negative criticism, not for literary style but for appearing to promote immorality. He covers such themes as racism and incest, and his characters are often thought to condone such acts as well as to represent the thoughts and actions of Southerners in general. Faulkner died on July 6, 1962, after producing eighteen novels, many of which have been made into movies. Absalom, Absalom!, published in 1936, has been labeled one of the greatest novels ever written.

♦ OVERVIEW ♦

Absalom, Absalom! is both a legend of the South and a historical novel that chronicles the rise and fall of a man named Thomas Sutpen. Faulkner tells the story of the Sutpen family from different perspectives, and in so doing, he sheds light on Southern cul-

ture while detailing Sutpen's motivations for starting a dynasty in Mississippi. The title of Faulkner's novel alludes to David and Absalom of the Old Testament, a father and son who face incest and murder, as do Thomas Sutpen and his son Henry. But Faulkner's story chronicles the relationships of many people in Yoknapatawpha County, all of whose lives have been affected by Sutpen and his dynasty in some way. The novel not only emerges as a family history and the history of a southern county but also as a commentary on the South and on the deterioration of the ideals the Confederacy fought for in the Civil War.

Thomas Sutpen's need to establish himself as a "Southern gentleman" stems from an experience he had living in poverty and being turned away by a Negro servant years before he moved to Mississippi. Sutpen becomes obsessed with establishing a plantation, amassing wealth, and owning both land and Negro slaves. Sutpen establishes his plantation, but in his drive for social position he sacrifices personal relationships and alienates everyone close to him. Because Sutpen's drive clouds his vision, he never achieves his dream, and the injustices he committed in the past trigger events that lead to the collapse of his dynasty.

♦ SETTING ♦

Absalom, Absalom! is set in the fictional city of Jefferson, Mississippi, and in Yoknapatawpha County, the setting of fourteen other novels by Faulkner as well as for many of his short stories. Faulkner knew the setting well because he fashioned Jefferson after the Mississippi town of Oxford where he grew up. He thus provides detailed descriptions of the plantation houses, the run-down shacks of the tenant farmers, the rivers, the railroads, and the dirt roads. By the time Faulkner wrote Absalom, Absalom!, his vision of this mythic world he created

Absalom, Absalom!

was complete. He includes a map of the county as well as a chronology of historical events and a genealogy of the characters, all of which bring the county to life as a real place in the American South and an appropriate setting for Faulkner's analysis of Southern culture and ideals.

Faulkner's realism is convincing because he details the county's past as well as its present to give his story historical perspective. Readers know the roads the characters traveled and the houses in which they lived, but they also know the history of those roads and those houses. Faulkner details the setting so well that readers become immersed in Yoknapatawpha County; they can almost feel the muggy weather and see the run-down plantation houses. The map of the county gives locations to the events that occur in all the books in his Yoknapatawpha series. True to Faulkner's vision of making his story a living legend, Yoknapatawpha County epitomizes the mythical South.

♦ THEMES AND CHARACTERS ♦

The story of Thomas Sutpen so captivated the people of Yoknapatawpha County that it took on the character of a living legend. The story is full of love and hate, terror and tragedy. It reveals human strengths and frailties so believable that Sutpen's life becomes a legacy. To the people of Yoknapatawpha County, the legacy began in 1833, when Sutpen arrived in Jefferson, Mississippi, as a mysterious stranger with no intent to reveal his past. No one in the town knows anything about this man for a long time, and when he disappears from Jefferson and then returns with a group of slaves and sets his sights on building a plantation, the townspeople begin to see their own lives change irrevocably in numerous ways.

Sutpen is an enigma in Jefferson, Mississippi, because he reveals nothing of his past

life nor anything about how he acquired his wealth. For this reason the people of Jefferson view him with skepticism and even contempt for quite some time, which appears to reveal Faulkner's belief that Southerners are set in their ways and have difficulty accepting what goes against convention. But once Sutpen establishes his mansion, he marries Ellen Coldfield, the daughter of a respected citizen of Jefferson, and this gains him respect in the county. Sutpen and his wife raise two children, Henry and Judith, and before long gossip about this family and about Sutpen's Hundred, their ostentatious one-hundred-square-mile plantation, seems to dominate the town.

Sutpen's Hundred continues to be a topic of county gossip for years, and Faulkner uses it as a microcosm of Southern society. Southern society placed a high value on land ownership. In the nineteenth century, plantation owners ruled the South, and ownership of both land and people gave them license to do so. Thomas Sutpen built his plantation and worked toward creating his design for a perfect world. Then he attempted to make everything and everyone fit that design. The nature of ownership, as defined by Sutpen's dynasty, leaves no room for human emotion. Sutpen amasses a great deal of wealth, but in the process he comes to disregard the very values that led him to create his plantation in the first place.

The truth behind Sutpen's motivations remains buried in the past, and Faulkner uncovers it over the course of the novel. One of the primary themes in the novel is man's relationship to the past, a theme that emerges early as the mystery of Sutpen's life captivates the people of Yoknapatawpha County and sets the novel's tone. As the narrators of the story reveal more and more of Sutpen's story and delve further into history for explanations, the reader learns that Sutpen left Haiti and his wife Eulalia and child Charles Bon to come to

Absalom, Absalom!

Mississippi and start a new life. Sutpen abandoned his son when he learned that the boy's mother was part African. But this son, Charles Bon, eventually came to Mississippi to haunt his father and force him to acknowledge his past life and family. But Thomas Sutpen refuses and turns his son away at the door. Charles courted Judith, his half sister, and intended to force an acknowledgment of his birthright by making Thomas prevent the incest that would occur once his children married.

The facts of this story are disclosed in the first chapter of the book, and from there Faulkner proceeds to embellish the story with not so many factual details. The first five chapters of the novel take place one day in September 1909, just before Quentin Compson, one of Faulkner's four narrators, leaves for Harvard. The next four chapters take place later on, when Quentin and his roommate, Shreve McCannon, are in their dorm room at Harvard attempting to decipher the Sutpen story. It is not until the eighth chapter, when the novel reaches a climax, and the reader discovers the reason Thomas Sutpen is driven to establish his grand design: Sutpen was devastated from an experience he had as a child in Haiti when he was turned away by the Negro servant of a wealthy plantation owner. It was then Sutpen vowed to change his life, become an owner himself, and start a dynasty of his own.

This incident leads to an understanding of Faulkner's rejected child theme which he juxtaposes with the theme of retribution and the theme of the interconnectedness between past and present. Sutpen was bom poor, and he was indeed devastated by being sent to the back door of the planter's house by a "monkey nigger." This incident makes him vow to amass great wealth and create his own dynasty, and to devote his life to his own design, though at the expense of everyone else. But if he seeks

retribution for the injustice done to him by the servant of the black plantation owner, then he fails to see how his rejection of his son years later dooms his life to failure. Sutpen cannot make sense of his past because he is blinded by ambition and determined to become a member of the Southern aristocracy.

Parallel to Sutpen's drive for retribution, Charles Bon comes to Mississippi with a similar drive. It is Bon who is now rejected, when Sutpen dismisses his own son. Bon comes to Mississippi with the intention of marrying Judith, his half-sister, so he befriends Henry, his half-brother, and then begins to court Judith, pretending not to know of the relationship between them. Thomas Sutpen sees that the impending marriage will ruin his dynasty, yet he is a coward and can do nothing to rectify the situation without himself disrupting his perfect world. He refuses to recognize Bon, but tells his son Henry about his secret and lets Henry determine what course of action to follow. Henry kills Charles Bon to prevent incest and the miscegenation (the belief that whites should not marry or have children with members of another race).

The fact that Faulkner weaves the theme of man's relationship to the past with the theme of injustice reveals an essential truth about Southern culture. Past injustices continue to haunt Thomas Sutpen just as past injustices continue to haunt Southerners today; the crimes committed against the slaves can never be erased from Southern history. Guilt emerges as a primary theme in Faulkner's story and as a prominent emotion among the residents of Jefferson, Mississippi. Most of the characters in the novel suffer from guilt of some sort, partly as a result of their own evil doings and partly from the guilt they "inherited" from their ancestors who first became slaveholders.

Faulkner supports his theme of guilt by emphasizing the cruel treatment Southern

Absalom, Absalom!

plantation owners inflicted on their slaves. Slavery cannot help but be a big theme in a Southern novel because slavery does, in fact, characterize the nature of Southern ownership. Ownership, in the antebellum South, meant owning people as well as land. It meant exploiting people as well as the earth. Faulkner devotes much attention to the evils that result from the dehumani-zation of black people, and he creates in Thomas Sutpen a character who cannot recognize humanity because of his blind dedication to an abstract design. Sutpen is a cruel slaveholder who condones racism and thus dooms his design to failure. Readers are left to decipher the complex reasons why Sutpen's design fails, as well as to answer other questions that arise during the course of the novel.

Questions arise during the retelling of Sutpen's story because each of the four narrators, like everyone in Yoknapatawpha County, has their own take on what happened and why. Nothing is concrete because personal prejudices influence the townspeople's thoughts and feelings. Sutpen's mystery captivates the county, and gossip surrounds Judith and Henry as they grow up. By the time Charles Bon enters the picture and his life with Judith falls apart, each of the narrators has a different understanding of why Judith and Bon never married. They offer answers to this key question and to other questions that emerge, such as why Sutpen forbade the marriage, and why Henry killed Bon after appearing to stand up for him.

What readers must do as they read Absalom, Absalom!, and what the narrators must do as the novel progresses, is to order events and make sense of random pieces of information. The stories the narrators tell are to be considered but not taken as fact. This does not mean that the basic story these people tell is untrue, but simply that they each reveal a different side of the tale.

The narrators of Faulkner's novel are Rosa Coldfield, the younger sister of Sutpen's wife Ellen; Jason Compson, an older, respected man in Ihe county; Quentin Compson, Rosa Coldfield's young friend; and Shreve McCannon, a Northerner and Quentin's roommate at Harvard. Each of them has different reasons for arriving at the conclusions they do because Thomas Sutpen affected each of their lives in different ways. The structure of the narratives makes the book a psychological novel as well as a historical one, and it sheds light on the motivations of people as well as on the nature of Southern gossip. Because the accounts given by all of the narrators are biased and unreliable, Faulkner demonstrates that people's personal stories largely mold the course of history, and thus the reader must question whether it is ever possible to get a truly accurate account of history in the first place.

One of the questions that emerges in the novel is why Rosa Coldfield agrees to marry Sutpen and then later refuses. As the reader learns more about the circumstances surrounding her decision, there is the realization that Rosa's narration is unreliable because her view is tainted by Sutpen's proposal that they have a child before they marry. For Thomas Sutpen, Rosa Coldfield is simply a means to obtaining his goal, providing an heir to carry on the dynasty. It is with Miss Rosa's narration that readers begin to see an analogy between Sutpen's rise and fall with that of the South. Miss Rosa believes that with men like Sutpen in control, the South is bound to fail. She considers Sutpen lacking in honor and compassion. He exploits people like he exploits the land and thus has to suffer the consequences of the collapse of his dynasty.

The theme of exploitation molds Faulkner's characterization of Sutpen and defines his condemnation of Southern morals. Essentially, Sutpen puts the abstract notion of a

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perfect design before the concrete needs of the people around him. He chooses the life of a planter and thus becomes a natural exploiter, adopting the philosophy of production for profit and personal benefit. Thomas Sutpen exploits Rosa just as he exploited Milly Jones. He got Milly pregnant but abandoned her when she could not produce an heir for him. But he fails to see the consequences of his actions. Thomas Sutpen is unfeeling and unthinking and blind to the feelings of others. He has no imagination and remains so focused on his design that he cannot recognize how his actions will affect those around him. When Sutpen proposes to Rosa that they produce an heir before they marry, he does not foresee that this will cause her to reject him. When he rejects Milly Jones, Sutpen does not foresee that Walsh Jones will kill him in anger because of this. Charles Sutpen also fails to see the inevitability of the collapse of his dynasty and how his own failure to come to terms with the past can bring nothing but doom. With the killing of Charles, Henry disappears and the dynasty collapses. There will be no more heirs.

Absalom, Absalom! gives insight into the exploitation that defines the aristocratic South and which makes stories like Sutpen's living legends. The book is very much an analysis of Southern myths and their roots; for example, the myth of Southern hospitality, the myth of Southerners as aristocracy, and the myth of white supremacy. The roots of these myths are imbedded in history, and thus Faulkner makes the construction of these myths a primary theme. He uses all four of his narrators in the construction process, but the process becomes most noticeable as Quentin and Shreve tell their stories.

In the process of reconstructing the truths of the Sutpen story, Quentin and Shreve go through a laborious process. Not only does this process parallel the recreation of his-

tory and the birth of legend, it parallels the construction of a work of fiction. Quentin is a romantic figure, for Faulkner continually refers to his romantic nature. He knows some facts, but he romanticizes them, so as he and Shreve attempt to assimilate the facts, they use their imagination to draw conclusions. The process by which these boys arrive at their conclusion is crucial to understanding Faulkner's message. He wishes to convey the process of recreating history as an imaginative act, one colored by personal bias. Though the truths are there, locked in the past, these truths are not easily discovered and any meaning derived from them is subject to personal interpretation. The fact that all of the narrators' accounts are biased conveys the notion of historical materialism. For the historical materialist, reality is not learned but created. Sutpen and the other characters in the book create their own realities and thus see only a narrow view of the world.

Absalom, Absalom! is a book of such complexity that re-reading may be necessary in order to fully grasp Faulkner's themes. But Faulkner succeeds in creating a vibrant cast of characters whose lives have been ruined by their historical materialism and their heritage of slavery and racism. Thomas Sutpen is a legacy as the South itself is a legacy; and even in Rosa's view of Sutpen as a demon, he assumes heroic proportions. But there is nothing honorable about Sutpen's legacy, or, Faulkner seems to say, that of the South. Sutpen's honor is embodied in his design, and his design is doomed to failure. When, in chapter six, the reader learns of Sutpen's motive for moving to Mississippi and of his vows to rise above poverty, the reader also discovers that he intended to right the injustice done to him by the planters of Haiti by becoming an "upstanding" member of the Southern aristocracy. He planned to value humanity above personal prejudice. But Sutpen falls prey to the abject materialism of the aristocratic culture and

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can only fail in his pursuit of it. General Compson sees Sutpen's innocence as his weakness. Sutpen cannot assimilate his past experiences into his present life; therefore, he cannot understand how history has betrayed him. In this sense, he embodies the ideals of the Confederacy, attempting to move forward without looking back.