Absalom Absalom

♦ 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.

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