Absalom Absalom

♦ TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION ♦

1.    Do you think Faulkner liked women? Why or why not?

2.    To what extent do you believe Faulkner used this novel to voice his own political views?

3.    Discuss the narrators' prejudices and how they interfere with their ability to give credible accounts of Sutpen's story. Do you believe any one narrator has more credibility than the others? Why or why not?

4.    Explain the meaning of "A house divided against itself cannot stand" as this saying relates to Sutpen's story.

5.    What is the essential irony of Sutpen's design?

6.    What factors influence Miss Rosa's judgment of Thomas Sutpen as a "demon?"

7.    How does Shreve McCannon's understanding of Sutpen's story differ from that of the other narrators?

8.    How does the gossip in the tale contribute to Faulkner's structuring of the novel?

9.    What characterizes Sutpen's Hundred as a legendary setting?

10.  How is Thomas Sutpen's treatment of both Rosa and Milly indicative of his misguided obsession with creating his design?

♦ IDEAS FOR REPORTS AND PAPERS ♦

1.    Define the nature of a legend, and discuss the mythic elements in the novel that help characterize Faulkner's story as a legend.

2.    Determine the various ways Faulkner gave his novel historical perspective. What stylistic elements can authors use to bring the past to life?

3.    Consider the role women play in Faulkner's story, particularly Rosa, Ellen, and Judith. Do you think these women are exploited by men? Discuss the different kinds of exploitation that occurred in the South during the Civil War era.

4.    Create a character who epitomizes the stereotypical image of the "Southern gentleman."

5.    Discuss the idea of capitalism and materialism as viewed by the residents of Yoknapatawpha County. Did these ideas prevail during the Civil War era, and do they prevail today?

6.    Explain the notion of possession as it fits into the mode of thinking in nineteenth-century Southern society.

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7.    Exploitation occurs in different forms in Absalom, Absalom! Discuss the exploitation (hat occurred in the Antebellum South as it applied to blacks, to women, and to the earth.

8.    Discuss the importance of how Quentin and Shreve come to the conclusions they do about Sutpen's story. Discuss how they arrive at this conclusion, and illustrate how this process parallels the construction of a literary work of fiction.

9.    After reading Absalom, Absalom!, the reader understands that the rift between blacks and whites so permeated Southern culture that miscegenation became a crime worse than incest. Recount the details from the novel, and particularly from Henry's murder of Charles Bon, that support this statement.

♦ RELATED TITLES/ADAPTATIONS ♦

Anyone wishing to gain insight into Faulkner's story should read the biblical story of David and Absalom. This can be a crucial aid in understanding Faulkner's themes and deciphering his message. Anyone wishing to gain further insight into the characters' thoughts and actions, and thus obtain a better understanding of the South that Faulkner created, should read the other books set in Yoknapatawpha County, which, when read in relation to one another, constitute a saga of mythic proportions. The Yoknapatawpha books begin with Sartoris, Faulkner's third novel. Of particular interest to those studying Absalom, Absalom! are The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying, Sanctuary, and A Light in August, all of which cover events Faulkner identifies in the chronology included in Absalom, Absalom!

Like Faulkner, numerous other American writers gained fame by creating vivid chronicles of life in the South. William Styron's Lie Down in Darkness is another

moralistic, structurally complex saga of a Southern family. It resembles Faulkner's novel in both style and technique, moving from present to past to give readers a strong historical perspective and to convey the importance of the past in explaining the events that occur in the present day.

Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, also bears a striking resemblance to Absalom, Absalom!, both in its literary style and in its message. Hurston relates the black Southern experience of Janie Crawford, a woman who lives in poverty and who embraces black folk culture and rejects white bourgeois attitudes. Like Absalom, Absalom!, storytelling shapes Hurston's novel, and a condemnation of white, aristocratic values defines the themes.

♦ FOR FURTHER REFERENCE ♦

Blotner, Joseph. Faulkner: A Biography. 2 vols. New York: Random House, 1974. In addition to presenting detailed coverage of Faulkner's career, this biography discusses the production of Absalom, Absalom! and its importance to the body of American literature.

Gray, Richard. The Life of William Faulkner: A Critical Biography. Oxford: Blackwell, 1994. Written by a noted Faulkner scholar, this work contains a detailed discussion of Faulkner's use of setting, his creation of Yoknapatawpha County, and his treatment of historical time.

Minter, David. William Faulkner: His Life and Work. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980. Minter gives critical insight into Absalom, Absalom! by discussing how the narrators' lives relate to their perceptions of the Sutpen story and how relationships between different races and sexes characterize the novel's themes.

Parker, Robert D. Absalom, Absalom!: The

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Questioning of Fictions. Hall, G. K. & Company, 1991. This critical study includes a chapter-by-chapter analysis of the novel which helps students understand the complexities of the story. The book also discusses in detail the roles of each of the narrators, the twists in the plot, the role of history in Absalom, Absalom!, and the novel's literary importance. It includes an outline of the novel's narrative structure and a chronology of Faulkner's life.

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