Absalom, Absalom

While awaiting the break of dawn for his undisclosed mission, Quentin envisions Miss Rosa on her porch in the dimness, clad in a black bonnet and shawl. Mr. Compson emerges, bearing a letter from Charles Bon to Judith Sutpen, a missive veiled in secrecy for decades.

The narrative circles back to the dynamic between Charles Bon and Henry Sutpen. Mr. Compson speculates about some of the events surrounding Henry’s departure from Sutpen’s Hundred and his rejection of his birthright. He wonders what might have happened between Henry and Thomas Sutpen and envisions a scene in Thomas Sutpen’s library on Christmas Eve. In this telling, Thomas Sutpen informs his son that Charles Bon has a part Black mistress and child in New Orleans. As a result, the marriage between Judith and Charles cannot go forward. However, Charles sides with his friend and leaves Sutpen’s Hundred and his family, going on what is repeatedly described as a “probation.”

In Mr. Compson’s tale, Henry and Charles Bon then go to New Orleans, where Charles reveals that he is in fact married to a different woman. Charles encourages him to leave the marriage, calling Bon’s wife a “whore” and delegitimizing the union because she is part Black.