Absalom, Absalom

Content Warning: This guide contains references to slavery, racial violence, rape, incest, and suicide. The source text uses racial slurs including the n-word, which is reproduced and obscured in quotations in this guide.

Thomas Sutpen, a central and enigmatic figure in William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom!, is complex and ambiguous, embodying various character types and serving pivotal roles within the narrative. As an archetype, Sutpen assumes the role of the antagonist, a larger-than-life figure whose actions reverberate through generations. Faulkner employs a multifaceted approach to characterize Sutpen, intertwining multiple perspectives to illuminate his personality. These include the perspectives of Miss Rosa, Mr. Compson, and Quentin Compson. The complexity of Sutpen’s character is illuminated through the embedded narratives and multiple perspectives of the text, as many characters share their strong, evocative opinions of who Sutpen was. Miss Rosa, for instance, sees Sutpen as a horrific demon whose evils doomed the Sutpen line; her perspective is galvanized when she describes how Sutpen insulted her during their brief engagement: “[he] spoke the bald outrageous words exactly as if he were consulting with Jones or with some other man about a bitch dog or a cow or a mare” (136).