|
In Absalom! Absalom! by William Faulkner, the destruction associated with the Civil War is paralleled with that which befalls the Sutpen family and its crumbled empire. Faulkner considers the war to be a reflection of "the destiny of Sutpen's family”, explaining that they “felt the first subterranean movement toward the outlet, the gorge which would be the land's catastrophe too" (p. 89).
The characters in this novel are continuously searching for explanations that might shed some light on the reasons for Southern society’s rapidly collapsing structure. Faulkner is fascinated by this uncertainty and ambiguity, and in attempting to understand it, he provides an illuminating depiction of the white Southern mentality after the war.
The experiences that the Sutpens suffered through are designed to mirror both the losing of the Civil War and the ludicrousness of associating heroism with fighting in the war. Faulkner essentially perceives the Civil War as a predictable act of divine vengeance or punishment for stealing the Native Americans’ land. Thus Sutpen is the embodiment of that sin because he not only swindles a Native American out of his land, but ends up destroying nature for “progress”. Additionally, Faulkner sees the War as retribution for the sin of owning slaves, which Faulkner viewed as undeniably immoral. Faulkner uses the demise of the South as a mirror to Sutpen’s failures. The doom of the South, Faulkner feels, was morally inevitable because its greatness depended upon the exploitation of land and of people. The destruction of Sutpen's dream by his son Charles Bon (who has “black blood”) is the author’s way of achieving “poetic justice” for the sin of slavery.
In Faulkner’s version of justice, slavery is more devastating to the slave owners than to the slaves themselves. Sutpen's complete control over his slaves is representative of a power inherent in the system that gave the South the virtues it possessed, which is an essential part of his corruption. The scene in which the Negro servant rebuffs young Thomas Sutpen at the front door of the Virginia plantation was a turning point for the way Sutpen came to view life. From this point on, he accepts the corrupting influence of sins that are etched into the societal norm, as “right”. It is also significant that the cause both of Sutpen's successes and of his failures is his longing to be a rich, powerful Southern gentleman- to own and operate a powerful estate, build a dynasty, live “the good life”. He fails not because he is atypical but rather because he tries to live up to a morally twisted Southern ideal.
The destruction of the father is then passed down to his children. The misfortune that befalls Henry Sutpen, the “acceptable” son, is that he is unable to transcend his father's moral blindness. The recognition of the devastation of racial inequity is inconceivable to Henry, because he has it drilled into his head that his race and his gender are superior. In fact, his murder of Charles Bon is based far more on Charles' “mixed blood” than in the revulsion of incest.
Sutpen's last living descendant, Jim Bond, who is part black, lives in poverty among the ruins of Sutpen's failed empire. Similarly, Quentin, whose ancestors were gentlemen in the best Southern tradition but who were also guilty of the dual abuse of both land and people, cannot escape the retribution. At the novel’s end, Quentin’s Harvard roommate Shreve, asks, "'Why do you hate the South?"' Quentin replies, "I don’t hate it . . . ; I don’t hate it . . . I don’t hate it . . . ; I don’t. I don’t! I don’t hate it! I don’t hate it!" Obviously, he “doth protest too much”. He actually has very mixed feelings towards the South, loving it and hating at the same time. The South has formed him, made him what he is; he has been reared on tales of its sophistication and glory, on tales of its heroism and the moral superiority of its residents. It is the heart of his existence but it also his curse in that it ultimately causes the deterioration of his family.
It is the disturbing vision of the decimated old South that makes Thomas Sutpen such a memorable character, in that he is the embodiment of that destruction. His tunnel vision is both his savior and his demon. His drive to succeed propels him into action, yet it also blinds him from the more “human” elements of a fulfilling life – a blind spot that ultimately destroys all of his dreams.
|
| |
