Class Discussion 3/22/12

CLASS DISCUSSION 3/22/12

• Sutpen
• doesn’t understand why his plan didn’t work
• less of a demon, more of a human
• Wants status
• Has no moral background
• He isn’t set out to ruin people, he has some innocence to him
• Ability to act morally comes out of environment
• Manipulative
• Sutpen vs Bon
• Personal guilt
• Worried about legacy, views of others
• Pride- self perception wouldn’t admit to Charles
• sutpen was a coward
• Sacrificed Bon and Henry
• Is Bon black?
• Evidence is against him lying:
• there had to be a serious reason for him to leave
• His plan would have been properly carried out
• Narrators
• some facts, but you won’t know the true story
• Shreve says maybe a lot
• he doesn’t even believe what he is saying
• Faulkner waited to show us the innocent side of Sutpen
• Can we trust a first person perspective from Sutpen?
• like reading Moby Dick through Ahab’s perspective
• level of bias would give us a good insight into how strong his ambition is
• Allegory of the South
• like the south shouldn’t have sacrificed others, like Sutpen
• Sutpen a “jab” of the American Dream
• nothing to something
• tramples people
• Rise to power is not legitimate, went to Haiti to exploit people of color
• Race
• nature of the times
• Distinction between classes and race
• Clytie is easier to distinguish
• Sutpen is has a hard time distinguishing people with black blood
• Sutpen feels guilty about have 3 illegitimate children
• was it a conflict? or was it a norm?
• Clytie’s mother, Bon’s mother, Millie
• Why did Henry have final say in whether Judith married Bon?
• Henry’s feelings for Judith
• Sutpen directly avoiding that Bon is his son
• Sutpen want to protect Judith from the truth
• Moby-Dick
• p. 186
• Sutpen doesn’t want to hit the slaves, he wants to hit the white aristocracy
• Sutpen wants to strike the balloon that represents white aristocracy
• It’s childish to strike out at the mask and not the means- futile action
• Ahab: why he is after Moby Dick
• if man will strike, strike through the mask; strike through the wall
• Ahab wants to strike the malice behind the mask
• Ahab ignores that his action is futile and tries to take down Moby Dick
• Masks are hiding malice
• is it a good idea to devote your life to a mask?
• Which approach is better?
• Ahab was self-destructive
• direct with ambition
• feigned appearances (hidden harpooning crew)
• Sutpen external intactness
• behind the scenes manipulation
• forced everyone to accept him through bribery
• How does Sutpen directly impose his will?
• Telling Rosa that they should be married