During Tuesday’s class we talked for a while about how Faulkner wrote this book to symbolize the rise and fall of antebellum South. We mainly discussed how Sutpen could be a personification of the South, due to his ruthless and seemingly immoral behavior. While he does prove to be a projection of the era, I think that Faulkner also wanted the style of the novel to seem southern. Because of Falkner’s southern background, I think there are at least two ways in which we can compare Faulkner’s style and plot to the South.
As I’m reading this Absalom, Absalom! I feel that I am in the story itself because of how many times the same information is presented, just in different opinions. This aspect of the book reminds me of a small, southern town where everyone knows everything about everybody. In a place like Jefferson, Mississippi, you would be sure to have heard Sutpen’s tragic ending countless times. I think Faulkner wanted the reader to fell like he/she was actually walking through Jefferson while this gossip spread like wildfire (granted, Quentin is listening to the story many years later, but the information is coming at him very quickly and interruption).
I can definitely see your point here about Faulkner giving an account of the story a little bit more every time we read a new chapter. It’s like we sort through the facts and opinions of each person we hear from to create our own version of the truth. At the time of Sutpen’s arrival, in real history, there was little or no form of written account, they had to rely on gossiping and the like to transfer and mark history. This is why the townsfolk were so against Sutpen early, I know this to be true from living in a small town growing up. In order for Faulkner to make a realistic account, this strategy is probably the most realistic. I have encountered the issue of spotty history in personal research about my family history and what it was like for my family during the early American years.
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