Chapter 7 marks a huge shift in the story because we finally hear from Sutpen's perspective. After listening to Sutpen, we view him not as the demon Rosa describes him as or the enigma General Compson thought he was, but as a very ignorant man whose life has been corrupted by fate. The narrative refers back to Sutpen's innocence several times( "Because he had not only not lost the innocence yet, he had not yet discovered that he possessed it"185), which brings up the question of nature vs. nurture. The chapter shows that Sutpen was not necessarily born evil, he just grew up in a very traumatic environment. There are several references to Sutpen's sister being pregnant without ever having been married (181), which could be read as allusion to Sutpen's father being incestuous and it’s evident that Sutpen grew up in a very poor, lower-class home. Chapter 7 makes it seem as though Sutpen is just a product of his environment where he learned that in order to make it in the world you have to be "unscrupulous"(201). Instead of nurturing his moral instincts, he goes to Haiti where he is consumed with completing his “design” and even abandons his wife when he realizes that she does not fit that design. He feels some remorse, but at this point he is already too far gone from his own humanity.
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